Theology, Morality, Politics

Of profound and enduring influence on subsequent Western Civilization is Augustine's theological gleaning of a doctrine of 'Original Sin' from Genesis 2-3. His hermeneutical procedure entails the selection of some passages as 'true', and the generalizing of them in accordance with his interpretation of Platonism. The result is a casting of 'morality' as a project of Redemption, which only his deity can bring about, and with respect to which Platonist and Aristotelian principles are, therefore, inadequate. The writ large version of this project, his 'City of God', thus effects a cosmic rupture between Morality and Politics, which, for e. g. Aristotle, are complementary endeavors. Consequently, while Politics, for Aristotle, is a noble activity, for the subsequent Augustinian tradition, it is, at best, a necessary 'evil'. Furthermore, since the locus of the nisus towards Redemption is private, i. e. the individual 'soul', even secularized claims of political immunity for the 'private sector' is vestigial Augustinianism. Likewise, since for Augustine, the proximate cause of some of the events of Genesis 3 is genital temptation, the primary concern of Augustinian 'morality' is sexual, a legacy with remains in plain evidence in contemporary American politics, and which remains oblivious to the inconsistencies between Genesis 1 and Genesis 3 regarding human procreative activity.