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Augustine's Ethics of Belief and Avoiding Violence in Religious Disputes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Owen Anderson
Owen Anderson*
Affiliation:
Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies, Arizona State University,, Phoenix, Arizona 85069, USA
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article is a study of how Augustine's ethics of belief shaped his arguments against unbelief and its legacy in using coercion to settle disputes. After considering the arguments for belief presented by Augustine, the article studies how these were shaped by his understanding of the problem of evil and how the Fall influenced free will. What is noted to be of benefit in Augustine is that he offers arguments in favor of belief, and is convinced that he has shown unbelief to be based on unsound reasoning. By way of contrast, a number of theologians (such as Tertullian, John Calvin, and those under the heading of Reformed Epistemology) are considered who do not believe that arguments are necessary to support belief or reject unbelief. These are contrasted with Augustine and it is argued that they have significant shortcomings in this respect. However, the article concludes that Augustine could have gone farther in supporting the claim that it is clear that God exists, and his own shortcomings have been used to justify coercion in religious belief. If common ground is to be achieved this problem must be corrected and an adequate foundation for clarity must be established.

Keywords

Augustineethics of belieffree willGod's existencereligious violence/coercion
Type
Original Article
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 91 , Issue 1031 , January 2010 , pp. 83 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © The author 2010. Journal compilation © The Dominican Council.

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References

1 Portions of this article appear also in my book The Clarity of God's Existence: The Ethics of Belief After the Enlightenment, Wipf and Stock, 2008.

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