St. Augustine
354-430
Saint Augustine was one of the foremost philosopher-theologians
of early Christianity and the leading figure in the church of North Africa.
He had a profound influence on the subsequent development of Western thought
and culture, and shaped the themes and defined the problems that have characterized
the Western tradition of Christian theology. His two most celebrated writings
are his semiautobiographical Confessions and City of God, a Christian vision
of history.
Augustine was born at Thagaste in Numidia, which
is part of present day Algeria. His father, Patricius (died about 371), was
a pagan (later converted to Christianity), but his mother, Monica, was a
devout Christian who labored untiringly for her son's conversion and who
was canonized by the Roman Catholic church. As a child he was schooled in
Latin literature and later went to Carthage to study rhetoric, where he became
a teacher. By the age of twenty he turned away from his Christian upbringing.
He was repelled by its codes of behavior, but he never completely renounced
it.
At Cathage he became enthusiastic about philosophy
after reading Cicero's Hortensius. He considered becoming a Christian, but
experimented with several philosophical systems before finally entering the
church. For nine years, from 373 until 382, he adhered to Manichaeism, a
Persian dualistic philosophy then widely current in the Western Roman Empire.
With its fundamental principle of conflict between good and evil and its
claim of a rational interpretation of Scripture, Manichaeism at first seemed
to Augustine to correspond to experience and to furnish the most plausible
hypothesis upon which to construct a philosophical and ethical system. Moreover,
its moral code was not unpleasantly strict; Augustine later recorded in his
Confessions: "Give me chastity and continence, but not just now." Disillusioned
by the impossibility of reconciling certain contradictory Manichaeist doctrines,
Augustine abandoned this philosophy and turned to skepticism.
About 383 Augustine left Carthage for Rome,
but a year later he went on to Milan as a teacher of rhetoric. There he came
under the influence of the philosophy of Neoplatonism and also met the bishop
of Milan, St. Ambrose, then the most distinguished ecclesiastic in Italy.
Augustine presently was attracted again to Christianity, and found Neoplatonism
to be compatible with Christian beliefs. By the age of 32 he converted to
Christianity and devoted the rest of his life to the pursuit of truth. Along
with his natural son, he was baptized by Ambrose on Easter Eve in 387. He
was ordained a priest in 391, and became bishop of Hippo Regius in 395. There
he remained for 35 years as the intellectual leader of African Catholicism
until he died on August 28, 430.
As a bishop Augustine had many debates with
Donatists and followers of Pelagianism. Donatists were separatists who believed
that they belonged to the only true church, and that sacraments were invalid
unless administered by sinless ecclesiastics. Augustine replied that unity
was the mark of true Christianity and that the sacraments depended on Christ
and not on human institutions. Pelagianism was a reform movement led by a
contemporary British monk who denied the doctrine of original sin. Pelagians
believed that no one could be excused from not fully meeting God's law, stressing
the importance of free will in controlling behavior. In the course of this
conflict Augustine developed his doctrines of original sin and divine grace,
which stood between the extremes of Pelagianism and Manichaeism. Against
Pelagian doctrine, he held that because of original sin human nature was
powerless to change; no one could be completely free to control one's motives
without the gift of God's grace. Against Manichaeism he vigorously defended
the place of free will in cooperation with grace.
Augustine's philosophy is always concrete, derived
from his own personal experiences. For him Christianity is the true philosophy,
Truth is one, and God is Truth. The possesion of Truth is happiness, and
beatitude is the enjoyment of Truth. It is wisdom that gives knowledge of
Truth, so the quest for Truth is a quest for wisdom. The sceptical Academics,
who believed that wisdom consisted of knowing that we can know nothing, posed
the question "how does a man become wise" to Augustine, for to become wise
one must desire the wisdom one lacks. But desire implies knowledge of the
thing desired, so desire of wisdom implies lack of wisdom and possession
of wisdom at the same time. Augustine answered in two ways; the first answer
was, in Cartesian fashion, Si fallor, sum (if I am wrong, I am), the second
was from Isaiah 7:9, "Unless you believe, you shall not understand." Only
faith provides the base from which the quest for wisdom starts, because faith
is a knowing and a not knowing; it allows love of a thing known possible,
and allows the desire to love the thing not yet enjoyed.
Some elements of Platonism can be seen in his
De Trinitate. His view of the world is Platonic, there is the outer and the
inner world, the lower and the higher, the sensible and the intelligible,
and the carnal and the spiritual. To become wise requires a movement of the
mind inwards and upwards to God, an opening of the mind to truth which is
there provided the mental vision has been purified by faith. His theme of
the divine in the world and in man is more biblical than Platonic, which
allowed him to regard the material world with a reverence that would be impossible
for a Platonist. His doctrine of evil as no-thing, a privation, is different
from both Platonic thought and Manichaeism.
His thoughts on the Incarnation would upset
Platonists. The divine image in man is defaced by sin, which upsets the divine
order. It is restored by the Word which makes up for pride by humility, disobedience
by obedience, restores life by enduring death, and innocence by taking the
consequences of guilt. The Word incarnate is the Way back for man to the
Word who is Truth, and the Way on to the risen Christ who is Life. Restoration
comes from God's grace, and Divine grace is shown us in divine charity, and
the human response is a response of charity. His ethics stems from grace
before will-power, and from the personal relationship of love before abstract
principle.
Augustine's success in unifying Christianity
allowed it to become the religion of medieval Europe, and created a theology
that has remained basic to Western Christianity, both Roman Catholic and
Protestant, ever since.
Some wise words from Saint Augustine
Biographies of St.Augustine
Writings of St.Augustine
Books and Articles about St.Augustine
Art work about St.Augustine
The City of God
Confessions of St. Augustine
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This site is officially opened on 16 October 2001