Welcome to Augustine's Teaching on Human Nature
Hello and welcome! This set of study notes is designed to guide you through one of the most fascinating and foundational topics in your OCR A Level Religious Studies course (H573/03: Developments in Christian Thought): Augustine's Teaching on Human Nature.
Have you ever wondered why doing the "right thing" can feel so difficult, or why human history is filled with conflict, selfishness, and greed? St Augustine of Hippo spent his entire life wrestling with these exact questions. Don't worry if the theological terms seem daunting at first—we will break down every single concept step-by-step with clear explanations, relatable analogies, and memory aids!
Exam Snapshot: How You Are Assessed
In the OCR H573 examination, this topic appears in Paper 3 (Developments in Christian Thought). The exam lasts 2 hours and requires you to answer three 40-mark essay questions out of four.
Each essay is marked against two key assessment objectives:
• AO1 (Knowledge & Understanding - 16 marks): Explaining Augustine's ideas, texts, and context clearly and accurately.
• AO2 (Analysis & Evaluation - 24 marks): Weighing up arguments, contrasting Augustine with other thinkers (like Pelagius, Hobbes, Rousseau, and Sartre), and judging the strength of his views.
1. Historical and Philosophical Background: Who Was St Augustine?
To understand Augustine's theology, we first have to understand the man himself. St Augustine of Hippo (354–430 CE) was a North African bishop and is recognized as a Doctor of the Church. His life was a dramatic journey of spiritual and intellectual searching before his conversion and baptism in 387 CE.
Key Influences on Augustine's Thinking
1. Manichaeism: Before becoming a Christian, Augustine spent nearly a decade following Manichaeism. This religion taught a cosmic dualism—that the universe is locked in an eternal battle between two equal forces: Light/Good (the spiritual realm) and Darkness/Evil (the physical realm). Although Augustine later rejected this, it influenced his lifelong struggle to explain why physical appetites feel so intensely opposed to spiritual goodness.
2. Neoplatonism: Influenced by the philosopher Plotinus, Augustine learned to view evil not as a physical substance or an equal opposing force to God, but as a privatio boni (a privation or absence of good). Just as darkness is simply the absence of light, evil is the lack of good where good ought to be.
Augustine's Key Texts
• Confessions: Augustine's deeply personal spiritual autobiography. In it, he reflects on his own struggles with sexual lust and famously recounts stealing pears from a neighbour's pear tree as an adolescent—not because he was hungry, but simply for the thrill of doing wrong.
• De Civitate Dei (The City of God): Written after the sack of Rome, contrasting the heavenly city of God (built on the love of God) with the earthly city (built on self-love and corrupted human power).
• De Libero Arbitrio (On Free Choice of the Will): An exploration of how human will, moral choice, and divine grace interact.
Key Takeaway for Section 1: Augustine's view of human nature was forged through his personal struggles (recorded in Confessions), his rejection of Manichaean dualism, and his adoption of the Neoplatonic idea of evil as a privation of good (privatio boni).
---2. Human Nature Before the Fall: The Pre-Lapsarian State
Augustine taught that God originally created humanity in a state of absolute perfection and harmony. This period before the Fall of humanity is called the pre-lapsarian state (from the Latin lapsus, meaning slip or fall).
Core Features of the Pre-Lapsarian World
• Created in the Image of God (imago Dei): Adam and Eve were created with complete inner harmony. Their physical appetites, emotions, and rational minds worked together in perfect balance under the guidance of reason.
• Harmonious Friendship (Concordia): The relationship between Adam and Eve was characterised by mutual respect, equality, and unselfish love. They lived in comfortable companionship with one another and in open friendship with God.
• The Pre-Fall Will (Voluntas): Human will was completely oriented towards loving God and performing virtue.
• Sex and Procreation: A common misconception is that Augustine believed sex did not exist before the Fall. In fact, Augustine taught that procreation was always intended by God in Eden. However, before the Fall, sexual reproduction would have been governed purely and rationally by the will, completely free from uncontrolled lust (libido).
Analogy: Think of a pre-lapsarian human like an expert driver in a brand-new car on an open road. The driver (reason) has full, effortless control over the steering wheel, accelerator, and brakes (the appetites and will), travelling smoothly in the direction of God.
Key Takeaway for Section 2: Before the Fall, Adam and Eve lived in concordia (unselfish friendship), had a will (voluntas) aligned with God, and enjoyed perfect harmony between reason and physical desires.
---3. The Fall and Original Sin: What Went Wrong?
Augustine took the account of Genesis 3 as a literal, historical event. The decision of Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit fundamentally altered human nature forever.
The Root Cause: Pride (Superbia)
Why did Adam and Eve disobey God? Augustine argued that the root of their sin was not the mere physical act of eating fruit, but the underlying attitude of pride (superbia). They wanted to be their own masters—seeking equality with God and prioritizing self-love over love of their Creator.
Transmission of Original Sin: "Seminally Present"
How did one couple's mistake affect the rest of us? Augustine explained the transmission of Original Sin through two key ideas:
1. Seminal Presence: Relying on the Latin Vulgate translation of Romans 5:12 (in quo omnes peccaverunt — "in whom all have sinned"), Augustine argued that all future human beings were literally and physically "seminally present in the loins of Adam" when he committed the original sin.
2. Biological Transmission: Because every subsequent human being (except Jesus Christ) is conceived through the physical, lustful act of sexual intercourse, Original Sin is passed down biologically from generation to generation like an inherited spiritual disease.
Memory Aid (The Three P's of the Fall):
• Pride (Superbia) — the root motive of the disobedience.
• Pear Tree — Augustine's personal illustration of sinning purely for the sake of sinning.
• Presence (Seminal) — why all humanity shares Adam's guilt and inherited corruption.
Key Takeaway for Section 3: The Fall was a historical act of pride (superbia). Because all humans were seminally present in Adam, we all inherit both the guilt and the corrupted nature of Original Sin through biological reproduction.
---4. Human Nature After the Fall: The Post-Lapsarian State
Following the Fall, human nature suffered catastrophic damage. This post-lapsarian state affects our desires, our psychology, and our societies.
1. Concupiscence (Concupiscentia)
Concupiscence is the state in which lower bodily desires, appetites, and selfishness overpower human reason and spiritual devotion.
Important Exam Tip: Avoid defining concupiscence solely as sexual lust! While it certainly includes uncontrolled sexual desire, concupiscence covers all disordered, self-centred desires, including greed for money, ambition for worldly power, and vanity.
2. The Divided and Broken Will (Akrasia and Bondage of the Will)
Post-Fall humans suffer from a fractured will. Augustine famously echoed Saint Paul's words in Romans 7:15: "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do."
• Free Choice vs. True Freedom: Humans still possess liberum arbitrium (the cognitive ability to make choices), but our voluntas (the underlying moral orientation of the heart) is corrupted and enslaved to self-interest.
• We experience akrasia (weakness of will): even when our intellect knows what is morally right, our corrupted desires pull us inexorably toward sin.
3. Impact on Human Society and the State
Because every human being is infected with concupiscence and pride, human societies are naturally chaotic, unstable, and violent.
• The Earthly City (Civitas Terrena): Driven by self-love and material competition.
• The Need for Coercive Authority: Augustine argued that humans can no longer live in peaceful, egalitarian communities. We now require strong secular governments, strict laws, judicial punishments, and even coercive force to restrain human wickedness and maintain basic social order.
Key Takeaway for Section 4: The post-lapsarian state is marked by concupiscence (disordered selfish desires), a broken will unable to choose good independently, and the necessity of coercive political power to manage human selfishness.
---5. God's Grace, Election, and the Summum Bonum
If humanity is hopelessly corrupted, is there any way to be saved? Augustine’s answer is an emphatic yes—but only through God, not ourselves.
Unearned Grace (Gratia)
Augustine insisted that no amount of human moral effort, good deeds, or willpower can repair the broken human will. We are completely unable to rescue ourselves.
Healing can only come through God's Grace (Gratia)—the unmerited, generous, and freely given love of God made available through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Grace acts like a divine medicine, restoring the damaged human will so it can once again love God.
Predestination and Election
Because humanity is a "lump of sin" (massa damnata), God would be entirely justified in condemning everyone. However, in His infinite mercy, God freely chooses to grant saving grace to a specific group known as the Elect. Those not chosen are left to receive just condemnation for their inherited and personal sins. This choice is entirely up to God's mysterious divine will, not human merit.
The Summum Bonum
The ultimate goal and destination for the Elect is the Summum Bonum—the "Highest Good." This is the state of eternal, uninterrupted joy, peace, and spiritual communion in the direct presence of God in the heavenly City of God (Civitas Dei).
Key Takeaway for Section 5: Human beings cannot earn salvation. Only unmerited divine grace (gratia) can heal the fallen will, leading the Elect to the summum bonum (the highest supreme good with God).
---6. AO2 Critical Debates and Evaluation
To score in the top bands of the OCR exam, you must evaluate Augustine's arguments and compare them with alternative philosophical and theological perspectives.
Debate 1: Is the Idea of a Historical Fall and Original Sin Valid?
• Arguments Against:
1. Evolutionary Biology & Genetics: Modern science demonstrates that humanity evolved gradually from earlier hominids over hundreds of thousands of years, contradicting the idea of a single historical ancestral pair (Adam and Eve) through whom all humanity originated.
2. Biblical Scholarship: Modern historical-critical scholars view Genesis 1–3 as mythological, allegorical, or poetic literature designed to explain theological truths, rather than literal history.
3. Moral Injustice: Punishing future generations for the sin of an ancestor contradicts basic principles of justice and individual moral responsibility.
• Arguments in Defence of Augustine:
Even if Genesis 3 is read metaphorically, Augustine accurately captures the universal psychological reality of human brokenness. Human history consistently demonstrates that individuals and societies suffer from built-in selfishness, moral failure, and internal conflict.
Debate 2: The Pelagian Controversy — Can Humans Achieve Goodness Alone?
During his lifetime, Augustine fought a major theological battle against the British monk Pelagius (c. 360–418 CE).
• Pelagius' Position: Pelagius argued that Original Sin did not corrupt human nature. Adam merely set a bad example. Humans are born with an unblemished, fully free will and possess the natural capacity to obey all of God's commandments without needing special, unearned grace. Sins are individual voluntary acts.
• Augustine's Rebuttal: Augustine argued that Pelagius made the cross of Christ pointless—if humans could save themselves through willpower, Jesus died for nothing! Augustine successfully had Pelagianism declared a heresy at the Council of Carthage (418 CE), defending the view that humanity is a massa damnata utterly dependent on grace.
Debate 3: Is Augustine's View of Human Nature Pessimistic or Optimistic?
• Pessimistic: Humanity is depicted as inherently corrupted, helpless, and doomed to concupiscence from birth. Our will is in bondage, society requires coercive control, and the majority of humanity remains part of the condemned mass.
• Optimistic: Augustine emphasizes the boundless, unmerited love of God. Through Christ, full forgiveness and healing are freely offered. The promise of the summum bonum offers ultimate hope, showing that God's grace is far more powerful than human sin.
Debate 4: Is There a Fixed "Human Nature"?
• Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679): Agreed with Augustine that human nature is naturally selfish and destructive (the state of nature is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short"), requiring a strong sovereign authority to maintain order.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778): Strongly opposed Augustine, arguing that human nature is essentially good ("man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains") and that it is corrupt society, property, and institutions that ruin us.
• Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980): The existentialist philosopher rejected the very idea of a fixed human nature altogether. Sartre argued that "existence precedes essence"—humans are not pre-programmed by God or biology; we define our own identity and nature entirely through our choices.
Key Takeaway for Section 6: High-scoring AO2 essays clearly contrast Augustine with Pelagius on grace, evaluate modern scientific/literalist challenges to Genesis, assess pessimism vs. optimism, and compare Augustine's fixed fallen nature with thinkers like Hobbes, Rousseau, and Sartre.
---7. Quick Review: Key Terms Glossary
• Imago Dei: The "image of God"—the original state of human creation reflecting God's reason and love.
• Concordia: The pure, unselfish friendship and harmony enjoyed before the Fall.
• Superbia: Pride—the root sin of desiring to be equal to God.
• Concupiscentia (Concupiscence): The post-Fall condition where selfish desires and appetites overpower reason and will.
• Akrasia: Weakness of the will; knowing the good but being pulled toward sin.
• Gratia: Divine grace; unearned, free gift of God's love and healing.
• Massa Damnata: "Lump of condemnation/sin"—humanity's fallen state without grace.
• Summum Bonum: The supreme, highest good of eternal life in the presence of God.
8. Common Student Pitfalls & How to Avoid Them
• Pitfall 1: Claiming Augustine thought there was no sex before the Fall.
Correction: Augustine taught procreation was intended in Eden, but it would have occurred under the calm, rational direction of the will without uncontrolled lust (libido).
• Pitfall 2: Confusing free choice with moral freedom.
Correction: Post-Fall humans retain liberum arbitrium (the mental capacity to choose), but their voluntas (the heart's orientation) is enslaved to sin, making it impossible to choose true goodness without grace.
• Pitfall 3: Defining concupiscence as purely sexual.
Correction: Concupiscence includes all self-centred appetites—greed, lust for power, and pride.
• Pitfall 4: Telling the story of Genesis instead of evaluating the theology.
Correction: Spend less time narrating the serpent and the fruit (AO1) and more time analysing the theological consequences of grace, the broken will, and the debate with Pelagius (AO2).