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Augustine, a 4th-century African bishop, was one of Christianity's most influential thinkers. Augustine pushed the boundaries of self-knowledge in order to understand himself in relation to God.
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 f a vote were taken on who were the most
influential Christians that lived since Bible times, then one name would
show up near the top on just about anyone's list. Whether Protestant or
Catholic, Conservative or Liberal, any informed observer over the past
fifteen hundred years would include the name of Augustine at or close
to the top.
Some
great leaders in our world made an impact on a whole generation. A select
few even influenced a whole century. But Augustine was an incomparable
figure in shaping the whole millennium of the Middle Ages and in many
ways the foundations of modern Western civilization.
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Fortunately, we know a lot about Augustine for he wrote what is considered
the first autobiography in history. It is still published and sells well
today over fifteen hundred years after his death. It is called The
Confessions. In the next issue of Glimpses we will give you
an extended excerpt in which he tells of his conversion. But now, an overview
of his extraordinary life.
Augustine was a North African, born at Tagaste in what is now modern
Algeria on November 13, 354 into a middle class family. His mother Monica
was a strong Christian who persistently prayed for the salvation of her
son, a brilliant young man who had no interest in the things of Christ.
Monica tried to bring Augustine up in the ways and instruction of the
Lord, but Augustine ignored her instructions. He loved to play, was prone
to fits of temper, and was full of boyhood pranks, like stealing his neighbor's
pears and throwing them to the pigs.
Youthful Lusts
At sixteen Augustine went to Carthage to further his education. Ignoring
his mother's warnings against avoiding youthful lusts, Augustine took
an unnamed mistress and fathered an illegitimate son named Adeodatus.
While satisfying every fleshly desire, Augustine also pursued his studies.
The Roman Cicero's exhortation to seek wisdom stirred Augustine, and he
began to study philosophy in earnest. He even tried reading the Christian
Scriptures, but they seemed dull to him.
Down Futile Paths
For nine years Augustine embraced the beliefs of the Manichaeans, who
exalted Reason, Science, and Philosophy. Manichaeism was an eastern religion
which combined the dualism of Zoroaster with the pantheism of Buddha,
and covered them with a Christian veneer. It taught that good and evil
are constantly warring together; we do not have free will because everything
is predetermined by Fate. Yet, Augustine was dissatisfied with this older
version of the modern New Age movement. He sought answers from Faustus
of Milevis, the leading Manichaean of his day, but Faustus could not answer
Augustine's emptiness. He was like a cupbearer presenting a beautiful
goblet to Augustine, but the goblet had nothing in it.
To the Center of the World
Augustine had been a professor of rhetoric for three years in Carthage
when he decided to move to Rome. Though Rome was declining politically,
it was still in its material glory. In Rome Augustine resumed his teaching
and began to study the philosophy of Plato. He was drawn to Plato's world
of intelligence and pure spirit, while still captive to all the fleshly
desires of youth. Pupils didn't pay well in Rome, so Augustine moved again
-- this time to Milan. Mother Monica not only followed him with her prayers,
but came herself to Milan, where she attended Bishop Ambrose's church.
The Preacher's Words Finally Got to Him
In Milan Augustine began attending church too -- not from any interest
in Christianity, but from admiration of Ambrose and his eloquence. Here
at last was a Christian Augustine could admire. Gradually Augustine was
drawn by the substance as well as the style of Ambrose's words and became
a serious student of Christianity. From reading Paul's epistles he began
to understand the lost state of man and the need for divine grace. He
accepted that Jesus Christ was the restorer of fallen humanity, but this
intellectual acceptance had not brought the truth of the gospel to the
depths of his being. His lust and sensuousness seemed to war with his
lofty, inquiring soul. With his soul in turmoil, Augustine was sitting
under a tree in the garden when he heard a child's voice saying, "Take
up and read." Picking up Paul's epistle to the Romans, Augustine
read from the 13th chapter. Then and there he was soundly converted. We
will give his firsthand account of this event in full in the next issue
of Glimpses. His life would never be the same, and neither would the world.
On Easter, 387, Ambrose baptized Augustine in Milan along with his close
friend Alypius, and Adeodatus, his son born out of wedlock. Monica's prayers
were at long last answered, though as Ambrose told her, "it was impossible
that the child of so many prayers could be lost."
A New Life
Renouncing his professorship, Augustine retired to Cassiciacum with his
mother and a few friends. For three years he studied the Scriptures there.
From a proud philosopher he became a humble Christian, and he thirsted
for a living union with God. The Psalms of David and Paul's epistles became
dear to him. He sold his goods to help the poor and devoted himself to
the service of Christ.
Not As He Planned
Augustine returned to North Africa planning to live a quiet monastic life
near his native Tagaste, but the people persisted in electing him first
a priest and then, in 395, a bishop at the town of Hippo. For the next
thirty-eight years Augustine ministered faithfully among the people of
Hippo. His numerous letters and writings spread his influence throughout
the Christian world of the late Roman Empire. Living a monastic life,
sharing an apostolic community of goods with his fellow ministers at Hippo,
the simplicity of Augustine's physical existence contrasted with the spiritual
richness of his life. Often he preached five days in a row, sometimes
twice a day. He wrote over 1,000 treatises on almost every subject, touching
on all the important principles of Christianity. Christians from all over
the empire wrote him for counsel and advice, and many of his letters have
survived.
Battles with Heresies
Before his conversion Augustine was searching for truth. After his conversion
Augustine defended the Gospel from the major heresies and schisms of his
day. Against Manichaean dualism and its elevation of human reason, Augustine
wrote of the goodness of God's creation and warned of the arrogance of
human reason rebelling against divine authority. Against the Donatists'
claim that they were the true church and that the efficacy of baptism
depends on the character of the priest, Augustine spoke out on the unity
of the Christian faith. Quoting Jesus' parable in Luke 14:23 in which
the master told the servant to go to the highways and "make them
come in" to his house for the great supper, Augustine wrote that
the civil government could force the Donatists or other schismatics to
conform to the orthodox church. With barbarian invasions threatening the
Roman Empire, perhaps Augustine thought such use of the civil government
would enhance the church's moral authority. Unfortunately, Augustine's
admonition was later used to justify the cruel tortures of the Inquisition.
Augustine's most important battle was against Pelagius, who came from
Britain to North Africa to spread his new philosophy. Pelagius and his
follower Celestius apparently denied that all mankind inherited sin from
Adam. Each person, they believed, had total free will to act righteously
or sinfully; some, Pelagius believed, had not ever sinned. Once forgiven
of sin, man has it in his own power to please God.
Augustine, whose own conversion had made him so appreciative of the depth
of human sin and the necessity of God's saving grace, felt the very foundation
of Christianity was being assaulted and spoke out strongly against Pelagius.
All mankind is "in Adam," and because of Adam's sin, man's power
to do right is gone. Only by God's grace are people saved and enabled
to live the Christian life.
Explaining Catastrophe
Augustine lived in a time of great cultural chaos. In 410 barbarian invaders
sacked "Eternal Rome." Some asserted this was Rome's punishment
for accepting Christianity and neglecting the old Roman gods. Augustine
answered these accusations by writing The City of God, which became
a defense of Christianity over all other religions and a sweeping survey
of God's eternal plan for history. For the next one thousand years The
City of God provided the framework for understanding the world, the
church, and their relationship in God's design.
In the last years of Augustine's life, barbarian Vandals invaded North
Africa and laid siege to Hippo itself, destroying much in their wake.
Possidus, Augustine's biographer, wrote that Augustine "lived
to see cities overthrown and destroyed, churches denuded of priests and
ministers, virgins and monks dispersed, some dying of torture, others
by the sword, others captured and losing innocence of soul and body, and
faith itself, in cruel slavery; he saw hymns and divine praises ceasing
in the churches, the buildings themselves often burned down."
Faced with such depredations, Augustine, in his 76th year, increased
his time in retirement and prayer, and on August 28, 430, he died in the
presence of his friends. He was the last Bishop of Hippo. A year after
his death the Vandals breached the walls of Hippo after a fourteen month
siege; most of the people were either dying or dead of hunger.
Augustine had no will, because he left no earthly property. Yet, his
work could not perish. As historian Philip Schaff wrote, "His ideas
fell like living seed into the soil of Europe, and produced abundant fruits
in nations and countries of which he had never heard."
Help Wanted
Noted twentieth-century theologian Dr. Carl F. H. Henry, speaking at Yale
University a few years ago, proclaimed that in our day "Christianity
desperately needs a new Augustine" to provide an incisive Christian
analysis of contemporary culture, as Augustine did of fourth century pagan
culture. Worth Noting Protestants and Catholics both look to Augustine for
understanding of the Christian faith. Luther and Calvin both drew heavily
upon him and considered Augustine a forerunner of the Reformation. |
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