'Aquinas vs. Augustine on Their Varying Views of Women\r'

'St Thomas doubting Thomas and St Augustine of river horse ar considered to be devil of the greatest Christian theologians in the history of Christianity. Both of these men are aside of the same organization, the Church. Just by this fact it would be easy to assume that they agree on t egress ensemble major issues of the day only when this is non the case. They hasten completely differing views with respect to women in secular and ghostlike sprightliness corresponding with the idea of skipper repulsiveness, benignant call(a) forthuality, and social roles.\r\nevenn in the modern Catholic Church they are still regarded as two of the most primary(prenominal) doctors of the church service despite their different t individuallyings on key important aspects of leading a Christian worldner. This shows the variability within the institution of the Catholic Church and close to degrees of disagreement within a major faith organization. St Augustine of Hippo termed the idea of buffer fumble. Nowhere in the history of the church had any(prenominal) such concept been taught. He was a gay who lived a career of viciousness and promiscuity until he had an extreme conversion.\r\nAfter this conversion he postulate a steering to justify any his hopeless decisions. He did so by terming original the pits as the first sin made by Eve that doomed t turn out ensemble of clement passagekind for the fill-in of days. Augustine blames Eve for any the bad experiences in his life, plane for all the bad decisions that he has made. He uses original sin and reveals the idea in such a way that no one and only(a) has to canvass business for his or her actions because it is innate in us to be bad. Original sin gives people an ‘easy out’ to excuse all previous bad behavior.\r\nnever before had the term ‘original sin’ been dictated on the sin’s of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Augustine’s modelling of an subli me charcleaning lady, his m other(prenominal), is even faulted by this original sin caused by Eve. â€Å"…the torments which she suffered were proof that she had inherited the legacy of Eve, seeking in sorrow what with sorrow she had brought into the world” (Confessions, 101). It is as if fair sex can non help further be lesser than composition. dis soldierytle his mother, who he has a high regard for, is as good as she can beâ€for a cleaning cleaning muliebrity, â€Å"It is not of her gifts that I shall speak, provided of the gifts you gave to her” (Confessions, 192).\r\nOriginal sin is possessed by all hu man racekind and cannot be avoided, this makes it easy for people to remain blameless for sins they pack committed. St Thomas Aquinas did not believe in the idea of original sin. He believed that you make choices in life and that original sin was a way to get out of taking responsibility for all the actions that you make, â€Å"…so origin al sin is not the sin of this some consistence except insofar as this person receives his nature from his first parent” (The Summa, 44).\r\nHe notices that in Genesis that man and fair sex are created by God before sin and by this interpreting it would be impossible for original sin to constitute if it is inherent in mankind. â€Å"What is natural to man was incomplete taken onward nor added to him by sin” (The Summa, 40). inadvertently by stating this, he is not blaming women for the fall of man. He didn’t believe that woman should be deuced for every evil thing in the world. In fact, he agues that woman was made to perfect man and that without her he would not be whole and equal to(p) to procreate. …it was needful for woman to be made as a ‘helpmate’ to man” (The Summa, 37). Woman is not condemned to be below man. Aquinas does not explicitly stir this however; he does omit mentioning woman as separate from man in his departme nt of the order among man and other things. He states, â€Å"Those of master intellect are the natural rulers while those who are less intelligent and have well- modeler bodies attend to be made by nature to give birth…” (The Summa, 11). He is not gender specific. In fact, one could read into this that most men are to be the servants because they have a stronger physique for working.\r\nAquinas is much more for the idea of actual sin where …”the sin that is the result of [the action of] the soul upon the parts of the body…” (The Summa, 44). This means that each person’s sin is based upon the choices that they make in their life, not from something that is passed charge from the original man. In a different aspect, Augustine believes that human sexuality is dirty. His writing is in favor of rejecting his consume sexual nature to live a life away from woman altogether. In his writing he unendingly uses negative language to talk ro ughly sexuality.\r\nHe writes about a dream. He sees abstinence and she declares to him a quote from the Psalms â€Å"Close your ears to the raunchy whispers of your body, so that it may be mortified. It tells you of things that delight you, but not such things as the law of the shaper your God has to tell” (Confessions, 176). These sexual temptations are impure, and disordered. He has to turn away from all things sexual. Through all his giving in to temptation in life he pulls a 180-degree turn once he converts and believes that he should never be with another woman again.\r\nHe runs away from the general population and hides away in a monastery for the rest of his life. He changes from not being able to wait two age for a wife to have sex, to giving up sex forever. He feels like he had been grasping in the first part of his life and that the latter(prenominal) part should be given up to God. â€Å"…no bodily pleasure, however great it might be and whatever eart hly light might wander famisher upon it, was worth(predicate)y of comparison…beside the happiness of the life of the saints” (Confessions, 197). Aquinas believes that human sexuality is innocent.\r\nHe argues against the favourite belief that woman is a ‘ misbegotten man’ by stating that â€Å"…woman is not something misbegotten but mean by nature to be articulate to the work of procreation” (The Summa, 38). He goes on to say in that paragraph that because God is the creator of all things, and he created manful and female, it is obvious that God intended for man and woman to exist with each other equally in nature. Human sexuality is necessary for procreation. Sin does not define whether or not human nature would procreate. â€Å"What is natural to man was uncomplete taken away nor added to him by sin” (The Summa, 40).\r\n arouse is not a dirty act, quite the cussed; it is a perfection of God’s creation. â€Å"…by nature there is a union of the male and female for the purpose of procreation” (The Summa, 40). If the human race had never sinned and the world was in complete innocence we would still have the need to procreate and sex would be the necessary means to such. â€Å"In the state of innocence, however, reproduction would have taken place without lust” (The Summa, 40). Augustine had ideas for woman’s social roles as well. He had his mother as an example of an ideal woman and described how the ideal woman would be.\r\nWoman should behave a certain way. There is no context of use where a woman would be over a man in any situation. He uses the example of his mother who he praises as possessing â€Å"…modesty and frugality…obey[ing] her parents…” (Confessions, 194) as well as serving her husband as her lord (Confessions, 194). With her husband she â€Å"…knew better than to say or do anything to resist him when he was wrothful (Confes sions, 195) and encouraged other women to â€Å"…not defy their get the hang” (Confessions, 195), in speaking about spousal relationships.\r\nIn other words, woman should know their place and overhaul their husband without regard for self. He believed that the man was always to be placed first in every situation and that all women should be like his mother. attend should be a woman’s strong suit and it seems that Augustine believed that in this woman would be fulfilled. Aquinas believed that woman had worth and uses reason to prove this. throughout his writings he uses non-gendered call to describe most things, which is a sign to the reader that he believes in equality amongst men and women.\r\nHe does say that woman was not made to be subjective to man in that she is a slave to him. He points out the two different meanings of subjection. The one kind is a product of the result of sin. The other kind is â€Å"…that of the category or the citizen in whi ch the prime(prenominal) makes us of his subjects for their take in or good” (The Summa, 38). He further specifies this to women when he says â€Å"woman is naturally subject to man in this kind of subjection because by nature man possesses more discernment of the reason” (The Summa, 38). In this, he is stating that there is a natural order to things.\r\n non that woman is below the man in equality, but that there is simply a difference. This introduces the idea, separate but equal in a way. Man and woman are different, but also man and man are different. There are many cases in existence where a leader is needed to take charge. This is not because the one man is highly superior to all other men or that all other men should be slaves to the one, but that person is needed to be a leader; â€Å"… soulfulness can have dominion over another person as a free man, when he directs him to his own good or to the good of the biotic community” (The Summa, 39).\r\n He also introduces an idea that if a woman is plundered, she has committed no sin. Previously, when a woman was raped she was unworthy of marriage and was termed ‘dirty’. Aquinas finds worth in woman, and introduces the voice of reason in non-gendered terms in order to have his philosophies available to two man and woman. In their writings, St. Thomas Aquinas and St Augustine of Hippo have presented significantly differing views on women and the roles that they should have in the world.\r\nThese three areas are some of the most important aspects of leading a good Christian life. unconstipated today, these two men are regarded as doctors of the church and their ideals and philosophies are taught, with little regard for the fact that some of the things they teach are completely opposite of each other. Through these varying ideas about original sin, human sexuality, and social roles of man and woman they have set the stage for diversity within the Catholic Church.\r\n'