Outward, Inward, Upward: Why Three Goods of Marriage for Augustine?

Abstract

In this article I argue that Augustine’s three marital goods of procreation, fidelity and sacrament correspond to the familiar Augustinian pattern of ascent as the self turns from outward to inward and then upward. I develop this reading as an alternative to the suggestion that three goods each reflect one of the Triune persons and through critical engagement with recent interpreters of Augustine’s theology of marriage.