Shannon Costello

It is interesting how a distrust of a foundational text can affect one’s perception of an argument. Augustine selects a writer with whom he wishes to dispute. He supplies his readers with a short quote, and builds his arguments on the assumptions in that quote.

Apuleius asserted that the gods were exalted, eternal, and blessed while man is lowly, mortal, and miserable. The demons are understood to be located in the air, between the exalted and lowly states. Augustine then concludes that if the demons are to be intermediate beings they must share one of the afore-mentioned characteristics with man and one with the gods.

I think this is the point where my own ignorance works against me strongly enough so that I wonder about my reasons for trying to get through this book. Eight months and I am much less than halfway through…

I have no idea who Apuleius is and am not very inclined to care. (Now that I have written that I can identify that attitude as a reading error and resolve to look up unknown persons. I was missing how much that was impacting me. I should care a little.)

I am not part of a society, as Augustine seems to have been, that so readily accepts demons as intermediate beings. In fact, demons don’t seem to get much mention at all in rational circles. Those two things make it more difficult to accept Augustine’s arguments. I guess it is similar to arguing about what God is like from the Bible with a person who sees the Bible a collection of myths and poetry. Imagine arguing serious theology from Robert Frost or Emily Dickinson!

Here is some information about Apuleius. I really am learning from plowing through this book, even if I am missing the advanced things a more scholarly type might wrestle with. And even if I did have CJ figuring out what a particular greek word was (this edition doesn’t transliterate greek terms, another sign that I may be in over my head). Speaking of CJ, I think he is planning to find a more recent (i.e. more readable) translation when he reads this.

One more book to finish up part I!