Augustine's Problem
eBook - ePub

Augustine's Problem

Impotence and Grace

  1. 280 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Augustine's Problem

Impotence and Grace

About this book

Augustine's Problem provides a new approach to St. Augustine's life and doctrine, hypothesizing that his problem was not sexual addiction but sexual impotence. For Augustine, the problem with sex was not the seductive nature of women, but the unpredictability of desire, which can induce an unwanted erection or fail to provide one when even the mind would choose to have sex. He extends his personal incapacity to a general impotence of the will--we can never, without grace, choose any good. Just as the impotent man cannot work on his impotence, we cannot work on our salvation; only God can make a difference and predestines a tiny elect. The disobedience of the Garden is transferred to the disobedience of the male member, guaranteeing that the sin of Eden is transferred, in conception, as original sin. The most controversial elements of Augustine's theology are all linked to the theme of impotence, as expressed in his writings, from the Confessions to the anti-Pelagian works written at the end of his life.

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Yes, you can access Augustine's Problem by Jeff Nicoll in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Theology & Religion & History of Christianity. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Foreword
  2. Preface
  3. Acknowledgements
  4. Introduction
  5. Chapter 1: The Two Augustines
  6. Chapter 2: True Confessions
  7. Chapter 3: The Argument over Augustine
  8. Chapter 4: Augustine’s Argument
  9. Chapter 5: Augustine and Pelagius
  10. Chapter 6: Origen and Seneca
  11. Chapter 7: On Nature
  12. Chapter 8: On the Will
  13. Chapter 9: Toddlers in Hell
  14. Chapter 10: On the Disobedient Member
  15. Chapter 11: Augustine’s Problem
  16. Bibliography