How Did St. Augustine's View Of Slavery

St. Augustine of Hippo was a theologian primarily in the third and fourth century CE. Born in North Africa, he had strong religious beliefs. He was a strong believer of God. According to St. Augustine, God was there for those who were considered good and did not cause any harm. He supported Christianity and described it in terms of freedom and sin. A great focus of his work, “City of Gods and Confessions”, was describing slavery and its existence. While many considered slavery an inhumane practice, others like St. Augustine justified slavery as something that is not innate but a result of sin. St. Augustine believed that no one was born as a slave. Slavery was considered a punishment rather than a destiny. St. Augustine believed that “by nature,
It was obvious that God did not allow theft. However, there are people who just did not care about the sin they committed. St. Augustine proved this by stating, “I was willing to steal, and steal I did, although I was not compelled by any lack, unless it were a lack of a sense of justice or a distaste for what was right and a greedy love of doing wrong” (202). Specifically, the passage described St. Augustine and others stealing pears for fun and pleasure. This was a problem as this was considered a sin. Of course it would make sense to make these people slaves as they knew already knew that this was wrong. Theologists such as St. Ambrose would agree that pleasure kills ethics and leads to problems. Slavery is definitely a justifiable punishment for crimes such as theft. If people already know what is right and wrong, the debates over slavery as a harsh punishment should not have existed. Many would argue that slavery is too much for people to handle. However, what goes around comes around. If people commit wrongful actions, they will be punished for their wrongful duties. God had already given the people warnings, but it is up to the people to decide whether they want to live free or as a