Free Will and Roman Christian Law
In the past I spent alot of time with my mind in the nooks and crannies of Christian thought, which feels topical. Lets wrap up on Free will, and its role in a very key philosophical change in early Christianity.
In a previous post I pointed out what some have termed "neoliberal Christianity" - however of course this is not the first time the belief system has been used in some form of government. Indeed its been so often historically, and there are many different groups with very different views that often ended up in conflict. One need only look to North Ireland to understand how brutal this can be.
Christianity is at its core not really intended to be part of government - and had to be adapted from its roots as a subculture of the Roman empire to fill this role- which I myself regard as a huge corruption.
When the power of Rome began to wane, leadership sought to gain the support of this Christian subculture by publicly endorsing the view and incorporating it into the official government. However this change had no real effect on the declining political situation- causing questions and the potential for additional fracturing - the Christians that were initially courted as allies were not really very good at this and in fact were often as not undermining things - so a patch was needed, nay demanded.
Into this scene entered Augustine of Hippo.
Augustine wrote his famous work "City of God" in response to the sacking of Rome, seeking to better incorporate Christian beliefs into the workings of government- here is a quick summary on his works influence on political philosophy. It really can't be understated- next to the bible itself, Augustine's City of God was one of the most copied books in medieval Europe.
Notice a key point- although Augustine does a good job of sounding like he thinks people can make free choices, he ultimately sets the world up such that these free choices ALWAYS RESULT IN EVIL. So human beings have free will only to evil, - never to good. That is, a Augustinian Christian essentially believes ONLY in negative liberty- positive liberty can't really exist in this context - or rather positive liberty is redefined as following the law.
One might ask, as I have, - what was the actuality of the belief system prior to this-
This interview with Ali Bonner, currently appointed to a lectureship in Celtic History at Cambridge. She took an interest in this topic in researching the social environment of the era as it impacted the brittonic and celtic history. In the talk below she traces the accusation of heresy, legal proceedings and decisions that brought about the imposition of this theological/legal/political shift. I think the incredible scholarship on display here speaks for itself, and highlights how radical the switch in views was. Readers who dislike churchy things I advise to power through the triggering intro music- Ali really has done amazing and thoughtful work here.