Augustine on the Flesh of the Resurrection Body in the De fide et symbolo: Origen, Manichaeism, and Augustine's developing thought regarding human physical perfection

[Extract] Within the Christian tradition, the Incarnation and ascension of Christ and the eventual perfection of all human bodies at the Resurrection push the conception of the body itself to the edge of the imagination. In his De ��ide et symbolo , or On the Faith and the Creed , Augustine engages with the very idea of body through these issues. 1 The De ��ide is an exposition of the Creed of the Christian faith offered by a young Augustine to his superiors in the African church. Within it, Augustine engages with various ways of conceiving of the body of God and the bodies of the elect at the end of time. In this discussion, he reveals what he saw as a possible route to the perfection of the human body, while at the same time insisting on the disembodiment of all aspects of God except the body of Christ.