Bradley G. Green

As I have been writing on this site for a bit, I have had a wonderful time reading Augustine, as more than one writing project has required doing so.  What a blessing to spend hours reading this giant of the Christian church.  I am always struck when reading Augustine how "relevant" he is for our day.  He is very intent on counseling his readers to speak of God correctly, for we can get terribly confused by either (1) being too timid in speaking about God, or in (2) being too brash and arrogant in speaking about God.  Here are some nuggets from Augustine (and readers aware of the "open theism" debate may find these interesting). Augustine is aware that one must be humble and careful when speaking about God.  Indeed, as Augustine continues:

In any case, when we think about God the trinity we are aware that our thoughts are quite inadequate to their object, and incapable of grasping him as he is; even by men of the calibre of the apostle Paul he can only be seen, as it says, like a puzzling reflection in a mirror (1 Cor. 13:12) (The Trinity V.1)

Augustine wants to approach God correctly: "there is no effrontery in burning to know, out of faithful piety, the divine and inexpressible truth that is above us, provided the mind is fired by the grace of our creator and savior, and not inflated by arrogant confidence in its own powers" (The Trinity V.1).   Language used at the human level cannot simply be simplistically applied to God:

God does not repent as a human being does, but as God.  So too, he is not angry as a human being is or merciful as a human being is or jealous as a human being is, but does all things as God. God's repentance does not follow upon a mistake, and the wrath of God does not include the agitation of a mind in turmoil  (Answer to an Enemy of the Law and the Prophets 40).