{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>We shall require to apply our mind with far greater\r\nintensity to the present question than was requisite\r\nin the solution and unfolding of the questions handled in the\r\npreceding books; for it is not with ordinary men, but with\r\nphilosophers that we must confer concerning the theology\r\nwhich they call natural. For it is not like the fabulous, that\r\nis, the theatrical; nor the civil, that is, the urban theology:\r\nthe one of which displays the crimes of the gods, whilst the\r\nother manifests their criminal desires, which demonstrate them\r\nto be rather malign demons than gods. It is, we say, with\r\nphilosophers we have to confer with respect to this theology,—men\r\nwhose very name, if rendered into Latin, signifies those\r\nwho profess the love of wisdom. Now, if wisdom is God,\r\nwho made all things, as is attested by the divine authority\r\nand truth,<a id=\"FNanchor_291_291\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_291_291\">[291]</a> then the philosopher is a lover of God. But since\r\nthe thing itself, which is called by this name, exists not in all\r\nwho glory in the name,—for it does not follow, of course, that<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_306\">[Pg 306]</a></span>\r\nall who are called philosophers are lovers of true wisdom,—we\r\nmust needs select from the number of those with whose\r\nopinions we have been able to acquaint ourselves by reading,\r\nsome with whom we may not unworthily engage in the treatment\r\nof this question. For I have not in this work undertaken\r\nto refute all the vain opinions of the philosophers,\r\nbut only such as pertain to theology, which Greek word we\r\nunderstand to mean an account or explanation of the divine\r\nnature. Nor, again, have I undertaken to refute all the vain\r\ntheological opinions of all the philosophers, but only of such\r\nof them as, agreeing in the belief that there is a divine nature,\r\nand that this divine nature is concerned about human affairs,\r\ndo nevertheless deny that the worship of the one unchangeable\r\nGod is sufficient for the obtaining of a blessed life after death,\r\nas well as at the present time; and hold that, in order to\r\nobtain that life, many gods, created, indeed, and appointed to\r\ntheir several spheres by that one God, are to be worshipped.\r\nThese approach nearer to the truth than even Varro; for,\r\nwhilst he saw no difficulty in extending natural theology in\r\nits entirety even to the world and the soul of the world, these\r\nacknowledge God as existing above all that is of the nature of\r\nsoul, and as the Creator not only of this visible world, which\r\nis often called heaven and earth, but also of every soul whatsoever,\r\nand as Him who gives blessedness to the rational soul,—of\r\nwhich kind is the human soul,—by participation in His\r\nown unchangeable and incorporeal light. There is no one,\r\nwho has even a slender knowledge of these things, who does\r\nnot know of the Platonic philosophers, who derive their name\r\nfrom their master Plato. Concerning this Plato, then, I will\r\nbriefly state such things as I deem necessary to the present\r\nquestion, mentioning beforehand those who preceded him in\r\ntime in the same department of literature.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK EIGHTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-560"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"60537e9e7299d872bb6f316e5f0e47a92937ba620a1ceb3cba8fad55468d7462","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume I","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Book IV)","J. J. Smith (Books V-VIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"WIS","chapter":7,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Wisdom vii. 24-27","verse":24,"verse_end":27}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45304-Footnote_291_291","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Original transcription title leaves state T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1871; printed translator allocation retained. Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_291_291","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_291_291\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_291_291\"><span class=\"label\">[291]</span></a> Wisdom vii. 24-27.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_291_291","text_sha256":"e68939ede0ead38b9d181787f23455d1dabd8126c13f1addf97f3a5513080794","verified":false,"work_id":null}