In his Confessions, St. Augustine poses the following question concerning the object of his passion: “What do I love when I love my God?” John Caputo, the author of On Religion, argues that we should not see St. Augustine’s question as a question only for theists, for members of monotheistic institutions, such as Christianity. The question is not irrelevant to atheists, for theists and atheists may both be lovers, and therefore religious. What Caputo would have us hear in St. Augustine’s Confession is the saint’s deep desire.
According to Caputo, what made St. Augustine religious was that he was a lover. He is in earnest and is receptive to the object of his passion.
THE IMPOSSIBLE IS DIVINE
According to Caputo, St. Augustine’s “God” is an anthropomorphism, a figure standing in for something that is larger than the saint, indeed, larger than reality. St. Augustine’s uses the word “God” to merely signify the impossible. What is Divine is that which is beyond reality, beyond possibilities. “God” is a pre-modern label for the Absolute future, that which is after the human capacity to foresee and understand. St. Augustine’s passion is an earnestness and an receptivity to that which is not yet real, and what therefore cannot be known.
St. Augustine’s, in his attempt to articulate his passion, includes words like “God” because he is located in a particular historical time and place. Caputo wants us to apprehend that St. Augustine was writing in the pre-modern era, a time when religion was deeply integrated into everyday life. This is in contrast to the modern era, when religion was categorically isolated as a particular, inferior form of knowledge. Also, St. Augustine’s context was Western civilization in which Christianity was the predominate form of expressing religion. Therefore it only makes sense that the words St. Augustine would use to express his passion would reflect his time and culture.
This fact, however, does not invalidate the universality of the spirit behind the words of Christian saints, what Caputo refers to their “choreography.” The saints are on their knees. They are desirous; they are pining. They are open to that which is just beyond their experiences, their understanding. Theirs is a passionate pursuit. According to Caputo, because of his passion, St. Augustine is in a realm of religious truth. His love opens him to something beyond reality, something seemingly impossible. Caputo calls him “unhinged,” which means he is living in faith. St. Augustine does not know what he is pursuing, and yet he is receptive to it, to what it will bring.
THE MARK OF RELIGION TRUTH
This receptivity, this open-mindedness, is the mark of religious truth. St. Augustine is religious, but not because he was the proponent of particular creeds, the creeds of Christianity. Christianity’s monotheism has no claims to universality in human experience; not everyone has experienced the God of the Christian creeds. But we have all come into contact with something that drove us to our knees and quickened our pulse, a something that made us believe the impossible was possible. For we have historical evidence of many individuals who were the proponents of similar creeds and yet who acted very different than St. Augustine. Those individuals acted without passion, without love. They failed to love their neighbors; they were intolerant and enacted violence against others. They claimed to religious, but their deeds demonstrated that they were irreligious. In contrast, St. Augustine’s demonstrates an earnestness and receptiveness to the impossible. And his receptivitiy created a humility. According to Caputo, this is what makes St. Augustine a lover, a truly religious individual.
The Mark of Religious Truth
Caputo, On Religion
Saint Augustine
In his Confessions, St. Augustine poses the following question concerning the object of his passion: “What do I love when I love my God?” John Caputo, the author of On Religion, argues that we should not see St. Augustine’s question as a question only for theists, for members of monotheistic institutions, such as Christianity. The question is not irrelevant to atheists, for theists and atheists may both be lovers, and therefore religious. What Caputo would have us hear in St. Augustine’s Confession is the saint’s deep desire.
According to Caputo, what made St. Augustine religious was that he was a lover. He is in earnest and is receptive to the object of his passion.
THE IMPOSSIBLE IS DIVINE
According to Caputo, St. Augustine’s “God” is an anthropomorphism, a figure standing in for something that is larger than the saint, indeed, larger than reality. St. Augustine’s uses the word “God” to merely signify the impossible. What is Divine is that which is beyond reality, beyond possibilities. “God” is a pre-modern label for the Absolute future, that which is after the human capacity to foresee and understand. St. Augustine’s passion is an earnestness and an receptivity to that which is not yet real, and what therefore cannot be known.
St. Augustine’s, in his attempt to articulate his passion, includes words like “God” because he is located in a particular historical time and place. Caputo wants us to apprehend that St. Augustine was writing in the pre-modern era, a time when religion was deeply integrated into everyday life. This is in contrast to the modern era, when religion was categorically isolated as a particular, inferior form of knowledge. Also, St. Augustine’s context was Western civilization in which Christianity was the predominate form of expressing religion. Therefore it only makes sense that the words St. Augustine would use to express his passion would reflect his time and culture.
This fact, however, does not invalidate the universality of the spirit behind the words of Christian saints, what Caputo refers to their “choreography.” The saints are on their knees. They are desirous; they are pining. They are open to that which is just beyond their experiences, their understanding. Theirs is a passionate pursuit. According to Caputo, because of his passion, St. Augustine is in a realm of religious truth. His love opens him to something beyond reality, something seemingly impossible. Caputo calls him “unhinged,” which means he is living in faith. St. Augustine does not know what he is pursuing, and yet he is receptive to it, to what it will bring.
THE MARK OF RELIGION TRUTH
This receptivity, this open-mindedness, is the mark of religious truth. St. Augustine is religious, but not because he was the proponent of particular creeds, the creeds of Christianity. Christianity’s monotheism has no claims to universality in human experience; not everyone has experienced the God of the Christian creeds. But we have all come into contact with something that drove us to our knees and quickened our pulse, a something that made us believe the impossible was possible. For we have historical evidence of many individuals who were the proponents of similar creeds and yet who acted very different than St. Augustine. Those individuals acted without passion, without love. They failed to love their neighbors; they were intolerant and enacted violence against others. They claimed to religious, but their deeds demonstrated that they were irreligious. In contrast, St. Augustine’s demonstrates an earnestness and receptiveness to the impossible. And his receptivitiy created a humility. According to Caputo, this is what makes St. Augustine a lover, a truly religious individual.