Augustine's View of Creation
Augustine's View of Creation
It has been said, that Augustine was more intensely-interested in the doctrine of Creation, than anything else. This may very well be true--even though the great church father was passionately-consumed with many other critically-important theological issues, as well.
We usually think of Augustine in terms of his magnum opus (City of God), or his "best-seller," (Confessions); but he wrote a wonderful book (completed in 415 AD), entitled, The Literal Meaning of Genesis, wherein he placed the bulk of his attention on the first three chapters (of Genesis), very largely focusing on God's Creation of the universe.
Augustine felt compelled, I think, to adopt the view of "instantaneous" Creation, (my word, here), because of his understanding of the nature of Creation itself, vis.-a-vis. God Himself. What I mean is, that for Augustine, for something new or created to exist, when before it never did, this must be instantaneous, or wholly done at once. Augustine, as the great Christian philosopher/theologian, could not, I think, with integrity, envision a Creation that could exist except through a wondrous initial perfected instantaneous completion, (all these are my words). In other words, for him, (I believe), it was actually necessary that if there was to be created (contingent) being or reality at all, it must come about completed and spontaneously (from God's hand). The "seed" of all subsequent being is in the original form/concept/being--so all propagation of "things" flows from this original Creational "spring."
Before we are tempted to dismiss, out of hand, the Bishop of Hippo's position on Creation, several important things should be considered. At the top of this list, is that Augustine stresses that Christ, The "Word" of God, The Second Person of The Holy Trinity, is The One through Whom the Creation came. And Augustine has ample Biblical support for this, from--among many other places--Jn. 1, Col. 1, and Heb. 1. He felt that The Word (Christ) speaking Creation into existence, necessitated, (I think), a wholesale "finality," "wholeness," or "completion," initially--which would, in its essentially forms, now last forever. (I think that a "parceled-out" Creation did not make conceptual sense to him.)
As well, Augustine's understanding of Creation was framed in his polemic against heresies of his day. Actually, the Bishop had earlier in his career, perhaps before he was a Bishop(?), (I do not recall), written an unfinished book on Creation, addressed mostly at the Manichaean errors, wherein he adopted a grossly-allegorical approach to Gen. 1 & 2. This later work (referenced in the second paragraph of this paper), was his repentant and more mature response to the subject at hand.
Augustine does exegesis of Gen. 1 & 2, fully-incorporating the Holy Spirit-inspired language of Moses, with regard to handling each of the six days of Creation (as if each day's items were literally created on those days). He has no problem doing this. This, among other things, makes me feel that Augustine's view, to speak in our theological terms of the 20th and 21st centuries, would come under the aegis of a framework hypothesis. He in no way denies the "historicity" of Genesis--it is just that he sees the Creation narrative as a literary device designed by God to condescend to our conceptual weaknesses.
One might also argue--and I would not be at all surprised if Augustine did this--that God's original Creation (of the universe) has a perfect analog in the Holy Spirit's re-creation of regenerated souls into Christ and His church--in that, in both cases, they would be "instantaneous."
It does not seem to me, that Augustine's view of Creation has ever had a widespread approval rating, (despite the esteem he was [and is] held in). Again, it my supposition that he held the instantaneous position as a matter of integrity. In other words, I think his mind did not allow him, with honor, to view Creation in any other way.
I want to take any responsibility for any inadvertent misrepresentations of Augustine's positions (mentioned above). Readers of his book will have to draw their own conclusions from their own perusal of his words. It has been a few years since I read The Literal Meaning of Genesis. I would certainly recommend it to any curious souls. [Also, many of the words in quotation marks or italics above are probably more mine, than Augustine's, (though this may not always be the case).]
Rev. Mark J. Henninger
Treatise #51
10 December 2025
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