lurking

A wet week at the farm. Lots of small jobs that only need doing once a year and that don't drag on. All in all a good week, so far.

I have just finished an audio course that I ordered called, Augustine, Philosopher and Saint. Whew!!! what a heavy duty thinker. In EfM we covered him off in half a lesson. After six hours of lecture material, a written course outline and referencing of Confessions and City of God throughout the course I know much more of his thoughts, but understand less than I did before. Hmmm...

I found the description of Manichaeanism particularly enlightening. The idea that they were materialist and rationalists is interesting, especially given that a good portion of Christianity, as practiced today, is both. The really fascinating element of their belief, and it is an element that seems to run through many of the so-called heresies, is the view of creation as being dualist. The good stuff versus the bad stuff or good versus evil or God versus the devil. Well I thought, isn't a variation of that preached from most pulpits today?

Augustine took his argument against this concept of the universe being possessed of a dual nature and put it into simple and elegant language: the whole of creation is divinely worked and therefore good, but there are holes in it similar to holes in a garment and these absences of what is right and divine where the holes are is what we call wrong or evil. I am not certain that I agree with him, but he articulates the response to the the question of good and evil very well.

Well, I am going on. In short, a good course. I enjoyed the thoughts on inward and outward sacraments, on grace and on charity. The sections on original sin, the treasury of merit, the damnation of un-baptised infants, predestination and double predestination and subordinationism, well, these seemed to get pretty far from the new testament, the gospels anyway.

I'll finish this off by sharing a thought. I enjoy reading about and studying the tapestry through which Christianity flows. That being said, I cannot think of a single person in my life that I have a relationship with where I can sit over a coffee and shoot the breeze about such things. I did have a friend not all that long ago who I could do that with, though I suspect she thought me a little tedious. There is a hidden insight into my character lurking in this thought. Oh well, I've had my fill of personal insights for this quarter of the year, so I'll let this one lurk.