July 17, 2016

The Quotable Augustine, Vol. 3: Augustine and Reason

Been reading a fair bit of philosophical theology of late, and one of the more interesting figures in the historical arena of that area is St. Augustine.  Augustine differentiates strongly between the material and immaterial.  And here is a snippet of Augustine's approach to how God interacts with our reason:
Reason: Thou art moved to good effect. For the Reason which is talking with thee promises so to demonstrate God to thy mind, as the sun demonstrates himself to the eyes. For the senses of the soul are as it were the eyes of the mind; but all the certainties of the sciences are like those things which are brought to light by the sun, that they may be seen, the earth, for instance, and the things upon it: while God is Himself the Illuminator. Now I, Reason, am that in the mind, which the act of looking is in the eyes. For to have eyes is not the same as to look; nor again to look the same as to see. Therefore the soul has need of three distinct things: to have eyes, such as it can use to good advantage, to look, and to see. 
Augustine's Soliloquies Book I.12

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