Czy większość ma rację w Kościele? O niektórych aspektach multitudo w nauczaniu św. Augustyna

Abstract

The notion of multitudo appears in the context of his analysis concerning the possibilities of searching and learning the truth. Its meaning and assessment was changing along with maturation the bishop of Hippo in faith, with his gradual discovering the Church, and connected with it, the process of changing the way of thinking based on moving from some philosophical ideas to some biblical concepts. This change is also infuenced by the pastoral work in Hippo. In his frst works St. Augustine sees the multitudo as the crowd of simple, uneducated people, unable to discover invisible truth and involved in everyday matters. That is why, the way to the truth leads only through the authority. Opposite, there is a small part of philosophers, who by the purifcation of mind, chaste life and intellectual effort look at the world of intelligibility. They are the authority and the mind leads them to the truth. Because of the fact that St. Augustine discovers that closing to the spiritual world and the immersion in corporeality is forgetting about God, so it is a sin. Over time, a couple: the simple man- a philosopher is changed to a couple: a sinner – a saint person. Invisible truth is described God more signifcantly, but a relation between them is still governed by the authority. The changing the thinking about multitudo is visible especially in accepted by St. Augustine the concept of God’s authority, which has to justify unsure human authority. God’s authority addressees to simple people by sensual reality, thanks to which invisible truth is shown in carnal form. The humbleness of God’s authority is visible in the history of Salavion, in incarnation of the God’s Word, the Holy Bible, the tradition of the Church, miracles and this majority which receive the Christianity. In this way multitudo is now for the Bishop of Hoppo an argument for gen uineness of Church teaching and even the authority itself. As a result, it turns out that it is not the crowd of simple people, but an external way of being in the world of God’s people.