Power and Human Freedom (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America (continued)
The Son's Descent 133 with, but certainly not limited to, Augustine's newly found Neoplatonism; (2) the next six which are only reported instances, never explained nor developed; and (3) the final eleven Christian instances which range from 404–27.
Within this third division, deification language is initially presented as a promise by God to his creatures. It is something that creatures could never merit or manufacture on their own. Furthermore, Augustine's later uses of the term deificare bring us into contact with the major soteriological metaphors of his theology. For every time deification is used, divine adoption, becoming (participatory) gods, the imitation of God, the simultaneous participation in divinity, as well as the perfecting of the fallen person, arise as well.
This chapter has also shown that every time deificare is used in the 400s, it is used in close connection to and emphasis with the flesh of Christ. It is in this way that we can readily conclude with Norman Russell that Augustinian divinization is "firmly incarnational and sacramental."112 It is the Son's descent into the depths of humanity that enables humans to become gods, a descent which divinely adopts men and women and makes them into children of God. For Augustine, the possibly beguiling term, deificare, is never uniquely linked with God the Father nor is it ever the expressed work of the Spirit. Without fail it is used alongside the Son's incarnation. Could not both pater and spiritus have been found in the soteriological expressions of Manichees as well as the Platonists? The scandal of Christ's enfleshment becomes the sole context in which the Bishop of Hippo is comfortable enough to rely on encouraging his congregation to become deified.
Our initial inquiry into how creator and creature are related for Augustine is thus enriched when we see how he employs language of deification. He is unambiguous that a life with God
112. Russell, Deification, 331.
134 The Son's Descent deifies the creature. That said, however, he is both reluctant to multiply such claims and unwilling to elucidate exactly what a deified life might mean. It is a term which may lead his hearers to understand the different ways a Christian can use the term "gods." In Augustine's mind, such an appeal could elicit a Pelagian autonomy and a misplaced perfectionism.
Deification language therefore emerges as a term used profitably and deliberately, a term showing the power of God in remaking creatures into gods. More precisely, it is a soteriological metaphor showing how Christ acts so as to make the elect like himself: he exchanges his divinity for their humanity, he adopts them and makes his Father their Father, and so on. However, while every instance of deificare may point Augustine's flock to the work of the Son, his soteriology demands the cooperating work of the Holy Spirit. It is there we now turn.