St. Augustine Original Sin Analysis

St. Augustine was a Christian philosopher, who lived in the fourth to fifth century, and worked to bridge the gap between religion and philosophy. He lived during the time of the decline of the Roman Empire and was greatly affected by it. During his life his town of which he was bishop for over thirty-five years was destroyed except for his cathedral where his library of book was located and preserved; in there among others is his criticism of the Roman Empire’s view on human values and outlook on life. To understand what he disliked about them you must understand that the Romans praised Earthly happiness and Justice. It was this way of viewing life and humans that drove St. Augustine to come up with the idea of original sin. Original Sin …show more content…
To Augustine all humans were crooked because of their inherited sin, which was the reason for their drive to dominate. He also believed that Human beings desires to dominate would cause wars and was evident in the way they treated each other, their inability to love, their need for lust, their inability to reason and their chase to find themselves. In Augustine’s eyes this is humanity’s way of trying to find happiness on earth through themselves or though their own efforts, which he does not entirely agree with. Humans are imperfect not because of any fault of their own but because it is the human condition and the legacy of the original sin passed down from Adam. Augustine does however believe that humans are originally born with some degree of pureness and was given the opportunity to choose to be good or evil. Sadly humans are attracted towards evil because it satisfies their desires for material things, pleasures and honor. The only way to escape from original sin is through the grace of God, which cannot only be obtained by being good. This should not be mistaken for Augustine’s views on saintly humans. Augustine does believes that there are saintly humans, who love what should be loved, use their reason properly, and are apart of a selected few that have received their grace from God. It is important to add that despite the views of the Roman Empire that although God gave wisdom he did not give people who are righteous power or wealth and he did not condemn those who were not righteous with poverty according to

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