"Systematic Theology" by paul Tillich,1951

..
Man was created to be oriented by an ultimate concern ;
such a concern may be either for God or for some finite object.
.
Philosophy is the cognitive approach to reality in which reality is the object ;
theology is concerned with the meaning of being for men.
.
The sources of systematic theology are the Bible,tradition,and the history of religion and culture ; these sources are perceived through the medium of experience.
.
Revelational answers are taken by the theologian from the source,
through the medium,and under the norm -the New Being in Jesus as the Christ-.
.
Revelation,transcends the subject-object distinction ;
usually in a moment of "ontic shock",
the abrupt confrontation with the power of being,
one's finiteness is overcome by anticipation : this is salvation.
.
Religious symbols need not be true ;
it is enough that they be existentially effective,
that they evoke awareness of the power of being.
..

"Revelation and Reason" by Heinrich Emil Brunner,1941

..
Divine revelation alone must be the ground,norm,and content of the Church's proclamation ; for a believing Church,inquiry begins with revelation and works toward reason.
.
Revelation is Jesus Christ ;
and faith is not belief in doctrine,but knowledge through personal encounter.
.
Since God is Absolute Subject,
there is no knowledge of God known through revelation is a living person.
.
Reason is not a thing-in-itself,
but a relation which is what it is because of the original revelation in Creation ;
man,the sinner,retains his rational nature,but what he has lost is the right attitude of reason.
..

"The Knowledge of God and the service of God" by Karl Barth,1938

..
Christian theology must be Church theology,
and it must be centered in Christ ;
natural theology rests on an error.
.
The paradox of revelation is that although God reveals himself,
he is forever the Hidden God.
.
History has two significant phases :
the history of Israel,of God's faithfulness despite man's unfaithfulness,
and the history of the promise fulfilled,of God's becoming one with man.
.
Christian truth rests entirely on the fact of the resurrection of Christ.
.
In the service of God man is saved by Christ from having to justify himself before the law ; but he is therefore bound by gratitude and love.
..

"The Spirit of Mediaeval Philosophy" by Etienne Henry Gilson,1931

..
The central idea in medieval philosophy is the idea of BEING ;
in contrast to the Greek conception of being as essentially intelligibility and perfection,the medieval philosophers conception of being was conditioned by religious belief : GOD IS BEING.
.
According to the medieval philosophy,
God is self-sufficient and perfect because he exists.
.
God created the world ex nihilo -out of nothing-,the medieval philosophers claimed ;
consequently,man's being is the image of Being Itself.
.
The medieval philosophy regarded ethics as an expression of God's will
and man's fulfillment as being in the life following resurrection.
.
History as having a beginning -the creation-,
a middle -the incarnation-,and
an end -the Last Judgment-,
was the invention of medieval Christians.
..

"The destiny of Man" by Nikolai Berdyaev,1931

..
Ethical knowledge is a way of being ;
it is different from scientific knowledge
in that it is not knowledge about objects or events.
.
Freedom is necessary to morality ;
it is the primeval abyss out of which all distinctions arise ;
it is the condition of being itself.
.
Without a theodicy
-a justification of God in a universe of which evil is a disturbing part-
there can be no ethics :
the only satisfactory theodicy is one in which God is shown as subject to an uncreated freedom.
.
Without an adequate theory of man,there can be no ethics :
the only satisfactory philosophical anthropology is one in which man is shown as a personality,a being capable of transcending his natural and social world.
.
There is an element of the demonic in man ;
to overcome the demonic,to make creativity possible,man must be deified through the presence of God in time.
..

"I and Thou" by Martin Buber,1923

..
There is no independent "I" but only the I existing and known in objective relation to something other than itself,an "It",or as encountered by encompassed by other,the "Thou".
.
Just as music can be studied analytically by reference to its notes,verses,and bars,
or encountered and experienced in such a manner that it is known not by its parts but as a unity,so the I can relate itself analytically to something other,"It",
or it can encountered the other,"Thou",so as to form a living unity.
.
The "Thou" stands as judge over "It",
but as a judge with the form and creative power for the transformation of "It".
.
Each encountered "Thou" reveals the nature of all reality,
but finally the living center of every "Thou" is seen to be eternal "Thou".
.
The eternal "Thou" is never known objectively,
but certitude comes through the domain of action.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Martin Buber (Hebrew: מרטין בובר‎; February 8, 1878, Franz-Josefs-Kai 45, Innere Stadt[1] – June 13, 1965) was an Austrian-born Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a religious existentialism centered on the distinction between the I-Thou relationship and the I-It relationship.[2]
Born in Vienna, Buber came from a family of observant Jews, but broke with Jewish custom to pursue secular studies in philosophy. In 1902, Buber became the editor of the weekly Die Welt, the central organ of the Zionist movement, although he later withdrew from organizational work in Zionism. In 1923 Buber wrote his famous essay on existence, Ich und Du (later translated into English as I and Thou), and in 1925 he began translating the Hebrew Bible into the German language.
In 1930 Buber became an honorary professor at the University of Frankfurt am Main, and resigned in protest from his professorship immediately after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933. He then founded the Central Office for Jewish Adult Education, which became an increasingly important body as the German government forbade Jews to attend public education. In 1938, Buber left Germany and settled in Jerusalem, in the British Mandate of Palestine, receiving a professorship at Hebrew University and lecturing in anthropology and introductory sociology.
Buber's wife Paula died in 1958, and he died at his home in the Talbiyeh neighborhood of Jerusalem on June 13, 1965.

"Freedom of the Will" by Jonathan Edwards,1754

..
The will is the ability men have of choosing one course of action rather than another.
.
The will is determined when,as a result of certain actions or influences,a decision is made.
.
The will is always determined by the greatest apparent good.
.
To be free is to be able to do as one wills.
.
Freedom is compatible with determination of the will ;
if the will were not determined,
there would be no possibility of moral motivation and no sense in praise or blame.
.
The Arminians claim that the will is self-determining
and that it wills indifferently and without cause ;
but this idea is inaccurate and self-contradictory ;
furthermore,it makes virtuous action impossible and moral injunctions senseless.
..
(The problem of the freedom of the will,is one of the traditional philosophical problems.
"The Freedom of the Will" - what is the problem ?
Is it whether the will is free ?
Or is it how the will is free ?
Does it even make sense to talk about the will as free ?
A man can be free,but what is the sense of saying that the will -whatever that is- can be free ?
Or is the question the familiar question as to whether the will is free or determined ? )
.
Jonathan Edwards,the great Puritan philosopher of the eighteenth century,
the first significant creative mind in American philosophy,
taking his cue from John Locke,whose "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding",1690,he much admired,recognized the difficulties involved in the formulation of the problem.

"Theodicy" by Leibniz,1710

..
The truths of philosophy and theology cannot contradict each other.
.
If God is all-good,all-wise,and all-powerful,how did evil come into the world ?
.
The answer is that some error is unavoidable in any creature less perfect than its creator ;
furthermore,all possible worlds contain some evil,and evil improves the good by contrast.
.
Since man has free will,he is responsible for his acts ;
God's foreknowledge of the course of man's inclinations did not involve predestination.
.
The soul is coordinated with the body by a pre-established harmony.
.

"Dialogues on Metaphysics and on Religion" by Nicolas de Malebranche,1688

..
Human beings exist as thinking beings ;
they are not material bodies.
..
The only world we know is an intelligibile world,the world of our ideas ;
but since the ideas have an eternal,infinite,necessary character that is independent of our conception,they must be features of an intelligible extension.
..
Intelligible extension has its locus in God,
but it should not be identified with God.
..
We understand certain truths only because God illuminates the ideas.
..
When an event involving the body occurs,
an event involving the soul occurs as a result of God's action ;
in this manner human beings have feelings. [Occasionalism]
..
The universe contains three types of beings :
God,mind,and body ;
of the three,God alone is an active agent in the universe.
..
(Father Nicolas de Malebranche was the chief Cartesian philosopher of the late 17th century.
He was a member of the Augustianian religious order of the Oratory in Paris,
where he originally devoted himself to the studies of ecclesiastical history,Biblical criticism,and Hebrew.)

"Ethics" by Benedictus de Spinoza

..
(Is truly amazing work.It has always been recognized as a classic.)
..
Whatever is the cause of itself exists necessarily.
..
Only substance is self-caused,free,and infinite ;
and God is the only substance.
..
God exists necessarily,and is possessed of infinite attributes.
..
But only two of God's infinite attributes are known to us :
THOUGHT and EXTENSION.
..
Since thought and extension are features of the same substance,
whatever happens to body happens also to mind as another phase of the same event.
..
A false idea is an idea improperly related to God ;
by achieving adequate ideas we become adequate causes of the body's modifications :
this is human freedom,freedom from the human bondage to the passions.
..
The highest virtue of the mind is to know God.
..

"Pensees" by Blaise Pascal

..

or "Apologie de la Religion Catholique"

..

There are two essential religious truths :

there is a God,

and there is a corruption of nature which makes men unworthly of him.

..

Reason is a little use in showing either the existence or the nature of God,

but it does reveal men's finiteness and his separation from God.

..

It is a reasonable wager to stake everything on God's existence,

for God either exists or he does not ;

if God is,then the man who believes in him wins everything,

while if God is not,the man who believes in him suffers only a finite loss.

..

In knowing that he is miserable,man achieves greatness.

..

Since man's will is subject to his passions,

it is important for men to obey custom simply because it is custom,

and to obey the law in order to avoid sedition and rebelion.

..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal

Blaise Pascal (French pronunciation: [blɛz paskal]), (June 19, 1623, in Clermont-Ferrand, France – August 19, 1662, in Paris) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a civil servant. Pascal's earliest work was in the natural and applied sciences where he made important contributions to the construction of mechanical calculators, the study of fluids, and clarified the concepts of pressure and vacuum by generalizing the work of Evangelista Torricelli. Pascal also wrote in defense of the scientific method.
Pascal was a mathematician of the first order. He helped create two major new areas of research. He wrote a significant treatise on the subject of projective geometry at the age of sixteen, and later corresponded with Pierre de Fermat on probability theory, strongly influencing the development of modern economics and social science. Following Galileo and Torricelli, in 1646 he refuted Aristotle's followers who insisted that nature abhors a vacuum. His results caused many disputes before being accepted.
In 1646, he and his sister Jacqueline identified with the religious movement within Catholicism known by its detractors as Jansenism.[1] His father died in 1651. Following a mystical experience in late 1654, he had his "second conversion", abandoned his scientific work, and devoted himself to philosophy and theology. His two most famous works date from this period: the Lettres provinciales and the Pensées, the former set in the conflict between Jansenists and Jesuits. In this year, he also wrote an important treatise on the arithmetic of triangles. Between 1658 and 1659 he wrote on the cycloid and its use in calculating the volume of solids.
Pascal had poor health throughout his life and his death came just two months after his 39th birthday.[2]
.

Contents :
1 Early life and education
2 Contributions to mathematics
2.1 Philosophy of mathematics
3 Contributions to the physical sciences
4 Adult life, religion, philosophy, and literature
4.1 Religious conversion
4.2 Brush with death
4.3 The Provincial Letters
4.4 Miracle
4.5 The Pensées
4.6 Last works and death
5 Legacy
6 Works
7 Miscellany
8 See also
9 Notes
10 External links

"Dialogues concerning Cause,Principle,and One" by Giordano Bruno

..
(Giordano Bruno,he was a man of faith with an indipendent and creative mind,who sealed his actions and believes with his life,a Martyr one,as Socrates did.Bruno's ''Dialogues..." is the work of one of the most brilliant and courageous philosophers of the Italian Renaissance.
His views did not win favor with the Dominicans with whom he had allied himself,and he was forced to leave the Order.In France,in England he produced some of his most important works.
When he went to Venice,in 1591,he became a victim-Martyr of the Inquisition.
He was tried,imprisoned in Rome for nine years,and finally burned at the stake,because of his refusal to retract,(February 17,1600).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno)
``````````````````````````
Knowledge of the first cause and principle of the universe can be acquired only with difficulty through the study of remote effect.
..
God is the first principle of all things in that,
as world soul pervading all nature,
his nature is the nature of all things.
..
God is the first cause of all things
since all things have being as the result of the informing action of the world soul.
..
There is but one substance ;
but one may distinguished form,
the power to make,
from matter,
the power to be made.
..
Matter is passive potency in that it can be more that it is ;
but it is also act in that it contains the forms which,
given the efficient cause,
it unfolds.
..
The universe is one,infinite,immobile ;
all multiplicity is in appearance only.
```````````````````````````
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03016a.htm
Italian philosopher, b. at Nola in Campania, in the Kingdom of Naples, in 1548; d. at Rome, 1600. At the age of eleven he went to Naples, to study "humanity, logic, and dialectic", and, four years later, he entered the Order of St. Dominic, giving up his worldly name of Filippo and taking that of Giordano. He made his novitiate at Naples and continued to study there. In 1572 he was ordained priest.
It seems, however, that, even as a novice, he attracted attention by the originality of his views and by his outspoken criticism of accepted theological doctrines. After his ordination things reached such a pass that, in 1576, formal accusation of heresy was brought against him. Thereupon he went to Rome, but, apparently, did not mend his manner of speaking of the mysteries of faith; for the accusations were renewed against him at the convent of the Minerva. Within a few months of his arrival he fled the city and cast off all allegiance to his order.
From this point on, his life-story is the tale of his wanderings from one country to another and of his failure to find peace anywhere. He tarried awhile in several Italian cities, and in 1579 went to Geneva, where he seems to have adopted the Calvinist faith, although afterwards, before the ecclesiastical tribunal at Venice, he steadfastly denied that he had ever joined the Reformed Church. This much at least is certain; he was excommunicated by the Calvinist Council on account of his disrespectful attitude towards the heads of that Church and was obliged to leave the city. Thence he went to Toulouse, Lyons, and (in 1581) to Paris.
At Lyons he completed his "Clavis Magna", or "Great Key" to the art of remembering. In Paris he published several works which further developed his art of memory-training and revealed the two-fold influence of Raymond Lully and the neo-Platonists. In 1582 he published a characteristic work, "Il candelaio", or "The Torchbearer", a satire in which he exhibits in a marked degree the false taste then in vogue among the humanists, many of whom mistook obscenity for humour. While at Paris he lectured publicly on philosophy, under the auspices, as it seems, of the College of Cambrai, the forerunner of the College of France.
In 1583 he crossed over to England, and, for a time at least, enjoyed the favour of Queen Elizabeth and the friendship of Sir Philip Sidney. To the latter he dedicated the most bitter of his attacks on the Catholic Church, "Il spaccio della bestia trionfante", "The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast", published in 1584. He visited Oxford, and, on being refused the privilege of lecturing there, he published (1584) his "Cena delle ceneri", or "Ash-Wednesday Supper", in which he attacked the Oxford professors, saying that they knew more about beer than about Greek. In 1585 he returned to France, and during the year which he spent in Paris at this time made several attempts to become reconciled to the Catholic Church, all of which failed because of his refusal to accept the condition imposed, namely, that he should return to his order.
In Germany, whither he went in 1587, he showed the same spirit of insolent self-assertion as at Oxford. In Helmstadt he was excommunicated by the Lutherans. After some time spent in literary activity at Frankfort, he went, in 1591, to Venice at the invitation of Mocenigo, who professed to be interested in his system of memory-training. Failing to obtain from Bruno the secret of his "natural magic", Mocenigo denounced him to the Inquisition. Bruno was arrested, and in his trial before the Venetian inquisitors first took refuge in the principle of "two-fold truth", saying that the errors imputed to him were held by him "as a philosopher, and not as an honest Christian"; later, however, he solemnly abjured all his errors and doubts in the matter of Catholic doctrine and practice (Berti, Docum., XII, 22 and XIII, 45). At this point the Roman Inquisition intervened and requested his extradition. After some hesitation the Venetian authorities agreed, and in February, 1593, Bruno was sent to Rome, and for six years was kept in the prison of the Inquisition. Historians have striven in vain to discover the explanation of this long delay on the part of the Roman authorities. In the spring of 1599, the trial was begun before a commission of the Roman Inquisition, and, after the accused had been granted several terms of respite in which to retract his errors, he was finally condemned (January, 1600), handed over to the secular power (8 February), and burned at the stake in the Campo dei Fiori in Rome (17 February). Bruno was not condemned for his defence of the Copernican system of astronomy, nor for his doctrine of the plurality of inhabited worlds, but for his theological errors, among which were the following: that Christ was not God but merely an unusually skilful magician, that the Holy Ghost is the soul of the world, that the Devil will be saved, etc.
To the works of Bruno already mentioned the following are to be added: "Della causa, principio ed uno"; "Dell' infinito universo e dei mondi"; "De Compendiosâ Architecturâ"; "De Triplici Minimo"; "De Monade, Numero et Figurâ." In these "the Nolan" expounds a system of philosophy in which the principal elements are neo-Platonism, materialistic monism, rational mysticism (after the manner of Raymond Lully), and the naturalistic concept of the unity of the material world (inspired by the Copernican astronomy). His attitude towards Aristotle is best illustrated by his reiterated assertion that the natural philosophy of the Stagirite is vitiated by the predominance of the dialectical over the mathematical mode of conceiving natural phenomena. Towards the Scholastics in general his feeling was one of undisguised contempt; he excepted, however, Albert the Great and St. Thomas, for whom he always maintained a high degree of respect. He wished to reform the Aristotelean philosophy, and yet he was bitterly opposed to his contemporaries, Ramus and Patrizzi, whose efforts were directed towards the same object. He was acquainted, though only in a superficial way, with the writings of the pre-Socratic philosophers of Greece, and with the works of the neo-Platonists, especially with the books falsely attributed to Iamblichus and Plotinus. From the neo-Platonists he derived the tendency of his thought towards monism. From the pre-Socratic philosophers he borrowed the materialistic interpretation of the One. From the Copernican doctrine, which was attracting so much attention in the century in which he lived, he learned to identify the material One with the visible, infinite, heliocentric universe.
Thus, his system of thought is an incoherent materialistic pantheism. God and the world are one; matter and spirit, body and soul, are two phases of the same substance; the universe is infinite; beyond the visible world there is an infinity of other worlds, each of which is inhabited; this terrestrial globe has a soul; in fact, each and every part of it, mineral as well as plant and animal, is animated; all matter is made up of the same elements (no distinction between terrestrial and celestial matter); all souls are akin (transmigration is, therefore, not impossible). This unitary point of view is Bruno's justification of "natural magic." No doubt, the attempt to establish a scientific continuity among all the phenomena of nature is an important manifestation of the modern spirit, and interesting, especially on account of its appearance at the moment when the medieval point of view was being abandoned. And one can readily understand how Bruno's effort to establish a unitary concept of nature commanded the admiration of such men as Spinoza, Jacobi, and Hegel. On the other hand, the exaggerations, the limitations, and the positive errors of his scientific system; his intolerance of even those who were working for the reforms to which he was devoted; the false analogies, fantastic allegories, and sophistical reasonings into which his emotional fervour often betrayed him have justified, in the eyes of many, Bayle's characterization of him as "the knight-errant of philosophy." His attitude of mind towards religious truth was that of a rationalist. Personally, he failed to feel any of the vital significance of Christianity as a religious system. It was not a Roman Inquisitor, but a Protestant divine, who said of him that he was "a man of great capacity, with infinite knowledge, but not a trace of religion."
..

"First Principle" by John Duns Scotus

..
A TRACT CONCERNING THE FIRST PRINCIPLE
..
God,the First Principle,is the most perfect Being,
that which causes but is not itself caused,
that which is independent and on which everything else is dependent.
..
The First Principle is possible since an infinite series of causes is impossible ;
such an uncaused being must be necessary in itself.
..
There is but one First Principle,for multiple first principles are not necessary.
..
The First Principle is
simple,
infinite,
wise,
indefinable,
intelligent,and
edowed with will.
..
God created the natural order by a free act of will.
..

"Summa Theologica" by Saint Thomas Aquinas

..
Man requires more than philosophy in his search for truth ;
certain truths are beyond human reason and are available only because of divine revelation ;
theology,which depends on revealed knowledge,supplements natural knowledge.
..
The existence of God can be proved in five ways :
by reference to motion -and the necessity of a first mover-,
by reference to efficient causes -and the necessity of a first cause-,
by reference to possibility and necessity,
by reference to the gradations of perfection in the world,and
by reference to the order and harmony of nature -which suggests an ordering being who gives purpose to the created world-.
..
God alone is the being whose nature is such that by reference to him one can account for the fact of motion,
efficient cause,
necessity,
perfection,and
order.
..
God's principal attributes are simplicity -for he is noncorporeal and without genus-,
actuality,
perfection,
goodness,
infinitude,
immutability,
unity,and
immanence ;
but the created intellect can know God only by God's grace and only through apprehencion,not comprehension.
,,,,,,
http://sfakianakisalexandros.blogspot.com/2009/09/summa-contra-gentiles-by-saint-thomas.html#
,,,,,,

"Summa contra Gentiles" by Saint Thomas Aquinas

..
The wise man is one who deals with the first beginning and the last end of the universe ;
truth is the final end,and the divine nature must first of all be considered if one is to understand first and last things.
..
No truth of faith is contrary to principles known by reason.
..
God understands not temporally but eternally ;
he understands all things at once by understanding their intelligible counterparts,
but he knows individuals as well as universals.
..
God's will is free,having no cause but his own wisdom ;
he does not of necessity love things other than himself.
..
In God there is active power,but no potentiality ;
he is essentially infinite,and his knowledge and understanding are infinite.
..
Since man is a rational creature,his final happiness lies in the contemplation of God ;
but this end cannot be achieved in this life.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
The summa contra gentiles is less widely known and much less widely read than Thomas Aquinas's later,longer,and more famous SUMMA THEOLOGICA. http://sfakianakisalexandros.blogspot.com/2009/10/summa-theologica-by-saint-thomas.html#
By comparison,the Contra Gentiles is more philosophical and as such it is likely to be of more interest to the non-Catholic reader.
THOMAS AQUINAS AGREES WITH CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHY IN HOLDING THAT THE CHIEF AIM OF MAN IS TO ACHIEVE WISDOM
In his case,however,this consists specifically in a knowledge of God.
...
The complete text of "Summa contra gentiles" :
http://www2.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/gc.htm
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas
Aquinas viewed theology, or the sacred doctrine, as a science,[64] the raw material data of which consists of written scripture and the tradition of the Catholic Church. These sources of data were produced by the self-revelation of God to individuals and groups of people throughout history. Faith and reason, while distinct but related, are the two primary tools for processing the data of theology. Aquinas believed both were necessary - or, rather, that the confluence of both was necessary - for one to obtain true knowledge of God. Aquinas blended Greek philosophy and Christian doctrine by suggesting that rational thinking and the study of nature, like revelation, were valid ways to understand truths pertaining to God. According to Aquinas, God reveals himself through nature, so to study nature is to study God. The ultimate goals of theology, in Aquinas’ mind, are to use reason to grasp the truth about God and to experience salvation through that truth.
..
Nature of God
Aquinas believed that the existence of God is neither obvious nor unprovable. In the Summa Theologica, he considered in great detail five reasons for the existence of God. These are widely known as the quinquae viae, or the "Five Ways."
Concerning the nature of God, Aquinas felt the best approach, commonly called the via negativa, is to consider what God is not. This led him to propose five statements about the divine qualities:
God is simple, without composition of parts, such as body and soul, or matter and form.[65]
God is perfect, lacking nothing. That is, God is distinguished from other beings on account of God's complete actuality.[66]
God is infinite. That is, God is not finite in the ways that created beings are physically, intellectually, and emotionally limited. This infinity is to be distinguished from infinity of size and infinity of number.[67]
God is immutable, incapable of change on the levels of God's essence and character.[68]
God is one, without diversification within God's self. The unity of God is such that God's essence is the same as God's existence. In Aquinas's words, "in itself the proposition 'God exists' is necessarily true, for in it subject and predicate are the same."[69]
In this approach, he is following, among others, the Jewish philosopher Maimonides.[70]
..
Nature of the Trinity
Aquinas argued that God, while perfectly united, also is perfectly described by Three Interrelated Persons. These three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) are constituted by their relations within the essence of God. The Father generates the Son (or the Word) by the relation of self-awareness. This eternal generation then produces an eternal Spirit "who enjoys the divine nature as the Love of God, the Love of the Father for the Word."
This Trinity exists independently from the world. It transcends the created world, but the Trinity also decided to communicate God's self and God's goodness to human beings. This takes place through the Incarnation of the Word in the person of Jesus Christ and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (indeed, the very essence of the Trinity itself) within those who have experienced salvation by God.[71]
..
Nature of Jesus Christ
In the Summa Theologica, Aquinas begins his discussion of Jesus Christ by recounting the biblical story of Adam and Eve and by describing the negative effects of original sin. The purpose of Christ's Incarnation was to restore human nature by removing "the contamination of sin", which humans cannot do by themselves. "Divine Wisdom judged it fitting that God should become man, so that thus one and the same person would be able both to restore man and to offer satisfaction."[72]
Aquinas argued against several specific contemporary and historical theologians who held differing views about Christ. In response to Photinus, Aquinas stated that Jesus was truly divine and not simply a human being. Against Nestorius, who suggested that Son of God was merely conjoined to the man Christ, Aquinas argued that the fullness of God was an integral part of Christ's existence. However, countering Apollinaris' views, Aquinas held that Christ had a truly human (rational) soul, as well. This produced a duality of natures in Christ. Aquinas argued against Eutyches that this duality persisted after the Incarnation. Aquinas stated that these two natures existed simultaneously yet distinguishably in one real human body, unlike the teachings of Manichaeus and Valentinus.[73]
In short, "Christ had a real body of the same nature of ours, a true rational soul, and, together with these, perfect Deity." Thus, there is both unity (in his one hypostasis) and diversity (in his two natures, human and Divine) in Christ.[74]
................................
Goal of human life :
................................
In Aquinas's thought, the goal of human existence is union and eternal fellowship with God. Specifically, this goal is achieved through the beatific vision, an event in which a person experiences perfect, unending happiness by seeing the very essence of God. This vision, which occurs after death, is a gift from God given to those who have experienced salvation and redemption through Christ while living on earth.
This ultimate goal carries implications for one's present life on earth. Aquinas stated that an individual's will must be ordered toward right things, such as charity, peace, and holiness. He sees this as the way to happiness. Aquinas orders his treatment of the moral life around the idea of happiness. The relationship between will and goal is antecedent in nature "because rectitude of the will consists in being duly ordered to the last end [that is, the beatific vision]." Those who truly seek to understand and see God will necessarily love what God loves. Such love requires morality and bears fruit in everyday human choices.[75]
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Eastern Orthodoxy criticism :
...................................................
The Eastern Orthodox Church has had a complex relationship with Aquinas' work.
For a long time, Aquinas and scholastic or schoolbook theology was a standard part of the education of Orthodox seminarians.
His philosophy found a strong advocate in the person of at least one Patriarch of Constantinople, Gennadius Scholarius.
The pioneer of neurodynamics, cognitive neuroscientist Walter Freeman, considers the work of Aquinas important in remodeling intentionality, the directedness of the mind toward what it is aware of.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

"On the reduction of the arts to theology" by Saint Bonaventura

....................................................................
.....................................................................
or

THE RECONCILIATION OF THE MYSTICAL INSIGHTS OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

with a rational understanding of reality.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi

For his solution Bonaventura turned to the Platonic tendency in medieval philosophy as developed by Saint Augustine,Alexander of Hales(been influenced by Peter Lombard),and Robert Grosseteste.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_of_Hales

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Lombard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Grosseteste

Thus,his work stands outside the Aristotelian tradition of his contemporary,Saint Thomas Aquinas.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas

.....................................................................

.....................................................................

Every kind of knowledge,if understood rightly,is knowledge of God ;

all of the arts reduce to theology.

..

God created light in the first day of creation as the source of activity in all living things,

the link between soul and body.

..

There are two sorts of light,

the created and the spiritual.

..

The mechanical arts are illuminated by external light,the sun ;

other knowledge comes from the light of sense perception,

the light of philosophical knowledge,

and the light of Sacred Scripture.

..

As seen by man,

the four lights whose source is God become six

because of distrinctions within philosophy between rational philosophy,

natural philosophy,

and moral philosophy ;

the six lights correspond to the six days of the creation.

.............................................................................

.............................................................................

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonaventure

In philosophy Bonaventure presents a marked contrast to his contemporaries, Roger Bacon and St Thomas Aquinas. While these may be taken as representing, respectively, physical science yet in its infancy, and Aristotelian scholasticism in its most perfect form, he brings before us the mystical and Platonizing mode of speculation which had already, to some extent, found expression in Hugo and Richard of St. Victor, and in Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. To him, the purely intellectual element, though never absent, is of inferior interest when compared with the living power of the affections or the heart. He used the authority of Aristotle in harmony with Scriptural and Patristic texts, and attributed much of the heretical tendency of the age to the attempt to divorce Aristotelian philosophy from Catholic Theology. Like St. Thomas Aquinas, with whom he shared numerous profound agreements in matters theological and philosophical, he combated the Aristotelian notion of the eternity of the world vigorously. St Augustine, who had imported into the west many of the doctrines that would define scholastic philosophy, was an incredibly important source of Bonaventure's Platonism. Augustine himself had engaged Neoplatonism, a school of Platonism distinct from that of Plato, mostly through Plotinus but possibly through Iamblichus as well; it is likely that Augustine had never encountered a work written by Plato himself. Another prominent influence was that of a mystic passing under the name of Dionysius the Areopagite.

..................................

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canticle_of_the_Sun the poem by Saint Francis of Assisi :

Most high, all powerful, all good Lord!All praise is yours, all glory, all honor, and all blessing.
To you, alone, Most High, do they belong.No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your name.
Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,especially through my lord Brother Sun,who brings the day; and you give light through him.And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor!Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars;in the heavens you have made them bright, precious and beautiful.
Be praised, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,and clouds and storms, and all the weather,through which you give your creatures sustenance.
Be praised, My Lord, through Sister Water;she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure.
Be praised, my Lord, through Brother Fire,through whom you brighten the night.He is beautiful and cheerful, and powerful and strong.
Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Mother Earth,who feeds us and rules us,and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.
Be praised, my Lord, through those who forgive for love of you;through those who endure sickness and trial.
Happy those who endure in peace,for by you, Most High, they will be crowned.
Be praised, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death,from whose embrace no living person can escape.Woe to those who die in mortal sin!Happy those she finds doing your most holy will.The second death can do no harm to them.
Praise and bless my Lord, and give thanks,and serve him with great humility.

..

'Guide for the perplexed' by Maimonides

..

Those who have become perplexed about religious matters as a result of studying philosophy can be helped by realizing that scriptural writings may often be understood in a figurative sense.

..

It is precisely because of the difficulty of understanding the divine that metaphor becomes useful in religious utterances.

..

Once the necessity for an indirect approach to religious matters is admitted,

faith becomes a way of relating oneself to a Being whose mystery is understood metaphorically.

................................

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guide_for_the_Perplexed :

1.The book begins with Maimonides' thesis against anthropomorphism. In the Bible, one can find many expressions which describe God in human terms, for instance the "hand of God". Maimonides was strongly against what he believed to be a heresy present in unlearned Jews who then assume God to be corporeal (or even possessing positive characteristics)

2.The book begins with the exposition of the physical structure of the universe, as seen by Maimonides. The world-view asserted in the work is essentially Aristotelian, with a spherical earth in the centre, surrounded by concentric Heavenly Spheres. While Aristotle's view with respect to the eternity of the universe is rejected, Maimonides extensively borrows his proofs of the existence of God and his concepts such as the Prime Mover.

3.The beginning of the third book is described as the climax of the whole work. This is the exposition of the mystical passage of the Chariot found in Ezekiel (cf. Merkabah mysticism). Traditionally, Jewish law viewed this passage as extremely sensitive, and in theory, did not allow it to be taught explicitly at all. The only way to learn it properly was if a student had enough knowledge and wisdom to be able to interpret their teacher's hints by themselves, in which case the teacher was allowed to teach them indirectly. In practice, however, the mass of detailed rabbinic writings on this subject often crosses the line from hint to detailed teachings.

.......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Guide_for_the_Perplexed

http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/gfp/index.htm

..

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Maimonides.html

If one did not know that Maimonides was the name of a man, Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, one would assume it was the name of a university. The writings and achievements of this twelfth­century Jewish sage seem to cover an impossibly large number of activities. Maimonides was the first person to write a systematic code of all Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah; he produced one of the great philosophic statements of Judaism, The Guide to the Perplexed; published a commentary on the entire Mishna; served as physician to the sultan of Egypt; wrote numerous books on medicine; and, in his "spare time," served as leader of Cairo's Jewish community. It is hardly surprising that when Shmuel ibn Tibbon, the Hebrew translator of The Guide to the Perplexed (which had been written in Arabic), wrote Maimonides that he wished to visit him to discuss some difficult points in the translation, Maimonides discouraged him from coming:
I dwell at Fostat, and the sultan resides at Cairo [about a mile­and­a­half away].... My duties to the sultan are very heavy. I am obliged to visit him every day, early in the morning, and when he or any of his children or any of the inmates of his harem are indisposed, I dare not quit Cairo, but must stay during the greater part of the day in the palace. It also frequently happens that one of the two royal officers fall sick, and I must attend to their healing. Hence, as a rule, I leave for Cairo very early in the day, and even if nothing unusual happens, I do not return to Fostat until the afternoon. Then I am almost dying with hunger. . . I find the antechamber filled with people, both Jews and gentiles, nobles and common people, judges and bailiffs, friends and foes-a mixed multitude who await the time of my return.
I dismount from my animal, wash my hands, go forth to my patients and entreat them to bear with me while I partake of some slight refreshment, the only meal I take in the twenty­four hours. Then I go forth to attend to my patients, and write prescriptions and directions for their various ailments. Patients go in and out until nightfall, and sometimes even, I solemnly assure you, until two hours or more in the night. I converse with and prescribe for them while lying down from sheer fatigue; and when night falls I am so exhausted that I can scarcely speak.
In consequence of this, no Israelite can have any private interview with me, except on the Sabbath. On that day the whole congregation, or at least the majority of the members, come to me after the morning service, when I instruct them as to their proceedings during the whole week; we study together a little until noon, when they depart. Some of them return, and read with me after the afternoon service until evening prayers. In this manner I spend that day.
Maimonides's full name was Moses ben Maimon; in Hebrew he is known by the acronym of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, Rambam. He was born in Spain shortly before the fanatical Muslim Almohades came to power there. To avoid persecution by the Muslim sect — which was wont to offer Jews and Christians the choice of conversion to Islam or death — Maimonides fled with his family, first to Morocco, later to Israel, and finally to Egypt. He apparently hoped to continue his studies for several years more, but when his brother David, a jewelry merchant, perished in the Indian Ocean with much of the family's fortune, he had to begin earning money. He probably started practicing medicine at this time.
Maimonides's major contribution to Jewish life remains the Mishneh Torah, his code of Jewish law. His intention was to compose a book that would guide Jews on how to behave in all situations just by reading the Torah and his code, without having to expend large amounts of time searching through the Talmud. Needless to say, this provocative rationale did not endear Maimonides to many traditional Jews, who feared that people would rely on his code and no longer study the Talmud. Despite sometimes intense opposition, the Mishneh Torah became a standard guide to Jewish practice: It later served as the model for the Shulkhan Arukh, the sixteenth­century code of Jewish law that is still regarded as authoritative by Orthodox Jews.
Philosophically, Maimonides was a religious rationalist. His damning attacks on people who held ideas he regarded as primitive — those, for example, who understood literally such biblical expressions as “the finger of God” so infuriated his opponents that they proscribed parts of his code and all of The Guide to the Perplexed. Other, more liberal, spirits forbade study of the Guide to anyone not of mature years. An old joke has it that these rabbis feared that a Jew would start reading a section in the Guide in which Maimonides summarizes a rationalist attack on religion, and fall asleep before reading Maimonides's counterattack-thereby spending the night as a heretic.
How Maimonides's opponents reacted to his works was no joke, however. Three leading rabbis in France denounced his books to the Dominicans, who headed the French Inquisition. The Inquisitors were only too happy to intervene and burn the books. Eight years later, when the Dominicans started burning the Talmud, one of the rabbis involved, Jonah Gerondi, concluded that God was punishing him and French Jewry for their unjust condemnation of Maimonides. He resolved to travel to Maimonides's grave in Tiberias, in Israel, to request forgiveness.
Throughout most of the Jewish world, Maimonides remained a hero, of course. When he died, Egyptian Jews observed three full days of mourning, and applied to his death the biblical verse "The ark of the Lord has been taken" (I Samuel 4:11).
To this day, Maimonides and the French­Jewish sage Rashi are the most widely studied Jewish scholars. Contemporary yeshiva students generally focus on the Mishneh Torah, and his Book of Commandments (Sefer ha­Mitzvot) a compilation of the Torah's 613 commandments. Maimonides also formulated a credo of Judaism expressed in thirteen articles of faith, a popular reworking of which (the Yigdal prayer) appears in most Jewish prayerbooks. Among other things, this credo affirms belief in the oneness of God, the divine origins of the Torah, and the afterlife. Its twelfth statement of faith — “I believe with a full heart in the coming of the Messiah, and even though he may tarry I will still wait for him” — was often among the last words said by Jews being marched into Nazi gas chambers.
Maimonides was one of the few Jewish thinkers whose teachings also influenced the non­Jewish world; much of his philosophical writings in the Guide were about God and other theological issues of general, not exclusively Jewish, interest. Thomas Aquinas refers in his writings to “Rabbi Moses,” and shows considerable familiarity with the Guide. In 1985, on the 850th anniversary of Maimonides's birth, Pakistan and Cuba — which do not recognize Israel — were among the co­sponsors of a UNESCO conference in Paris on Maimonides. Vitali Naumkin, a Soviet scholar, observed on this occasion: “;Maimonides is perhaps the only philosopher in the Middle Ages, perhaps even now, who symbolizes a confluence of four cultures: Greco­Roman, Arab, Jewish, and Western.” More remarkably, Abderrahmane Badawi, a Muslim professor from Kuwait University, declared: “I regard him first and foremost as an Arab thinker.” This sentiment was echoed by Saudi Arabian professor Huseyin Atay, who claimed that “if you didn't know he was Jewish, you might easily make the mistake of saying that a Muslim was writing.” That is, if you didn't read any of his Jewish writings. Maimonides scholar Shlomo Pines delivered perhaps the most accurate assessment at the conference: “Maimonides is the most influential Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages, and quite possibly of all time” (Time magazine, December 23, 1985). As a popular Jewish expression of the Middle Ages declares: “From Moses [of the Torah] to Moses [Maimonides] there was none like Moses.”

..

Monologion and Pros-logion by Saint Anselm of Canterbury

..
Since everything good must have a cause,
and since the cause is goodness,
and since God is goodness,
GOD EXISTS.
..
Since whatever exists must have a cause,
and since a cause depends upon the power to cause,
and since God is that power,
God exists.
..
Since degrees of value or reality depend upon reference to absolute excellence and reality,
and since God is absolute excellence and reality,
God exists.
-from the Monologion-
..

Since God is the being than whom no greater can be conceived,
and since it is better to exist in fact than merely in the imagination,
God must exist in fact.
-The Ontological Argument-
.................................................
God is not substance but ESSENCE -The Father-
and a set of essences -The Son- ;

as Father he is the Efficient cause -the creator- of all that exists ;
as Son he is the Formal cause -the idea-.
...............................................
Insight Scoop The Ignatius Press Blog: Benedict XVI reflects on St. Anselm of Canterbury
St. Anselm of Canterbury, also known as Anselm of Aosta and Anselm of Bec, was born in the Italian town of Aosta in 1033. The eldest child of a noble family, his mother gave him a careful human and Christian education. During his youth he went through a period of moral dissipation and excess during which he abandoned his studies. He then travelled to France in search of new experiences and eventually reached the abbey of Bec, drawn there by the fame of its prior, Lanfranco of Pavia. There, at the age of 27, he embraced the monastic life. Three years later Lanfranco was appointed as abbot of Caen and Anselm became the prior of Bec. In his new role he "revealed gifts as a sophisticated teacher. He did not care for authoritarian methods and, likening young people to saplings which develop best if not closed in a greenhouse, he granted then a 'healthy' measure of freedom. He was very demanding with himself and others in monastic observance, but rather than imposing discipline he sought to make people follow it by persuasion", the Pope explained. When Lanfranco of Pavia was appointed as archbishop of Canterbury, England, he asked Anselm to help him in educating the monks and in dealings with the ecclesial community, which was facing difficult circumstances in the wake of the Norman invasions. On Lanfranco's death in 1093, Anselm succeeded him as archbishop immediately entering "into an energetic struggle for the freedom of the Church and courageously supporting the independence of spiritual from temporal power. He defended the Church from undue interference by the political authorities, especially King William Rufus and Henry I". His faithfulness to the Pope caused him to be exiled in 1103. Anselm died on 21 April 1109 having dedicated the last years of his life "to the moral formation of the clergy and intellectual research into theological questions", whence Christian tradition has bestowed upon him the title of "Doctor Magnificus", said the Holy Father. He went on: "The clarity and logical rigour of Anselm's ideas always sought 'to raise the mind to the contemplation of God'. He made it clear that anyone who intends to study theology must not rely only upon his own intelligence but must also cultivate a profound experience of faith". "In St. Anselm's view, then, a theologian's work is divided into threes stages: faith, God's gratuitous gift to be welcomed with humility; experience, which consists in incarnating the Word of God into daily life; and true knowledge, which is never the fruit of sterile reasoning but of contemplative intuition". "May the love for truth and the constant thirst for God which characterized St. Anselm's life be a stimulus for all Christians tirelessly to seek an ever more intimate union with Christ", said the Pope, and he concluded: "May the courageous zeal which distinguished his pastoral work and which sometimes brought misunderstandings, bitterness and even exile, be an encouragement for pastors, consecrated people and all the faithful to love the Church of Christ, ... never abandoning or betraying her".
..

The City of God

..
by Aurelius Augustinus.(Other works : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Works_by_Augustine_of_Hippo )
..
The essential nature of man is will,
and no man wills the true God to be god unless he is touched by Divine Grace.
..
Theology is faith seeking understanding ;
man has faith in order that he may understand.
..
History has at its beginning the Creation ;
at its center,Christ,and,as its consummation,
the judgment and transformation.
..
Because God had foreknowledge,
he knew that man's will would be misdirected and that evil would thereby come into the world ;
but he also knew that through his grace good could be brought from evil.
..
History is divided by two cities formed by alternative loves :
the earthly city by the love of self,and
the heavenly city by the love of God.
..............................................................
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_God_(book)
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1201.htm :
The City of God
Book 1 Augustine censures the pagans, who attributed the calamities of the world, and especially the recent sack of Rome by the Goths, to the Christian religion, and its prohibition of the worship of the gods. He speaks of the blessings and ills of life, which then, as always, happened to good and bad men alike. Finally, he rebukes the shamelessness of those who cast up to the Christians that their women had been violated by the soldiers.
Book 2 In this book Augustine reviews those calamities which the Romans suffered before the time of Christ, and while the worship of the false gods was universally practised; and demonstrates that, far from being preserved from misfortune by the gods, the Romans have been by them overwhelmed with the only, or at least the greatest, of all calamities— the corruption of manners, and the vices of the soul.
Book 3 As in the foregoing book Augustine has proved regarding moral and spiritual calamities, so in this book he proves regarding external and bodily disasters, that since the foundation of the city the Romans have been continually subject to them; and that even when the false gods were worshipped without a rival, before the advent of Christ, they afforded no relief from such calamities.
Book 4 In this book it is proved that the extent and long duration of the Roman empire is to be ascribed, not to Jove or the gods of the heathen, to whom individually scarce even single things and the very basest functions were believed to be entrusted, but to the one true God, the author of felicity, by whose power and judgment earthly kingdoms are founded and maintained.
Book 5 Augustine first discusses the doctrine of fate, for the sake of confuting those who are disposed to refer to fate the power and increase of the Roman empire, which could not be attributed to false gods, as has been shown in the preceding book. After that, he proves that there is no contradiction between God's prescience and our free will. He then speaks of the manners of the ancient Romans, and shows in what sense it was due to the virtue of the Romans themselves, and in how far to the counsel of God, that he increased their dominion, though they did not worship him. Finally, he explains what is to be accounted the true happiness of the Christian emperors.
Book 6 Hitherto the argument has been conducted against those who believe that the gods are to be worshipped for the sake of temporal advantages, now it is directed against those who believe that they are to be worshipped for the sake of eternal life. Augustine devotes the five following books to the confutation of this latter belief, and first of all shows how mean an opinion of the gods was held by Varro himself, the most esteemed writer on heathen theology. Of this theology Augustine adopts Varro's division into three kinds, mythical, natural, and civil; and at once demonstrates that neither the mythical nor the civil can contribute anything to the happiness of the future life.
Book 7 In this book it is shown that eternal life is not obtained by the worship of Janus, Jupiter, Saturn, and the other select gods of the civil theology.
Book 8 Augustine comes now to the third kind of theology, that is, the natural, and takes up the question, whether the worship of the gods of the natural theology is of any avail towards securing blessedness in the life to come. This question he prefers to discuss with the Platonists, because the Platonic system is facile princeps among philosophies, and makes the nearest approximation to Christian truth. In pursuing this argument, he first refutes Apuleius, and all who maintain that the demons should be worshipped as messengers and mediators between gods and men; demonstrating that by no possibility can men be reconciled to good gods by demons, who are the slaves of vice, and who delight in and patronize what good and wise men abhor and condemn—the blasphemous fictions of poets, theatrical exhibitions, and magical arts.
Book 9 Having in the preceding book shown that the worship of demons must be abjured, since they in a thousand ways proclaim themselves to be wicked spirits, Augustine in this book meets those who allege a distinction among demons, some being evil, while others are good; and, having exploded this distinction, he proves that to no demon, but to Christ alone, belongs the office of providing men with eternal blessedness.
Book 10 In this book Augustine teaches that the good angels wish God alone, whom they themselves serve, to receive that divine honor which is rendered by sacrifice, and which is called latreia. He then goes on to dispute against Porphyry about the principle and way of the soul's cleansing and deliverance.
Book 11 Here begins the second part of this work, which treats of the origin, history, and destinies of the two cities, the earthly and the heavenly. In the first place, Augustine shows in this book how the two cities were formed originally, by the separation of the good and bad angels; and takes occasion to treat of the creation of the world, as it is described in Holy Scripture in the beginning of the book of Genesis.
Book 12 Augustine first institutes two inquiries regarding the angels; namely, whence is there in some a good, and in others an evil will? And, what is the reason of the blessedness of the good, and the misery of the evil? Afterwards he treats of the creation of man, and teaches that he is not from eternity, but was created, and by none other than God.
Book 13 In this book it is taught that death is penal, and had its origin in Adam's sin.
Book 14 Augustine again treats of the sin of the first man, and teaches that it is the cause of the carnal life and vicious affections of man. Especially he proves that the shame which accompanies lust is the just punishment of that disobedience, and inquires how man, if he had not sinned, would have been able without lust to propagate his kind.
Book 15 Having treated in the four preceding books of the origin of the two cities, the earthly and the heavenly, Augustine explains their growth and progress in the four books which follow; and, in order to do so, he explains the chief passages of the sacred history which bear upon this subject. In this fifteenth book he opens this part of his work by explaining the events recorded in Genesis from the time of Cain and Abel to the deluge.
Book 16 In the former part of this book, from the first to the twelfth chapter, the progress of the two cities, the earthly and the heavenly, from Noah to Abraham, is exhibited from Holy Scripture: In the latter part, the progress of the heavenly alone, from Abraham to the kings of Israel, is the subject.
Book 17 In this book the history of the city of God is traced during the period of the kings and prophets from Samuel to David, even to Christ; and the prophecies which are recorded in the books of Kings, Psalms, and those of Solomon, are interpreted of Christ and the church.
Book 18 Augustine traces the parallel courses of the earthly and heavenly cities from the time of Abraham to the end of the world; and alludes to the oracles regarding Christ, both those uttered by the Sibyls, and those of the sacred prophets who wrote after the foundation of Rome, Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, Micah, and their successors.
Book 19 In this book the end of the two cities, the earthly and the heavenly, is discussed. Augustine reviews the opinions of the philosophers regarding the supreme good, and their vain efforts to make for themselves a happiness in this life; and, while he refutes these, he takes occasion to show what the peace and happiness belonging to the heavenly city, or the people of Christ, are both now and hereafter.
Book 20 Concerning the last judgment, and the declarations regarding it in the old and new testaments.
Book 21 Of the end reserved for the city of the devil, namely, the eternal punishment of the damned; and of the arguments which unbelief brings against it.
Book 22 This book treats of the end of the city of God, that is to say, of the eternal happiness of the saints; the faith of the resurrection of the body is established and explained; and the work concludes by showing how the saints, clothed in immortal and spiritual bodies, shall be employed.
About this page
Source. Translated by Marcus Dods. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 2. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. .
Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.
...................................