Jesus Christ as Mediator: A Departure Towards Unity According to Augustine
This project aims to examine Augustine's internal conflict, which ultimately led him to experience the fragmentation of the human self and to fall into privatio boni. This situation resulted in a chaotic and disordered relationship between intellect and will, which damaged the image of the human as the image of God. In addressing this problem, Augustine discovered Jesus Christ as a mediator between God and humans, which led him back to salvation, which is the unity within himself and with God. This reestablishes the order of memory, intellect, and will, as well as the image of humans as the image of God, who is the Holy Trinity. The union between memory, intellect and will represents the form of salvation that God provides to humans. I will argue that Jesus Christ, as mediator, played an instrumental role for Augustine in his journey to avoid privatio boni, move towards salvation and return to the image of God.
This research is concerned with Augustine's works, Confession and De Trinitate, which deal with Augustine's personal struggles, his search for God and his return to the Catholic Church. The analysis is centered on Augustine's conceptualization of privatio boni, which denotes the parasitic nature of evil, leading to disorder in human beings and prompting a shift in affections from love for God to love for worldly things and transient objects and Augustine´s spiritual journey following his discovery of Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and humanity. He believed that the encounter with Jesus as the mediator was the starting point of his conversion, as it brought him back to a relationship with God and helped him to achieve a sense of self. This was a journey that involved not only the intellect and the will but also the two in union. He started to love God again, and through this love, he experienced a desire for good things and a desire to know God, which in turn led to unity and intimacy with God.
The encounter of Augustine with the mediator cannot be interpreted as an interaction with the individual Jesus Christ, but rather as a connection with the entirety of the Trinity. In his work De Trinitate, Augustine employs a paradoxical approach, emphasizing the oneness and equality of the Holy Trinity. This paradoxical understanding enables him to experience the presence and closeness of God, manifest and concealed.
Augustine's encounter with Jesus Christ as the mediator between God and humanity led him to redefine the significance of being human. He believed that humans were reflections of the Trinity. Augustine's anthropological view depicts the trinity in human beings, beginning with love and a ternary of love, followed by the triad of mind, knowledge, love and memory, intellect, will, as a representation of the Trinity in humans. Augustine posited that humans should endeavour to achieve unity and harmony among these three aspects of themselves. As images of God, humans are called to contemplate, love and establish a relationship with God. The Incarnation serves as a model of humility and encourages humans to overcome pride. By attaining unity within themselves through memory, intellect and will, humans can find salvation and experience fulfilment through their relationship with God.
Research Questions
1. What were the challenges Augustine faced in his life, as described in his writing, namely restless heart and privatio boni?
2. What is the precise understanding of Jesus Christ as a mediator in Augustine's thought?
3. How did Jesus Christ, as mediator, lead Augustine towards salvation and unity with God?
Research Method
The hermeneutic method will be employed to analyse Augustine's writings. Hermeneutics is a method that engages readers with a text through dialogue and historical context, in order to reveal its philosophical, theological and cultural dimensions, particularly in classic texts like Augustine. This study will focus on the example of Augustine (life experience) and his systematic reflection and understanding.
Literatur
Augustinus, Aurelius. De Trinitate. Lateinisch-Deutsch. Hamburg: Meiner 2019.
Augustine, Aurelius. Confessions: A New Translation. United States: Liveright. 2018.
Williams, Rowan. „Trinitate, de“. In: Allan Fitzgerald; John C. Cavadini (Ed.), Augustine through the ages. An Encyclopedia. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 1999. p. 845–851.
Williams, Rowan. On Augustine. New York: Bloomsbury USA. 2016.
Ayres, Lewis. Augustine and the Trinity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2010.
Hoff, Johannes. Verteidigung des Heiligen: Anthropologie der Digitalen Transformation. Freiburg i.Br.: Herder. 2021.
Supervisor
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Johannes Nikolaus Hoff, MA
Department of Systematic Theology
Doctoral candidate
Indragraha Bernadus Dimas
Indragraha-Bernadus.Dimas(at)student.uibk.ac.at
