Excerpt: St. Augustine and the Ethical Reader
In both The Confessions and On Christian Doctrine, St. Augustine considers what it means to live a morally consistent life within the codes of Judeo-Christian moral law. Like many early church fathers, many of Augustine’s basic philosophical assumptions are highly influenced by Classical philosophy, particularly Plato. St. Augustine’s basic metaphysical assumptions align with a Platonic view of the nature of substance and being. Like Plato, St. Augustine privileges the nonphysical over the physical, often depicting the material world as inherently evil and the non-material world as transcendent and good. St. Augustine’s affinity for Platonic philosophy has important implications for Augustine’s conception of morality and, for our purposes, his understanding of what it means to be an ethical reader.
In order to live a morally consistent life, one ought to pursue her perception of “the good” in all areas of her life. And so, the task of the ethically concerned reader is to interact with literature in such a way as to promote the good within herself and in her world. In his Confessions and On Christian Doctrine, St. Augustine addresses the ethical issues of how the reader ought to react to suffering, the role of metaphor, the purpose and interpretation of scripture, and other literary concerns. St. Augustine, like Plato, recognized the value of striving toward a virtuous existence. However, Augustine’s understanding of the highest moral good is ultimately informed by his Christian faith. As a Christian, St. Augustine argues that the good cannot be obtained through via one’s virtuous nature—the ultimate good is to love God and to love people. His objective, therefore, is to read and interact with literature in such a way as to promote the love of God and the love of others.