Throughout the ages, there have been countless influences on not only social and political life, but on religious character and prevalence as well. Aurelius Augustine, who would eventually rise to the position of bishop in the early Catholic Church, was one of the most interesting characters that would surely leave his mark on the Roman Empire, especially in the few decades before the western part of the empire was to be taken over by Germanic tribes from the North. Perhaps, his most influential characteristic that history still records today, was his striking tenacity to preserve the Christian religion as it was ‘supposed’ to be and to spread that influence to all who walked the earth. This, of course, is only a small fraction of the intense influence the great man called St. Augustine of Hippo truly had, and still has, on the world.
The man most would call St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church today, was born as Aurelius Augustine in the year 354, on the 13th of November, in Thagaste. Growing up in the Roman province of North Africa, present-day Tunisia, Augustine would have been “among the many who were enfranchised by the famous edict of Caracalla of 212, whereby almost all the freemen of the Empire became Roman citizens” (Bonner 1963, 36). This can be attributed from the origins of his last name. He grew up in a poor family, one which was ridden with hardship, but this did not stop his father Patricius’s, as Gerald Bonner puts it, “determination to secure for him the best possible education” (1963, 38). What is also interesting to note, is the strikingly opposite sentiments for the Christian religion concerning both of Augustine’s parents. His mother, very devout, as sources would have it, was a catalyst in Augustine...
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...ne, true, Christian faith, can be seen as soldier like. Therefore, it begs to differ whether he should be labeled Doctor of the Church or Soldier of the Faith, or maybe even both.
Works Cited
Augustine, Aurelius. The Confessions. Translated by J. G. Pilkington. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1876.
Bonner, Gerald. St Augustine of Hippo: Life and Controversies. London: SCM Press, LTD., 1963.
McCabe, Joseph. "The Conversion of St. Augustine." International Journal of Ethics (The University of Chicago Press) 12, no. 4 (July 1902): 450-459.
Philip Woollcott, Jr. "Some Considerations of Creativity and Religious Experience in St. Augustine of Hippo." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (Blackwell Publishing, Ltd.) 5, no. 2 (Spring, 1966): 273-283.
Portalié, Eugène. "Life of St. Augustine of Hippo." The Catholic Encyclopedia (Robert Appleton Company) 2 (1907).
Russel, Peter E. "The Caravels of Christ." Prince Henry 'The Navigator': A Life. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale UP, 2001. 225-38. Print.
Unlike other texts of the time, Augustine’s confessions are less of an epic tale or instructive texts, both of which soug...
In chapter two, ‘Francis and His Companions,’ Cunningham exposes the considerable growth in Francis of Assisi’s influence, as he recounts his companions that joined him after deciding to live his life. The chapter is significant because it exposes how Francis of Assisi’s gospel is different from the orthodox Catholic practices, which recognized the pope, as the sole Vicar of Christ. (Cunningham 32). This chapter is important in my life because it reinforces my conviction God is the almighty and all-powerful, and all people regardless of the status of the needed to worship
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.
Hopkins, Dwight N. "Columbus, the Church, and slave religion." Journal of Religious Thought, Winter 92/ Spring 93, Volume 49, Issue 2, p25.
Augustine. “Confessions”. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. 8th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. 1113-41. Print.
St. Augustine considers his mother as a crucial factor in his conversion to Catholicism. However, through the analysis of his confessions, it leads me to believe that St. Augustine’s mother was not a decisive figure. Monica was in the background keeping him in thought and prayer, however Augustine’s watershed moments came as a result of his own examination of readings as well as his conversations with his friends and mentors. Therefore, I argue that Monica had delayed Augustine’s baptism and it was his own experiences that allowed him to come to God. Baptizing a baby at birth was a common practice during the time when Augustine was born.
Augustine’s contention that man cannot possibly come into truth by reason in his temporal life constitutes his initial departure from the ancients, and results in the need for an entirely new structuring of the relationship between man and the good. In differentiating between the nature of God and man, Augustine argues that man’s nature—unlike God’s—is corruptible, and is thus “deprived of the light of eternal truth” (XI, 22) . This stands the thought of Plato on its head, since now no amount of contemplation and argument will be capable of getting man closer to a truth that exists on a plane that “surpasses the reach of the human mind” (XXI, 5). If reason is an instrument as flawed as man himself, how, then, is man to know the supreme good if he is forced to grope blindly for it in a state of sin without any assistance from the powers of his own mind? It is this question which serves as the premise for Augustine’s division of existence into the City of Man and the City of God and articulation of a system of vice and struggle against vice that keeps man anchored to the City of Man and prevents him from entering the City of God in temporal life.
Saint Augustine’s Confessions are a diverse mix of autobiography, philosophy, and interpretation of the Christian Bible. The first nine Books of the work follow the story of Augustine 's life, from his birth (354 A.D.) up to the events that took place just after his conversion to Catholicism (386 A.D.). Born and raised in Thagaste, in eastern Algeria, he has one brother named Navigius, and two sisters. His father, Patricus, a small landowner and an official of the local government is still a pagan. Monica, his mother is a devout Christian. Augustine starts off by praising to God and that it is the natural desire of all men. Yet Augustine does not have a lot of knowledge about God because he felt that he was powerless for God to come to him
In St. Augustine’s book entitled Political Writings, one could see that Christianity plays a very important role in his view of politics. His opinion on the morality or lack of morality in politics, to me makes it more evident that Christianity persuades his views. Although it seems his writings have become quite well known and admired, not everyone fully shared his beliefs. Niccolo Machiavelli, for instance, seemed to believe in a government that was not driven by morality, but more by practicality. In, The Prince, Machiavelli stresses that the moral fibers of government should not be so soft. Like St. Augustine, his work went on to become one of the most famous books ever written about politics. Throughout the two works there are some similarities and differences regarding politics, however it their view of Christianity and morality that many find most intriguing.
St. Augustine is a man with a rational mind. As a philosopher, scholar, and teacher of rhetoric, he is trained in and practices the art of logical thought and coherent reasoning. The pursuits of his life guide him to seek concrete answers to specific questions. Religion, the practice of which relies primarily on faith—occasionally blind faith—presents itself as unable to be penetrated by any sort of scientific study or inquiry. Yet, like a true scientist and philosopher, one of the first questions St. Augustine poses in his Confessions is: “What, then, is the God I worship” (23)? For a long time, Augustine searches for knowledge about God as a physical body, a particular entity—almost as if the Lord were merely a human being, given the divine right to become the active figurehead of the Christian religion.
Benjamin, Anna and L.H. Hackstaff (tr). St Augustine On the Free Choice of the Will.
Spoto, D. (2002). The Reluctant Saint: The life of Francis of Assisi. New York: Penguin Group.
Thomas Aquinas. Faith, Reason and Theology. Armand Maurer,translator. Mediæval Sources in Translation, vol. 32. Pontifical Institute of Mediæval Studies, Toronto : 1987.
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province (New York: Benziger Bros., 1922).