Sustaining Temporal Peace: A Worldview for Sustainable Living Inspired by Saint Augustine's Philosophy

• Main Author: Sta. Maria, Joseph Emmanuel D.
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2024
• Subjects: sustainable development; sustainable living; Saint Augustine; City of God; order; rightly ordered love; temporal peace
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/budhi/vol22/iss3/4; https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/budhi/article/1448/viewcontent/Budhi_2022.3_204_20Article_20__20Sta._20Maria.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

My paper aims to use the philosophical resources of Saint Augustine’s thought, particularly as found in the City of God, in order to sketch a basic worldview which can educate and lead people towards living lives that promote sustainable development. Specifically, I wish to show how Saint Augustine’s concepts of order, rightly ordered love, and temporal peace can serve as material to create a rough metaphysical framework in which human beings are understood to be an integrated part of a greater whole which is the earth. The ethical corollary of this framework is that human beings should act in such a way that does not damage this greater whole but rather preserves its order and integrity. In doing this, I also hope to show that Saint Augustine’s thought can still have relevance for contemporary issues.