Lying : An Augustinian Theology of Duplicity

"This book gives the single best account of Augustine’s philosophy and theology of lying. Griffiths actually accepts Augustine’s theories as true, which I think leads him to give a very sensitive account of what Augustine argues. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . He relates Augustine’s prohibition against lying to Augustine’s conception of God and what it means for us to be made in the image of God. The Gospel of John is hugely important to Augustine in this regard. The Word perfectly embodies God; the Word made Flesh perfectly embodies the Word. By extension, Augustine argues that in whatever we do or say, we too must embody truth to the best of our ability. This is why Augustine can be so clear that we must never lie. Even if we lie to save a life we destroy our likeness to God. Griffiths gives a clear, sensitive account of that — and makes it very plausible, if you can accept Augustine’s premises. He then goes and compares Augustine to a number of other subsequent writers on lying to prove that none of them are as good as Augustine. I tend to lose patience at that point because I myself don’t really accept the Augustinian premises to begin with. But to understand Augustine, Griffiths’s book is just superb. Right — and more than that, Augustine argues that it turns us into the Devil because the Devil disobeyed God, decided for himself what he should and shouldn’t do. So when we decide what is good and bad we mimic the Devil. We are saying ‘God is not the image we should follow; we are the image we should follow’, which would be a bastardised version of the Incarnation as well. Yes. Griffiths constantly frames it in terms of the duplicity of heart: you’re one thing on the inside you’re something else on the outside — you break that link. There should be a unity in us that enacts the unity in God. When we lie we divide ourself from ourself and that division is the turning from God. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter I think it’s there in the entire tradition of lying, that you have something inside and you put on something different outside. This is why I don’t put a lot of credence in discussions of the invention of the self and the subject. As soon as we know how to talk we know the difference between the inner and the outer. It’s not surprising it’s in Hamlet because it’s already in Homer: when Odysseus comes home he lies to Penelope, and for Homer it is all about what Odysseus hides and what Odysseus reveals. ‘Oh no, I can think for myself.’ But this goes back to the fact that when Early Modern historians want to set up contrasts they’ll compare Renaissance humanists with medieval monks and act surprised when that they wanted different things out of life. In my real life? I have to say, no. Though I do get emails occasionally from people who want moral advice. And it’s got me thinking — I wrote a book about the history of lying, and people really want to know whether lying is ok or not. Now I am thinking about what the history of lying has to do with lying and the history of ethics with ethics. Having done all this work, it seems I ought to have some practical advice. It’s odd though, practical advice is often the hardest to sort out."