Augustine's Idea of God
Best to begin by hearing Augustine call on his God.
quid es ergo, deus meus?
summe, optime,
potentissime, omnipotentissime,
misericordissime et iustissime,
secretissime et praesentissime,
pulcherrime et fortissime,
stabilis et incomprehensibilis,
immutabilis mutans omnia,
numquam novus numquam vetus,
semper agens semper quietus,
conligens et non egens,
portans et implens et protegens,
creans et nutriens et perficiens,
quaerens cum nihil desit tibi.
et quid diximus, deus meus, vita mea, dulcedo mea sancta,
aut quid dicit aliquis cum de te dicit?
et vae tacentibus de te, quoniam loquaces muti sunt.[[1]]
The wordplay, the assonance, the alliteration, all disappear in translation.
What art Thou then, my God?
Most highest, most good,
most potent, most omnipotent;
most merciful and most just;
most hidden and most present;
most beautiful and most strong,
standing firm and elusive,
unchangeable and all-changing;
never new, never old;
ever working, ever at rest;
gathering in and [yet] lacking nothing;
supporting, filling, and sheltering;
creating, nourishing, and maturing;
seeking and [yet] having all things.
And what have I now said, my God, my life, my holy joy?
or what says any man when he speaks of Thee?
And woe to him who keeps silent about you,
since many babble on and say nothing.[[2]]
The limitations of human language are displayed by the paradoxes in which the divine nature compels Augustine to speak.[[3]] Not yet for Augustine the mannered style of an Eriugena, for whom God is good, but God is also not good (not good in the human way, at any rate), and God is fi ...