Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love

I recently finished reading Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love by Saint Augustine, which is a letter written in response to one of his devotees who had asked him for spiritual guidance. It’s actually very interesting once you cut through his brainy and often overly complex writing style (which is indicative of both Augustine’s intellect, and most likely the writing style of that period). Now, I am not exactly sure where the title of “handbook” came from, as it is not like any handbook I have ever seen. It doesn’t have easily accessible solutions (i.e. “Crisis of faith – page 27″), which one might expect from a volume given the title “Handbook…”. Instead, it reads like a letter, with Augustine tackling some very paradoxical ideas, most of which support or affirm the others. His ideas flow almost like a logical succession with each idea building on the previous,  supported by his logic and reasoning.

Here are the main ideas I took away from the book:

1. All which God created is inherently and completely good because it was made by God, in the image of God.
2. Evil is simply the absence of good, just as darkness is simply the absence of light.
3. Because all that God created is good, and evil is the absence of good, one could never be completely evil without ceasing to be (to exist).
4. The only reason evil is allowed to exist is to show God’s mercy, to show that God’s creation can be redeemed.
5. We are saved by our faith in God and God’s redeeming power, but it is only by the grace of God that our faith is even possible.
6. We are in need of redemption because we have been separated from God by the Fall.
7. Since the fall, every human has been born into a life of sin, both original sin, and our own. Thus, we are responsible for not only our own sin, but the sins of our parents, and so on.
8. Jesus Christ, who is simultaneously God (without origin) and human (with divine origin), was sent as mediator to reconcile Gods creation to God.
9. Since Christ was born of Holy Spirit (God’s grace, divine origin), he is free from the bonds of sin, yet because he is born of the flesh, he is called sin (though it is our own, not his).
10. When Christ’s flesh dies on the cross, so to does his connection original sin, and in his resurrection shows us how we can live a life free from sin.
11. Following Christ’s example, it is though baptism that we may also break our connection to original sin, and be reborn into a life free from sin.

I have to say that while most of these ideas aren’t completely new to me (at least in some form), I had never thought about them quite in this way. What I mean is, the main ideas are not new ones, but the logical progression from one to the next is new to me.

For example, the idea that evil is allowed to exist, albeit for a greater purpose, is difficult to wrap my head around. It almost alludes to the popular idea of “God’s Plan,” but without being tied to specific events (i.e. “God allowed my puppy to die so that I could learn a lesson about ________ “). Instead, it remains at a macro level, tying the specific events to evil, not to God. Bad things don’t happen because God allows them to, bad things happen because there is evil in the world, which God allows to exist in order that His grace may be revealed.

We have hope that we can be saved. We have faith that God can save us. God’s redeeming power, God’s grace, is God’s love and it’s God’s grace that both justifies our hope, and saves us.

Note: It is entirely possible that my conclusions are theologically unsound. However, seeing as I am not a theologian, I would expect a little latitude. If you find that I am off, please (in a very kind, and teaching manner) feel free to correct me.