City of God - Augustine - XXII - Book 12 commenced

Required reading
City of God by Augustine (available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example) - Commence Book 12 by reading Chapters 1 to 15.

My summary
At the beginning of Book 12 Augustine explores the origin of evil for man and angels.  After his reasoning for several chapters, Augustine draws the following conclusion: 'The truth is that one should not try to find an efficient cause for a wrong choice.  It is not a matter of efficiency, but of deficiency; the evil will itself is not effective but defective.  For to defect from him who is the Supreme Existence, to something of less reality, this is to begin to have an evil will.  To try to discover the causes of such defection -  deficient, not efficient causes - is like trying to see darkness or to hear silence.'

Then Augustine looks at the age of the human race.  He asserts that 'fewer than 6,000 years have passed since man's first origin' and defends this notion from those who believe the world:
(i) has been present for many thousands of years;
(ii) is in a periodic disintegration and renewal of innumerable worlds.

What grabbed me
Good to see Augustine does not dare go further than he should when trying to reason through the cause of evil: 'Therefore God is not to be blamed for any fault or defect which offends us; he is to be praised, when we contemplate everything that exists in nature.'

We should never tread where the Bible does not lead us and declare the God as the cause of evil. 

Rather in all things we should praise God.

Next week's reading
Conclude Book 12 by reading Chapters 16 to 28.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.