时间：2022-09-04 11:56:29
Introduction
Both St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas are great thinkers and theologians in the middle ages. St. Augustine’s opinions on social welfare and aesthetics are stated in his works Confessions and The City of God. In Augustine’s opinion，the world is classified into two opposite cities-the city of god and the city of the world. Similarly，happiness is divided into two opposite kinds-earthly happiness and divine happiness. However，from the perspective of Thomas Aquinas，the city of god and the city of the world are no longer in opposition，so are with earthly happiness and divine happiness.
Chapter Two St. Augustine’ and Thomas Aquinas’ Viewpoints on Social Welfare
Living in different ages and having different experiences，St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas hold their own opinions toward social welfare.
1. St.Augustine’ Christian Welfare Value
Augustine is the established theologist in the early period of Christianity. In the beginning period，Christianity represented the miserable moods of oppressed people. So its teachings contained social contents concerning equality，freedom，mutual help and everyone being happy. In academic field，Augustine is recognized as the first one to develop the original Christian teachings into a rounded system. In the City of God，Augustine explained his Christian welfare ideas. From Augustine’s viewpoint，there is only one value community-love. And love falls into two categories-love for oneself and love for god，which constitute two different cities respectively.
2. Thomas Aquinas’ Religious Welfare Value
Thomas Aquinas is the greatest representative of Christian philosophy during the middle Ages. On one hand，Aquinas inherited the Christian orthodox viewpoint of all rights coming from god. On the other hand，he absorbed Aristotle’s political ideas and explained the religious ideas that divine grace perfects human nature instead of depriving it. Aquinas thinks that the whole universe is a system commonly functioned by deity laws，natural laws and human laws. Deity laws are on the highest level，with natural laws next to it and human laws on the lowest level. Deity laws are pursued by god and guide all human beings’ behaviors. Everything in the world is under the charge of god and only god knows deity laws. Ordinary people can not understand natural laws but are able to learn about some contents with god’s help.
3. Comparison Between St. Augustine’s Christian Welfare Value and Thomas Aquinas’ Religious Welfare Value
From Augustine to Aquinas，Christian social welfare values in the western society changed a lot and these changes are as follows. Firstly，according to Augustine，the city of god and the city of the world，earthly happiness and divine happiness are in opposition. People pursuing earthly happiness can not enter the city of god. However，Aquinas eases up the opposition，no longer putting the city of god over earthly world，and points out that the city of god is the society itself. In this way，the gap between the reality and ideals is narrowed. Secondly，Augustine’s division of two cities shows the opposition of two values-love for oneself and love for god and two value entities- the city of the world and the city of god. The essence is the opposition of divine grace and human nature. While from Aquinas’ perspective，kingdom and earthly world are isomorphic and accessible to each other. Both divine kingdom and earthly world are benefit communities. Thirdly，Augustine’s division of two cities and two kinds of happiness makes people go to extremeness easily in the pursuit of happiness. The pursuit of earthly happiness means the impossibility of gaining divine happiness.
4. Summary
According to the above analysis，it is clear that from St. Augustine to Aquinas，there is a big shift in Christian welfare values. From the objection of pursuing earthly happiness to granting the reasonableness of pursuing earthly happiness，divine happiness is taken back to the earthly world. This makes people’s happiness conform to reality and reasonableness.
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