Systemteoriens trinitære oprindelse: Luhmanns augustinske forbindelse

In short, it's the story of how the Catholic and protestant God became a sociologist in post-war western society - and Niklas Luhmann his devil.
In this paper, we follow the traits of modern autopoietic concepts of systems theory back in time. Structuring the observations with the question, if there has been any similar observational form equivalents to the basically paradox conception of system = system / environment, we uncover a pre-sociological concept in the ancient church father St. Augustine's writings from 400-430 AD.
Starting with St. Augstine, the presentation unfolds a description of the Augustinean form of the "Observer-God", it's precedents and antecedent consequences. Based on a thorough analysis of ancient church writings such as the cappadocian fathers and Origen, it becomes possible to unfold a description of the emergence of autopoiesis as a concept freed from it's 'theo-logic' origins. In conclusion, the presentation opens for discussion on the relevance of the critisicm of Luhmann's eurocentrism based on the uncovered evidence of the Luhmannian theological inspirations.