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De civitate Dei (CCSL)
Caput I: De quaestione naturalis theologiae cum philosophis excellentioris scientiae discutienda.
Nunc intentiore nobis opus est animo multo quam erat in superiorum solutione quaestionum et explicatione librorum. de theologia quippe, quam naturalem uocant, non cum quibuslibet hominibus - non enim fabulosa est uel ciuilis, hoc est uel theatrica uel urbana; quarum altera iactitat deorum crimina, altera indicat deorum desideria criminosiora ac per hoc malignorum potius daemonum quam deorum - , sed cum philosophis est habenda conlatio; quorum ipsum nomen si Latine interpretemur, amorem sapientiae profitetur. porro si sapientia deus est, per quem facta sunt omnia, sicut diuina auctoritas ueritasque monstrauit, uerus philosophus est amator dei. sed quia res ipsa, cuius hoc nomen est, non est in omnibus, qui hoc nomine gloriantur - neque enim continuo uerae sapientiae sunt amatores quicumque appellantur philosophi - profecto ex omnibus, quorum sententias ex litteris nosse potuimus, eligendi sunt cum quibus non indigne quaestio ista tractetur. neque enim hoc opere omnes omnium philosophorum uanas opiniones refutare suscepi, sed eas tantum, quae ad theologian pertinent, quo uerbo Graeco significari intellegimus de diuinitate rationem siue sermonem; nec eas omnium, sed eorum tantum, qui cum et esse diuinitatem et humana curare consentiant, non tamen sufficere unius incommutabilis dei cultum ad uitam adipiscendam etiam post mortem beatam, sed multos ab illo sane uno conditos atque institutos ob eam causam colendos putant. hi iam etiam Varronis opinionem ueritatis propinquitate transcendunt; siquidem ille totam theologian naturalem usque ad mundum istum uel animam eius extendere potuit, isti uero supra omnem animae naturam confitentur deum, qui non solum mundum istum uisibilem, qui saepe caeli et terrae nomine nuncupatur, sed etiam omnem omnino animam fecerit, et qui rationalem et intellectualem, cuius generis anima humana est, participatione sui luminis incommutabilis et incorporei beatam facit. hos philosophos Platonicos appellatos a Platone doctore uocabulo deriuato nullus, qui haec uel tenuiter audiuit, ignorat. de hoc igitur Platone, quae necessaria praesenti quaestioni existimo, breuiter attingam, prius illos commemorans, qui eum in eodem genere litterarum tempore praecesserunt.
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The City of God
Chapter 1.--That the Question of Natural Theology is to Be Discussed with Those Philosophers Who Sought a More Excellent Wisdom.
We shall require to apply our mind with far greater intensity to the present question than was requisite in the solution and unfolding of the questions handled in the preceding books; for it is not with ordinary men, but with philosophers that we must confer concerning the theology which they call natural. For it is not like the fabulous, that is, the theatrical; nor the civil, that is, the urban theology: the one of which displays the crimes of the gods, whilst the other manifests their criminal desires, which demonstrate them to be rather malign demons than gods. It is, we say, with philosophers we have to confer with respect to this theology,--men whose very name, if rendered into Latin, signifies those who profess the love of wisdom. Now, if wisdom is God, who made all things, as is attested by the divine authority and truth, 1 then the philosopher is a lover of God. But since the thing itself, which is called by this name, exists not in all who glory in the name,--for it does not follow, of course, that all who are called philosophers are lovers of true wisdom,--we must needs select from the number of those with whose opinions we have been able to acquaint ourselves by reading, some with whom we may not unworthily engage in the treatment of this question. For I have not in this work undertaken to refute all the vain opinions of the philosophers, but only such as pertain to theology, which Greek word we understand to mean an account or explanation of the divine nature. Nor, again, have I undertaken to refute all the vain theological opinions of all the philosophers, but only of such of them as, agreeing in the belief that there is a divine nature, and that this divine nature is concerned about human affairs, do nevertheless deny that the worship of the one unchangeable God is sufficient for the obtaining of a blessed life after death, as well as at the present time; and hold that, in order to obtain that life, many gods, created, indeed, and appointed to their several spheres by that one God, are to be worshipped. These approach nearer to the truth than even Varro; for, whilst he saw no difficulty in extending natural theology in its entirety even to the world and the soul of the world, these acknowledge God as existing above all that is of the nature of soul, and as the Creator not only of this visible world, which is often called heaven and earth, but also of every soul whatsoever, and as Him who gives blessedness to the rational soul,--of which kind is the human soul,--by participation in His own unchangeable and incorporeal light. There is no one, who has even a slender knowledge of these things, who does not know of the Platonic philosophers, who derive their name from their master Plato. Concerning this Plato, then, I will briefly state such things as I deem necessary to the present question, mentioning beforehand those who preceded him in time in the same department of literature.
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Wisdom vii. 24-27. ↩