Shannon Costello

For the purposes of this discussion:

“Good things” and “bad things” are non-spiritual- dealing with wealth, position, family, etc.

“Righteous” persons are morally upright. “Wicked” persons are not.

I am interested in four possibilities:
1) Good things happen to righteous people.
2) Good things happen to wicked people.
3) Bad things happen to righteous people.
4) Bad things happen to wicked people.

An example of each:
1) Esther, who was beautiful and became queen.
2) Xerxes, Esther’s husband, who enjoyed absolute power without deserving it.
3) Jesus, betrayed and crucified.
4) Korah, who was swallowed up in an earthquake after rebelling against Moses.

In chapter 8 of Book I, though his initial purpose is to answer the enemies of Christianity who point out number 2, Augustine touches on all four possibilities. He cites Matthew 5:45 as an example of 1 and 2.

Then, in chapter 23 of Book II, the same set of possibilities turns up, this time with respect to the Roman gods. Augustine provides an example from Roman history of each of the four possibilities in the course of arguing that the gods are not very useful. It feels as if Augustine uses the same argument against the Roman gods that others used against the Christian God.

There are major differences.

a) In Christian thought, there is an indestructible link between serving God and being morally upright. Serving the Christian God will have far-reaching impact one’s thoughts, words, actions, lifestyle, etc. Augustine has gone to great lengths to show that this was not the case for the Roman gods. To serve the Roman gods was to participate in the proper rituals, and therefore such worshippers could remain morally rotten. In the Roman system, therefore, it was possible to have a wicked man who also served the Gods. This is not possible in Christianity, though it has been attempted.

b) The Christian God is all-powerful. He is righteous and just. He does not lie. This God uses both good and bad things to further the spiritual growth of those who serve Him. He also promises eternity to those who serve Him. The Roman gods have some power, but use it to encourage vice rather than morality. They express no interest in spiritual growth. Augustine has made no mention of eternity in Roman theology.

So, while both sets of examples fit in the given framework, that is only because the framework is not specific enough. One’s belief system should attempt to explain what goes on in the world.

I am uncomfortable with seeing this argument used both ways.
It feels like a cheap trick:

Pagan: Your Christian god is not very useful. Bad people were also spared in the sack of Rome…and some Christians were not.

Augustine: (After a lengthy rebuttal) Your Roman gods are not very useful: good and bad things happen to people indiscriminately, regardless of their moral condition.

Perhaps I am failing to appropriately emphasize the validity of questions
such as, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Certainly such a question becomes more difficult the more powerful the god is.

It really comes down to how valid such a question is. I think it is often used as a distractor. If one is feeling defensive, one can go on the offensive with this argument. I am not sure those types of questions are necessarily well-mannered, particularly given the context of the tragedy of Rome’s fall.

Christians do not claim that The City of God is inspired. One thing I have learned while hunting in other books about The City of God is that Augustine made mistakes. Perhaps this is one of them.