Religious Toleration in St. Augustine

Abstract

The extended delay of Vatican Council II to approve the schema on religious liberty was illustrative of the ambivalence that has characterized Catholic thought on this delicate question for centuries. Since few Christian thinkers have influenced church state attitudes of later generations in a manner comparable to that of St. Augustine, and since his thinking on religious liberty is characterized by a striking volte-face, it may be opportune to ponder his thoughts at a time when so many distinguished Catholic leaders can be found supporting sharply divergent views. Augustine, weighing both sides of the question of harshness towards dissenters, presents a microcosm of the problem as it appeared at the recent Vatican Council II. A word of explanation is necessary at the outset to instil a further study of a question that has already been fully treated in many articles and monographs. Unfortunately, these pages do not disclose any new Augustinian text which would solve once and for all the problem of just why Augustine changed his views on tolerance to so marked a degree. What originality this study enjoys lies in an interpretation of well-known facts. This in terpretation is twofold: (1) Augustine's change from a policy of tolerance to one of intolerance was not based on a change of fundamental principles, but rather upon a change in the applica tion of a principle that remained consistent throughout his polemic with the Donatists. (2) An explanation of why re ligious tolerance, which certainly is a question of principle for us, was not a question of principle for him. The explanation lies in Augustine's failure to develop a theory of human rights and in his attitude on the nature of the state. To make the interpretation suggested in these pages more intelligible a review of the factual situation confronting Augustine is in order. Since nearly all that Augustine had to say on reli gious tolerance was said in connection with the Donatist schism,1