THE ROLE OF THE PHYSICAL IN AUGUSTINE’S RETURN TO GOD IN THE CONFESSIONES

Abstract

The role of the physical in the Trinitarian cosmos of the Confessiones demonstrates the natural capacity of the human to return to God by, and with, physical bodies. The physical is the relative basis and beginning of movement at every stage of the return (exteriora, interiora, superiora). Simultaneously, the human and the physical mutually return to God by, and with, His prior self-return in the increasing expansion and power of the human converting to the divine-human aspect, the sixth day of creation in Genesis, wherein God’s work and rest is in the human’s working and resting.