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Christian philosophy and on St. Thomas would expect, this
studyofAugustineisoutstanding initssophistication,witand
profundity, in the,aptness of the illustrations from common
experience, inthe masteryofvoluminoussources (the notes
and bibliography cover one hundred arid thirty-four pages),
and most impressive ofall,in the marvelous adroitnesswith
whichM. Gilson gatherstogether intoa coherent whole the,
free-flowing 'open system'.of Augustinian thought...."
—PhilipDeasy,Commonweal
". ..an enlightening and most satisfying introduction."
—FrancisE.McMahon,America
".. tfor theserious student who wishes tounderstand Augus
tine and his philosophy [thisbook] becomes required read
ing. ..-." A
' —ErnestT.Thompson,Preshyte
overedition from Random Ho
CoverdesignbyAnitaKarl
AVintage Book
THE
CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY
OF
SAINTAUGUSTINE
THE
CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY
OF
SAINT
AUGUSTINE
BY
Etienne Gilson
DIRECTOR OF STUDIES,
PONTIFICAL INSTITUTE OF MEDIAEVAL STUDIES, TORONTO
Translated by L. E. M. Lynch
sr. Michael's college, university of Toronto
Vintage Books
A DivisionofRandom House
NEW YORK
NIHILOBSTAT
ArmandA.Maurer, CensorDeputatus
IMPRIMATUR
J(cid:141)* JamesC.Cardinal McGuigan,D.D.,ArchbishopofToronto
first vintage books edition, September, 1967
©Copyright, 1960,by EtienneGilson
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copy
right Conventions. Distributed in Canada by Random House of
Canada Limited, Toronto.
Manufactured in theUnited StatesofAmerica
VINTAGE BOOKS
arepublishedby
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and Random House, Inc.
TO
theProfessorsandStudents
intheDepartmentofPhilosophy,
Harvard University
FOREWORD
first the Christian philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas, and now
the Christian philosophy of Saint Augustine. Are there, then, two
Christian philosophies?Indeed thereare,andmore than two, but it so
happens that the Church has raised the Christian philosophy of
Thomas Aquinas to the rank of her common doctrine. Forthis reason,
every Christian who cares to philosophize should study it first and
foremost. But this he cannot do for long before he becomes conscious
of the presencein it of another form of Christian philosophy, namely
that of Saint Augustine. Such expressions as "And this is the reason
why Augustine says . . ." or "As Augustine says. . ." are not in
frequent from the pen of Thomas Aquinas, nor are they without sig
nificance. Obviously, Thomas Aquinas isanxious to make it clear that
even though their philosophical languagesmay differ ever so widely,
when itcomes to matters of faith he has nothing to say which has not
been said already by Augustine or, at least, could not be said by him
now.
This fundamental agreement, despite occasionalverbal differences,
is easy to account for. The doctrines of St. Augustine and St. Thomas
representthe outstandingachievements of humanreasonin its attempt
to understandthemeaningofdivinerevelation. The only avenueopen
to them for the accomplishment of this task was to use as a means
of investigation the truest philosophy known to them in their own
time, for indeed, to them, philosophy was the most complete expres
sion of rational knowledge about the highest objects of the human
mind.
One reason for the difference between the two doctrines lies in the
fact that the two great doctors set about their task with different phil
osophical equipment. In Thomas Aquinas's own words, Augustine
followed Plato as far as the Christian faith allowed, while Aquinas
himself employed the philosophical technique of Aristotle in his at
tempt to arrive at arational interpretation of the truths of Christian
ity. As a result of this initial difference, one and the same religious
truth was expressed in two different philosophical languages; but a
deeper distinction can be observed between them.
The Christian revelation is the word of God. This means that in it,
vii
VUI FOREWORD
GodhasimpartedtomaninformationaboutHimselfwhichisdifferent
in kind from the highest and most perfect type of merely human
knowledge. Scripture makes us share, however imperfectly, in the
knowledge which belongs to God Himself. Owing to Scripture, we
become capableof knowingGod in somewhat the same way He knows
his own essenceand, through it, all else besides. For this reason, there
issimply no proportion between the natural knowledge attainable by
reasonand the supernaturalknowledgeobtained by faith in the word
of God.
The highest form of wisdom accessible to man is theological wis
dom, but no single theology could possibly exhaust the truth con
tent of Scripture. Indeed, if this were possible, it would mean that
the human mind could attain a knowledge of God which would be
equal in perfection to the knowledge of God Himself. Hence a plural
ity of Christian theologies,eachof which representsadistinct attempt
on the partof humanreasonto gaina finiteview of an infiniteobject.
These attempts are not all equally successful, nor are we left to our
selves in the task of determining their respective values. The only
authority to consult in this matter is that of the Church. It is well
known that the Church has singled out the theology of Thomas
Aquinas as the norm of her own theological teaching, but this ex
ceptional honor conferred upon the doctrine of the Summa Theo-
logiae in no way disqualifies the other theological interpretations of
Christian dogma. It means that, unless otherwise specified, the theo
logical teaching of Thomas Aquinas is, at the same time, that of the
Church. Other theologiesmay be right also,and no doubt many of
them are. There is more than one Doctor of the Church and the en
cyclical letter Aeterni Patris mentions with honor more than one
namel The long and short of it issimply that, in matters of theology,
one cannot beright againstSaint Thomas Aquinas.
In this respect, the position of Saint Augustine is an exceptional
one. Thomas Aquinas, far from intending to do away with his prede
cessors,was most anxious to incorporate in the body of his own doc
trine whatever truth was to be found in them. In the title of his chief
work, the word "theology" did not mean "my own theology," or
"theology asI understand it"; to him, Summa Theologiae meant the
sum and substanceof theology itself asset forth alreadyin the many
and varied works of the sacred writers of all times, especially the
Fathersof the Church. Fromjhis point of view, the theology of Saint
^Thomas was intended to systematire.*lEnTcUi^puuauLL. iht1 already ex
isting theology__ofj^ie_Clm^ is the
" mi whytheChurch fras ™*a» *t v»^ nwn tj^glppy Now, as Saint
