Augustine's Questions: Why the Augustinian Theology of God Matters Today‪.‬

FINALLY, IT ALL COMES DOWN to a correct description of God. Everything else culture, politics, nature, human relationships--is properly understood only in the measure that ultimate reality is grasped with at least a relative adequacy. Like all of the other great theologians of the tradition, St. Augustine struggled his whole life with this central question. Though his restless mind ranged over innumerable issues, from human psychology to Roman history to Christology and eschatology, his primary preoccupation was determining the meaning of the word "God." And he found answers. Though he was one of the greatest searchers in the Western tradition, Augustine did not have a romantic attitude and therefore did not regard the search as an end in itself. Here I think John Caputo, reading Augustine through the lens of Derridean undecidability, has misconstrued his subject. (1) At the end of his questioning, Augustine found a truth in which he could rest, a truth that, he was convinced, had set him free. And this was none other than the conviction that ultimate reality is the trinitarian God revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that Augustine's questions and answers are remarkably relevant to our time, and that finding for ourselves the truth that he found is of great moment not only for our personal spiritual fulfillment but also for the health of our Church and culture. What I should like to do, in the course of this article, is to follow, in a necessarily sketchy way, the Augustinian path toward the understanding of God, thinking with him and after him. And I would like to demonstrate throughout the analysis how Augustine's questions and solutions matter for us, especially for those committed to carrying on and making effective the intellectual heritage of Catholicism. I will undertake this task by looking at three key arguments that Augustine had at different points in his intellectual journey: the first with the Manichees and the Platonists when he was a comparatively young man, the second with the Arians when he was in midcareer, and the third with the Romans as he approached the end of his life. What emerges, as Augustine wrestles with these various opponents, is that very distinctive understanding of ultimate