In the religious figures of Saul of Tarsus and Augustine of Hippo, similarities are found, not only in their individual conversions to Christianity, but also in their attempts to change the cultural worldview of their time. They faced like challenges trying to combine other belief systems with the belief that the God of the Hebrew scripture was the God of Truth and the one and only God. It became their life’s purpose to make Christianity the way for all.
According to Ambrosio, Saul of Tarsus, lived a life with a sort of dual identity. Saul of Tarsus, being well educated in Greek language and culture, prior to his conversion to Christianity, created a platform for him to spend the rest of his life spreading the Gospel of Christ to Gentiles,
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instead of Jews. For this cause, Saul, then known as Paul, was brought up on charges of creating unrest, tried and executed. Like the heroic example of Socrates, he had no fear of losing his life, for his beliefs. Augustine lived during a more peaceful time for Christianity.
Therefore, his heroism came in the form of personal struggle. Augustine became a leader and teacher in a culture that was shifting from Roman imperialism to Christianity. According to Professor Ambrosio, the theme of searching for God and self is prevalent in Augustine’s most renowned work “Confessions”. According to Augustine, it is human pride that thwarts the search for God and self. It is in this thwarting that the struggle of life takes place. One must work to overcome their pride in order to know God and by extension, know themselves. In the Greek tradition, knowing oneself and living that knowing out was of utmost importance. Just as Saul of Tarsus had been, he was well educated in Greek and Roman tradition and this influence is seen in his writings as well as how he lived his life after his personal conversion. He believed as Socrates believed, that personal responsibility was a key to a meaningful life. In his own words, which very nearly echo the voice of Socrates in Apology, “I would much rather say ‘I don’t know,’ when I don’t, than hold one up to ridicule who had asked a profound question and win applause for a worthless answer.” (Augustine
2006) All three of these men, living out their beliefs as a whole and entire way of being as well as their conversion of self and others, provide examples, for the people who would eventually become their followers. They both worked to spread the way of truth as they saw it, no matter the cost and their influence is still seen today. The ways they went about doing so are very similar to Professor Ambrosio’s earlier example of the Greek heroic ideal.
When reading ancient texts, they are often told through an omniscient point of view, such as The Odyssey or Gilgamesh, or they are written through another person’s perspective, such as The Republic. Confessions differs in that it is told from a first-person point of view, which makes it uniquely fascinating because we get to learn firsthand how Augustine’s actions, thoughts, and beliefs affected him. In comparison with the other, often mythical, texts, Augustine is a humanized perspective into the world—neither divine nor idolized; his story resembles that of many others as a man who grew to seek both conviction and resolution in his choices. The Confessions of Saint Augustine is, at its core, the journey of an everyman through his life—a concept not far removed from contemporary media. It is the culmination of his trials, tribulations, and efforts as a young man whose development influenced by the immense possibilities of the spiritual world that surrounded him.
Francis of Assisi is one of the most influential personalities in the entire world. In the book ‘Francis of Assisi: Performing the Gospel Life,’ Cunningham recounts the life of this humble monk who lived in the medieval times, and shaped the Christian life, which spread in Western culture throughout the rest of history. I believe Cunningham accurately accounts for the life of Francis of Assisi, and in doing so; he provides a trajectory of the Christian faith from its early and historical proponents through its fusion with western culture, and its subsequent spread throughout the world.
With this in mind, the objective of this essay is to focus on the main ideas of each theologian, and discuss how each theologian’s ideas are compensatory to the other. This is important because even though each theologian’s writings were inspired by the harsh realities of the societies, and also by the effect each writer experienced in their moment in history, their critiques specifically of Christian institutions remain a consistent amongst all three writings. Furthermore, not only are their critiques consistent, but their goals for providing new frameworks for the future of the Church and Christian discipleship are consistent as well.
This paper will outline specific points in Saint Augustine’s Confessions that highlight religious views following the fall of Rome. Though Augustines views on religion may not reflect that of most people in his time period, it still gives valuable insight into how many, namely Neoplatonists,, viewed God and his teachings.
At first glance, I was immediatly inclined to argue in epictetus' favor, because it pains
The Story of Christianity is a very informative summation; a continuation of Volume 1 which covered the beginning of the church up to the Protestant Reformation, while Vol. 2 dealt with the Protestant Reformation up to more modern time period. This author delivers a more comprehensive and deeper look into the development of Christianity, which includes particular events which had transpired throughout the world; particularly how Christianity has expanded into Central and South America. Gonzalez opens up this book with the “Call for Reformation,” where he shares with his readers the need for reform; the papacy had started to decline and was corrupt, in addition to the Great Schism, which had further weakened the papacy (p.8). The author explains how the church was not the only issue but that the church’s teachings were off track as well, seeing that the people had deviated from...
After reading St. Augustine’s book it seemed to me that he had very little interest in politics as a whole, but he did seem to have a a great interest on the moral problems that plagued them. The books that make up this work come from one of his previous works entitled, The City of God, in which Augustine discusses many different aspects of the city. Augustine’s view of Christianity in regard to politics was due to the moral decline of the Roman Empire and the effect of this decline on the still faithful Christians. Augustine blamed the pagan gods and their lack of concern for the moral character which defined those who worshiped them. He also makes a reference to Plato’s Republic, in regards to the way Plato wanted to banish the poets from his city in speech. Augustine also felt that there should be strong censorship of the poets when writing about the gods because they made fools out of them. Augustine is also very concerned with the amount of people who in past invasions of their homelands escaped by lying about being Christians and then turned their backs on Christ when the danger had subsided. Augustine’s work also raises the question of why mercy is extended to the pious and ungrateful. Augustine responds by reminding everyone that, “The sun rises upon the good and evil, and the rains fall upon the just and the unjust.” The book also discusses Gods patience with humans and how the choice to repent ones sins lies within the man. He tells how some will recognize...
A common thread of faith and reason runs through the two different theological visions of St. Augustine in his Confessions. This can be seen by comparing the ascent, the vision, the descent, and language in the two visions. Although other parts of the text will be referred to, the central part of these visions are as follows:Vision 1: "...
Throughout the first 400 years that Christianity was present in the world it changed dramatically. It started small in an area near the eastern Mediterranean area but within these 400 years, it grew to encompass the whole of the Mediterranean and its surrounding. Throughout this time of growth, there was also much change within the beliefs of Christianity with the main belief centering around Jesus Christ. While Christianity grew and made it to new areas it was introduced to new people that interpreted the different scriptures and preaching of what it meant to be a Christian. Some of the most influential writings in these years came from Irenaeus of Lyons, a second-century writer, Christian, theologian, and bishop. He expressed his beliefs of what made a Christian a Christian within his writing. One of his most famous writings, The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, highlights the idea of the Holy Trinity and the Rule of Faith in the interpretation of the bible. Irenaeus believed that the Rule of Faith was ultimately necessary and required when reading and interpreting the word of Christianity saying, in the words of Isaiah, “If ye believe not, neither shall ye understand” (paragraph 3). In the eyes of Irenaeus, the Rule of Faith is one of the main things that makes a Christian a Christian.
Augustine, Saint. “Of the Foreknowledge of God and the Free Will of Man, Against the
...ed a great value on classical thinking and rationalism. Many others also found the same incongruities and inconsistencies that Augustine found. Augustine's credentials as a scholar and intellectual gave authority to his Christian beliefs, and encouraged many others to follow. Augustine's message of self-resurrection also had a particular appeal to independent thinkers. Augustine paints a picture of a youth, sinful, decadent and lustful, who, through struggle and inner strife, is reborn in Christ. Further, Augustine's story relates a direct relationship to God. God sent messages to Augustine's mother and brought him to the Church. Unlike other religions, Christianity was offering everyone a direct one-to-one relationship with the creator. By relating his narrative, Augustine was offering a path to the Church and to what he believed to be salvation to everyone.
The first two parts of the book discuss the kind of theological-historical perspective and ecclesial situation that determines the form-content configuration of Revelation. The first section attempts to assess the theological commonality to and differences from Jewish apocalypticism. Fiorenza focuses of the problem that although Revelation claims to be a genuinely Christian book and has found its way into the Christian canon, it is often judged to be more Jewish than Christian and not to have achieved the “heights” of genuinely early Christian theology. In the second part of the book, Fiorenza seeks to assess whether and how much Revelation shares in the theological structure of the Fourth Gospel. Fiorenza proposes that a careful analysis of Revelation would suggest that Pauline, Johannine, and Christian apocalyptic-prophetic traditions and circles interacted with each other at the end of the first century C.E in Asia Minor. She charts in the book the structural-theological similarities and differences between the response of Paul and that of Revelation to the “realized eschatology”. She argues that the author of Revelation attempts to correct the “realized eschatology” implications of the early Christian tradition with an emphasis on a futuristic apocalyptic understanding of salvation. Fiorenza draws the conclusion that Revelation and its author belong neither to the Johannine nor to the Pauline school, but point to prophetic-apocalyptic traditions in Asia Minor.
In St. Augustine’s Confessions, Augustine details his life’s journey up to the point of conversion. Along the way he navigates the world largely by imitating others which in some instances brings him closer to conversion while in others leads him further from God. Augustine is seen struggling over whom to trust as a model of imitation, and initially relies on his intelligence in the form of logic to distinguish between good and bad models. He identified bad models by exposing contradictions, or by noticing that they are pretending to be something they are not. Good models, since they are close to god will not exhibit any contradiction or pretend to be something they are not. Although intelligence is useful to Augustine in his struggle to distinguish
W. Andrew Hoffecker. Building a Christian World View, vol. 1: God, man, and Knowledge. Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., Phillipsburg, New Jersey : 1986. William S. Babcock. The Ethics of St. Augustine: JRE Studies in Religion, no. 3.
As time went on I grew to be a man of firm convictions and fiery temperament. I always acted on my beliefs. Thus, when I was confronted with what I understood to be a heresy to Judaism, I worked with all my might to quell it. This heresy would one day come to be known as Christianity and at that time I, referred to then as Saul of Tarsus, was among the foremost of its persecutors.