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Western North African Christianity:
Neoplatonism &
Augustine of Hippo
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Augustine of Hippo
Neoplatonism
This page is a discussion of Neoplatonic thought as borrowed by Augustine of Hippo, and so handles only one aspect of one variant for one purpose. It is not by any means a comprehensive examination of Neoplatonism.
Augustine borrowed the Theory of Creation as Emanation to develop his solution to the problem of evil. According to this model,
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In the beginning |
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| God: the Good: Being Itself | existed. In the perfection of its existence it overflowed to become |
| Reason and the Forms | which are eternally existing and were not created. They are part of the Being of the Good: |
| Humans, | who are partly eternal and partly created are patterned after the Forms, and have eternal rational souls, but have created bodies. |
| Material Creation |
is temporal and created. Is still good, but has less "being" than that which is eternal |
Each step of this process leads to a dimunition of being and the existence of that which is less good than the previous stage.