On Christian Doctrine

At the heart of Augustine’s theology is Christian love. Augustine believes that love is the essence of faith, and that this love manifests itself in two main forms: the love of one’s neighbor, and one’s love for God.

Augustine writes repeatedly about the nature of these dual loves and their importance for the Christian believer. He believes that it is the love a believer shows for his neighbor that is both an act of faith and a way of mirroring the love the believer has for God—even though there is, as he stresses, a gap between the love God can offer and the love a mortal does: “For He shows us pity on account of His own goodness, but we show pity to one another on account of His—that is, he pities us that he may fully enjoy Himself; we pity one another that we may fully enjoy Him” (80). By loving one’s neighbor, the Christian believer learns how to behave more selflessly and in a spirit of genuine Christian charity, which in turn brings him closer to God and the divine goodness all believers seek to emulate.

Furthermore, love acts as a social bond that holds people and communities together in a spirit of harmony.