3. Read 1 Corinthians 13. How does it compare to Augustine’s treatment of faith, hope, and love? Where does Augustine deviate from 1 Corinthians (if at all)?
Submitted by lawrence_dicostanzo on Wed, 2009-12-23 17:05.
It seems to me that Paul views at least faith and love as two separate virtues and not necessarily interconnected. For example, he implies that a person can have faith to move mountains, but not have love. But the opposite is not true for Paul. That is, if a person has love, he has faith, hope, and endurance. I think that Paul sees love, and maybe even hope, as gifts of the Spirit. They come after faith which is a prerequisite.
It seems to me that Paul's thinking is expressed in the form of presenting information that is based on his own experience and on his observations of himself and other people. I think that Augustine, on the other hand, often may structure his explanations on the basis of what he's read. That is, he really looks for authority for all his statements and tries to link it all together in a string of statements/corroboration. Meanwhile, if I may be presumptuous, I think he might get bogged down in playing with words.
Terrific question
It seems to me that Paul views at least faith and love as two separate virtues and not necessarily interconnected. For example, he implies that a person can have faith to move mountains, but not have love. But the opposite is not true for Paul. That is, if a person has love, he has faith, hope, and endurance. I think that Paul sees love, and maybe even hope, as gifts of the Spirit. They come after faith which is a prerequisite.
It seems to me that Paul's thinking is expressed in the form of presenting information that is based on his own experience and on his observations of himself and other people. I think that Augustine, on the other hand, often may structure his explanations on the basis of what he's read. That is, he really looks for authority for all his statements and tries to link it all together in a string of statements/corroboration. Meanwhile, if I may be presumptuous, I think he might get bogged down in playing with words.