This article provides an explanation of the debate occurred among scholars about an issue raised by some Augustine’s statements written in the third book of the De libero arbitrio and thus summarized in the Retractationes: «Quamvis ignorantia et difficultas, etiamsi essent hominis primordia naturalia; nec sic culpandus, sed laudandus esset Deus». The mentioned contributions were written between 1930 and 2005 and they attempt to understand whether it is possible to ascribe to Augustine the conception of an idea of pure nature. Did the bishop of Hippo really think that God could create man burdened with moral weakness and ignorance? The summary rules out this hypothesis.
