Augustine Takes The Church Out Of History

The lecture begins with Fukuyama only to detach the phrase from Fukuyama. End of history is not a late Cold War oddity. It is a recurring fantasy of rule. Source trail 0:001:15 Good morning. So we are doing Augustine today. And even though Augustine is not as famous as some other thinkers we've looked at this semester, he's actually very important because he's actually the intellectual archite...We've had communism. We've had socialism. We've had democracy. And through this dialectic, through this constant struggle, struggle of ideas, we have now reached the end of history where liberal consumer democracy is th... The ruler arrives and says the struggle of ideas has ended here, with me, in this order. Paradise can now begin on earth. Source trail 1:15 We've had communism. We've had socialism. We've had democracy. And through this dialectic, through this constant struggle, struggle of ideas, we have now reached the end of history where liberal consumer democracy is th...

That is why David, Augustus, Constantine, and Theodosius belong in the same opening movement. David's Bible explains why David's house should rule. The Aeneid makes Rome destiny. Source trail 2:173:24 Remember that we discussed that when King David came into power, he sponsored the running of the Bible as an apology to explain why he's king. And we also looked at the story constructed by the Yahwehs. How Yahweh, the...by the gods to found the city of Rome and the Roman Empire. And why does he do this? Because eventually, Rome will become the greatest empire on earth, with Augustus as the first emperor. And so that's the end of histor... Constantine and imperial Christianity turn the Godhead and monotheism into the shape of empire. Source trail 3:244:22 by the gods to found the city of Rome and the Roman Empire. And why does he do this? Because eventually, Rome will become the greatest empire on earth, with Augustus as the first emperor. And so that's the end of histor...It's the the idea that God gave God to long snacker systems, for us to read and to live in all kinds God is both everything and nothing, which is also the idea of empire. There's also a major civil war after Constantine... The Edict of Thessalonica can then look like another end of history: Christianity has arrived, paganism can be rooted out, and paradise should follow.

The problem is that Rome falls. If Christianity was supposed to make paradise, the sack of 410 looks like refutation. Maybe the old gods punished Rome. Maybe Christian mercy made Romans weak. Augustine's answer is not to make Christian empire visibly successful. It is to change the jurisdiction. Lens point eschatology-script Eschatology becomes institutional armor when a sacred body moves itself outside ordinary history, survives failed earthly paradise, authorizes rulers from above the battlefield, and makes obedience feel safer than historical action. Source trail 5:426:46 And they believe that by converting to Christianity, two things happen. The first thing happened was the old gods, Jupiter and the others, became furious at the Romans and were determined to punish the Romans by sending...What does that mean? It means that history is really about mortals battling for power. But the Catholic Church, it is a representative of God on Earth. Therefore, it will remove itself from history. You guys can battle... History is where mortals battle for power. The Catholic Church represents God on earth, so it removes itself from that battlefield. Lens point eschatology-script Eschatology becomes institutional armor when a sacred body moves itself outside ordinary history, survives failed earthly paradise, authorizes rulers from above the battlefield, and makes obedience feel safer than historical action. Source trail 6:46 What does that mean? It means that history is really about mortals battling for power. But the Catholic Church, it is a representative of God on Earth. Therefore, it will remove itself from history. You guys can battle...

The two cities make the maneuver durable. Rome is power, greed, and the self. Jerusalem is spirit, selflessness, and paradise. Source trail 6:46 What does that mean? It means that history is really about mortals battling for power. But the Catholic Church, it is a representative of God on Earth. Therefore, it will remove itself from history. You guys can battle... Obedience to the Church becomes the passage from one city to the other. This solves the politician's three problems at once: why he rules, how the people cohere, and why they are different. Power may shift, but the Church stays at the center because it can authorize the shift. Lens point eschatology-script Eschatology becomes institutional armor when a sacred body moves itself outside ordinary history, survives failed earthly paradise, authorizes rulers from above the battlefield, and makes obedience feel safer than historical action. Source trail 8:07 He solves the major problem for political leaders. Remember, before David, Augustine, Constantine, whenever they came into power, they faced three major problems. The first is legitimacy. Why are you the king? The secon...

Confessions is not treated as innocent autobiography. A powerful person's memoir is already a political act. Source trail 10:4011:59 And in the story, he talks about, about his life, where he grows up with a pagan father and a Christian mother named Monica. And in the beginning, he is a very disobedient young man. He refuses to follow the wishes of h...And the one thing that you will learn in life is whenever a politician or a powerful individual writes a memoir, it's complete BS, OK? There's nothing authentic or true about it. So we're going to read a bit of Confessi... Augustine's pear story matters because nothing material is gained. The boys steal bad pears and throw them to pigs. The point is pleasure in wrongdoing. Sin is not hunger, need, or accident. Sin is enjoyment. Source trail 11:5913:04 And the one thing that you will learn in life is whenever a politician or a powerful individual writes a memoir, it's complete BS, OK? There's nothing authentic or true about it. So we're going to read a bit of Confessi...And this starts from the womb, OK? We are born in sin. We are born of sin. I saw something which I had in plenty of much better quality. My desire was not to enjoy it. Not what I sought by stealing, but merely excitemen...

That makes childhood exploration dangerous. What looks like boys playing becomes proof that curiosity itself is corrupt. Source trail 14:00 a gang of naughty adolescents set off late at night after we had continued our game in the streets. We carried off a huge load of pears, OK? So they stole a huge load of pears from someone. He doesn't tell us who, but i... Jiang's formulation is brutal: curiosity can only lead to evil; exploration can only lead to sin. Augustine then rewrites original sin. Paul had made Eden a mistake that Jesus comes to redeem. Augustine makes the person the mistake. Source trail 15:1216:35 And the other thing is this is clearly a retelling of the Garden of Eden story, right? Where Adam and Eve, they eat that. They eat that. Fruit. And here, what Augustine is saying is, first of all, Adam and Eve are steal...He's saying that God is not guilty. In fact, first of all, we didn't make a mistake. We are the mistake, all right? We are the ones born to sin. Therefore, we will always disobey. And then what else he—what else—but wha... We do not merely commit sin. We are born as the kind of creature that will always sin unless taught obedience.

Lucretia is the test case. Rome honors her suicide after rape as the act that gives birth to the Republic. Augustine reverses the meaning. She did not die for Rome; she died from shame, vanity, pride, and hunger for honor. A founding heroine is turned into a sinner Source trail 19:0820:1421:29 Lucretia. Remember who Lucretia is. Lucretia, we discussed Lucretia when we discussed the history of the Roman Republic. At first, Rome was a monarchy, and the king, the king's son, he was a sinful person, and he liked...So she's honored and considered a hero by the Roman people. And what Augustine will say is, no, she's not a hero because she killed herself, not for the good of Rome, but for her own vanity, for her own pride, for the f... because civic honor is now ego before God. Source trail 20:1421:29 So she's honored and considered a hero by the Roman people. And what Augustine will say is, no, she's not a hero because she killed herself, not for the good of Rome, but for her own vanity, for her own pride, for the f...Pride. That's what killed her. Her pride. Sorry. I hate computers. Okay. Okay. Christian women do not kill themselves. If you are a true Christian. You do not, you would never kill yourself. Why? Because murder is a wor...

The larger doctrine is more frightening than the Lucretia case. If every person is God's property, then suicide steals from God. If every action is contaminated by pride, then even saving a drowning child might interfere with God's plan. Source trail 22:59 every one of us is God's property we are not free of ourselves we are God's property therefore when we kill ourselves we are offending God okay that's the first thing second thing that he's saying is we can do no good b... The safest answer is not courage or rescue. It is obedience, passivity, and doing nothing. Source trail 23:59 anything God knows everything God has a plan just obey the will of God and the will of God means doing nothing and in fact doing nothing is the best thing you can do because if you are born of sin and you're only capabl... This is where Jiang places the beginning of the Dark Ages: people who want to be good are trained not to question, explore, or act. Source trail 23:59 anything God knows everything God has a plan just obey the will of God and the will of God means doing nothing and in fact doing nothing is the best thing you can do because if you are born of sin and you're only capabl...

Augustine's repeated sentence is that a person must live by God's standard, not by the standard of man. Jiang hears the political mechanism in the repetition. Trust your instinct, intuition, or imagination, and you are like the devil. Source trail 25:08 think about this when you choose to follow your nature you are like the devil there's only by negating yourself there's only by denying yourself can you be good all right if you trust your instincts if you trust your in... Even asking the priest a question can be turned into evidence of the devil in you. Source trail 26:0828:13 not choose yeah so this is a so so the thing about August that's very important for us to understand is he studied rhetoric and so he's very good at gaslighting okay so twisting things in order to force your compliance...it if you think about it rhetorically you see thinking of the underlying theories it's really the same thing the Emperor's always right just do what the Emperor wants all right so this is a this is in many ways it's all...

The audience for this doctrine is not mainly the ordinary layperson. Most people cannot read it. The practical audience is the priesthood. City of God and Confessions become a rhetorical manual Source trail 27:0928:13 question that that's exactly it who is his audience exactly his audience is clearly not for us or ordinary people because at this time most people don't read and write right so his on is actually for the priesthood okay...it if you think about it rhetorically you see thinking of the underlying theories it's really the same thing the Emperor's always right just do what the Emperor wants all right so this is a this is in many ways it's all... : memorize the answers, pass the exam of authority, and when people bring the world's corruption to you, send them back into themselves. Source trail 28:1329:16 it if you think about it rhetorically you see thinking of the underlying theories it's really the same thing the Emperor's always right just do what the Emperor wants all right so this is a this is in many ways it's all...within us okay so focus your attention on the devil within you ignore the fact that the world is corrupt and evil you know the fact that the landlord is exploiting you you know the fact that the Catholic Church is steal... The landlord exploiting you, the Church stealing from you, the world collapsing around you: all of that becomes secondary to the devil inside you. Source trail 29:16 within us okay so focus your attention on the devil within you ignore the fact that the world is corrupt and evil you know the fact that the landlord is exploiting you you know the fact that the Catholic Church is steal...

The Adam and Eve reading sharpens the same logic. They are not innocent people tricked by a serpent. They begin in secret evil. Pride means leaving God and becoming more of yourself. Source trail 31:1732:16 that's important to understand they were not tricked by the serpent they were not curious they were just evil for pride is the start of every kind of sin and what is pride except a longing for a perverse kind of exhorta...self -complacent when he deserts that changes good in which rather than him in himself he ought to have found dissatisfaction pride okay pride makes us happy it makes us ambitious but it will blind us from God this deci... Obedience moves toward God; selfhood moves toward sin. That is why Adam's love for Eve becomes disastrous. He chooses companionship over command, and ordinary human love is recoded as falsehood. Source trail 33:18 entail companionship in sin okay so Adam was forced to make a decision Eve had already eaten a fruit so either Adam could follow God and disavow Eve or he could follow her in sin he followed her in sin and that's why we...

Jiang then pulls Virgil back into the room. Aeneas is honored because he abandons Dido and obeys destiny Source trail 34:27 me ask you a question who else at this love can only lead you to disaster it is a disease you must deny it you must recognize it for the disease that it is who else said this Virgil right Virgil Virgil in a in need memb... ; Dido is destroyed because love consumes her. Augustine and Virgil meet in the same harsh sentence: love will destroy you, love will blind you, love is evil, only obedience is good. Source trail 34:27 me ask you a question who else at this love can only lead you to disaster it is a disease you must deny it you must recognize it for the disease that it is who else said this Virgil right Virgil Virgil in a in need memb...

The theological contradiction is obvious: if God is perfect and God created humans, why are humans flawed? Jiang's Augustine answers with creation from nothing. Humans are made from nothing and fall back toward nothing. Source trail 35:5136:53 That bad fruit could only come from a bad tree. Further, the badness of the tree came about contrary to nature because of a fault in the will, which is against nature. It certainly could not have happened. But only in n...God created Adam out of dust. And he created Eve out of Adam. The Adam's rib, basically. So he's creating us out of nothing. And this was an experiment. And because we were created out of nothing, we were born of sin. S... The only way forward is to move away from the self and toward God. This makes humility a technical term for self-denial, self-negation, and complete obedience. Source trail 36:53 God created Adam out of dust. And he created Eve out of Adam. The Adam's rib, basically. So he's creating us out of nothing. And this was an experiment. And because we were created out of nothing, we were born of sin. S... God, in this institutional translation, means the Catholic Church.

The paradox of free will is solved the same way. On earth, free will is dangerous because the self is separate from God and inclined to sin. In the heavenly city, free will returns only because separation has ended. Our will is the same as God's will. Source trail 41:12 It will be one and the same freedom in all, and indivisible in the separate individuals. It will be freed from all evil, and filled with all good, enjoying unfailingly the delight of eternal joy, forgetting all offenses... Freedom becomes safe when independent will disappears. Source trail 39:2241:12 Pride, ego, will. All this is found in the city of Rome. But in the city of God, the only thing that exists is humility and love of God. Any questions so far? Oh, that's a great question. So, Jesus is dead, and Jesus di...It will be one and the same freedom in all, and indivisible in the separate individuals. It will be freed from all evil, and filled with all good, enjoying unfailingly the delight of eternal joy, forgetting all offenses...

This is why the promise has such power. Life on earth can be exploitation, rape, violence, and misery, but the believer is told to focus on internal salvation. Suffer now, obey now, and later the pain will be remembered without being felt. Source trail 42:1643:3645:00 But, just focus on your internal salvation. Focus on obedience. Because when you do so, you will ascend to Jerusalem. And at that point, you will be one with God. And everything that you suffered on earth will be forgot...Okay? We will achieve paradise. So it's the power of the city of God. Not only does it provide a framework for the Catholic Church to assert dominion over all of Europe, but it becomes the catalyst for revolutionary mov... Jiang immediately sees the portability of the structure. Communism can use the same promise: sacrifice today, build paradise tomorrow, and then complete freedom will finally arrive. Source trail 42:16 But, just focus on your internal salvation. Focus on obedience. Because when you do so, you will ascend to Jerusalem. And at that point, you will be one with God. And everything that you suffered on earth will be forgot...

The biography is read through power. Augustine's story says ordinary family, talent, conversion, study, and appointment. Jiang asks what appointment at forty-two really implies. Christianity grows by marrying hierarchy to the power elite. Source trail 47:10 Prolific. Which meant that he wrote a lot of books. It's possible he wrote hundreds of thousands of pages. And his two most famous are Confessions and The City of God. So, most people, most scholars, take his story for... Augustine's prolific output then looks less like solitary authorship and more like the work of a bishop directing scribes and priests, a professor with a lab, a genius propagandist Source trail 49:25 And that's how he was able to be so prolific. So think of him as a professor, basically. A university professor, a science professor, who's in charge of a lab. He doesn't actually do his own work. He has assistants for... at the center of an institution.

The final image is the whole lecture in miniature. Empire pushes a person down. When the person asks why, empire says: I did not push you; you slipped. Source trail 49:25 And that's how he was able to be so prolific. So think of him as a professor, basically. A university professor, a science professor, who's in charge of a lab. He doesn't actually do his own work. He has assistants for... It can say that because it is powerful and the victim is not. Augustine gives that structure a theology. Obey, or risk hell forever. Lens point eschatology-script Eschatology becomes institutional armor when a sacred body moves itself outside ordinary history, survives failed earthly paradise, authorizes rulers from above the battlefield, and makes obedience feel safer than historical action. Source trail 50:41 Alright? Augustine is really using the logic of empire. He's trying to force people to be obedient. Right? Because obedience leads to salvation. Hey, you can disobey me, you can fool around, but this means you'll burn i... Most people will not take the chance. Passivity becomes rational. Lens point eschatology-script Eschatology becomes institutional armor when a sacred body moves itself outside ordinary history, survives failed earthly paradise, authorizes rulers from above the battlefield, and makes obedience feel safer than historical action. Source trail 50:41 Alright? Augustine is really using the logic of empire. He's trying to force people to be obedient. Right? Because obedience leads to salvation. Hey, you can disobey me, you can fool around, but this means you'll burn i...

But obedience does not absorb everyone. Some people still believe exploration, curiosity, intuition, imagination, and faith are fundamental to being human. Source trail 50:4151:51 Alright? Augustine is really using the logic of empire. He's trying to force people to be obedient. Right? Because obedience leads to salvation. Hey, you can disobey me, you can fool around, but this means you'll burn i...Because Arabia is basically like a lawless desert. There's no real authority in the desert. And there are lots of Jewish people and Christians who escaped Arabia in order to practice their faith. One thing that you will... They go east, to the Sassanian Empire and especially to Arabia, where authority is weaker and religious fugitives can breathe. That is the handoff to the next class: from Arabia will come Islam Source trail 51:51 Because Arabia is basically like a lawless desert. There's no real authority in the desert. And there are lots of Jewish people and Christians who escaped Arabia in order to practice their faith. One thing that you will... , the revolutionary religion that challenges Augustine's Church.