Abstract

Like his predecessor Marius Victorinus, Augustine tried to find the image of the divine Trinity, as understood by Western pro‑Nicene theology, in the human soul, created, according to Gn 1 :26f., in the image of God. Unlike Victorinus, Augustine finds this image not in the soul as such but only in the rational soul capable of intellectual insight, i.e. the mind (mens). The „image” of the divine Trinity is thus constituted by the mind itself and its self‑knowledge and self‑love (De trin. IX) or, alternatively, by memory, intellectual insight, and will (De trin. X). Apart from this Neo‑Platonising exposition, Augustine attempted to show a longer path to the same goal, intended, in his words, for „slower” readers (De trin. XI‑XIV). This „Aristotelianising” procedure gradually seeks analogous triads on the level of sense perception, imagination, and practical reason. However, these triads are not the image of God in a true sense, but only the way to find it in the mind. Finally, in the last book of his work, Augustine uses this image to develop his idea of the divine Trinity (De trin. XV).