Misogynist? NOT.

Let it not be said that St. Augustine was a misogynist. He thought very seriously about the place in creation of human reproduction--of the male and the female and their particular beauty. Contrary to some contemporaries--mostly Manichees--he saw the female form as a cause of rejoicing.

Now, you may read the following excerpt to your village women's studies professor. She might react vehemently, "That's just so weird and sick--who cares about reproductive organs in heaven? Some sicko, that's who. Some white guy obsessed with sex and keeping women in their place."

Ignore her. Augustine was African.

Another possible interpretation of Augustine's thoughts on women is this: Augustine thought seriously enough about male and female reproductive organs to wonder. In his wonder, he could imagine with great reverence what God could have meant when He made us male and female. Far from being perverted, Augustine was able to extract his thoughts from lust for breasts and thighs and hips in order to simply regard them as gifts. I see lots of "free women" exposing female body parts, but I sure don't see much reverence. The female body in pop culture isn't taken seriously enough to make the question, what about eternity?, even make sense.

And, when our treatment of our bodies kills all imagination and wonder, when the questions become nonsense, then we have lost our childlike joy and innocence. In a world without questions, we are old and dry and impotent.

But Augustine, that dead "white" guy, is alive, virile, and exciting. His wonder is contagious: here he is on the female body and eternity.

"Because of these sayings, 'Until we reach the perfection of manhood, the stature of the full maturity of Christ,' and 'Being shaped into the likeness of God Son', some people suppose that women will not keep their sex at the resurrection; but, they say, they will all rise again as men, since God made man out of clay, and woman out of man. For my part, I feel that theirs is the more sensible opinion who have no doubt that there will be both sexes in the resurrection. For in that life there will be no sexual lust, which is the cause of shame. For the first human beings, before their sin, 'were naked, the man and the woman, and they were not ashamed.'

"Thus while all defects will be removed from those bodies, their essential nature will be preserved. Now a woman's sex is not a defect; it is natural. And in the resurrection it will be free of the necessity of intercourse and childbirth. However, the female organs will not subserve their former use; they will be part of a new beauty, which will not excite the lust of the beholder--there will be no lust in that life--but will arouse the praises of God for his wisdom and compassion, in that he not only created out of nothing but freed from corruption that which he had created."

~City of God,XXII.17

Unity as communion

A certain Manichaeism pervades our culture's understanding of sexuality--as you can see by reading the articles on Humanae Vitae posted below. The radical separation of "me" from "my body" does almost irreparable destruction to both.

Benedict XVI's address to young people at World Youth Day, then, provides a timely and healing brew: Augustine found particular healing of his own Manichean past not only in the mystery of the Incarnation, but also in a deepened understanding of the Holy Spirit. Read the whole thing here (Whispers in the Loggia also provides excellent coverage of WYD in general).

Here's the teaser:

"Augustine’s understanding of the Holy Spirit evolved gradually; it was a struggle. As a young man he had followed Manichaeism - one of those attempts I mentioned earlier, to create a spiritual utopia by radically separating the things of the spirit from the things of the flesh. Hence he was at first suspicious of the Christian teaching that God had become man. Yet his experience of the love of God present in the Church led him to investigate its source in the life of the Triune God. This led him to three particular insights about the Holy Spirit as the bond of unity within the Blessed Trinity: unity as communion, unity as abiding love, and unity as giving and gift. These three insights are not just theoretical. They help explain how the Spirit works. In a world where both individuals and communities often suffer from an absence of unity or cohesion, these insights help us remain attuned to the Spirit and to extend and clarify the scope of our witness."

Augustine of Hippo

Today the universal Church celebrates the feast of St. Augustine of Hippo. Doctor of the Church, saint, and preeminent philosopher and theologian, he articulated for all generations the deepest questions (and sketched some answers) of the human heart and intellect. And, remarkable for the ancient world, he wrote his deeply introspective Confessions for our pleasure and growth in charity.

Some commentators (which we all are) find him "dark" or "judgmental," but I can hardly understand this censure for a man so obviously aware of his own shortcomings as well as his outstanding brilliance of mind. One who can hold both extremes--wretchedness and greatness--up to the light of God in sight of all the world cannot be "dark."

Best reads: Confessions, On the Trinity, City of God, and any sermons/homilies you can get your hands on.

But here, from the mouth of the man himself:

"Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace." ~The Confessions, St. Augustine

Unless you believe...

I've been skimming over Augustine and Beckett on Augustine in search of material for the Pascal essay. Here's a paraphrased ponderance for you.

The practice of apologetics (arguing in defense of the faith) must also involve an authentic witness of our lives.

This is because a conversion to Christianity is not simply an intellectual conclusion at the end of a series of irrefutable arguments. It is a new way of being which, "unless you believe you will not understand." (Augustine, City of God, Book IX)

That is, to make the leap from unbelief to belief is not to master Christianity with your mind (although our mind can bring us to the point of wanting to believe). The leap of faith is to enter a new way of existing in relation to God and the world. God becomes incarnate; the world becomes creation.

Using our reason, then, is not an absolute value. It does not answer all questions. From the view of the believer, however, all things take on a new meaning and the questions of the human heart come closer to their answer in God made flesh.

Nisi crediteritis, non intellegetis.
Unless you believe, you will not understand.