"Saint Augustine" redirects here. For other uses of Saint Augustine, see
St.
Augustine.
Aurelius Augustinus, Augustine of Hippo, or Saint Augustine (November
13, 354 – August 28, 430) was
a philosopher and theologian, and was bishop of the North African city of Hippo Regius for
the last third of his life. Augustine is one of the most important figures in the development of Western Christianity, and is considered to be one of the church
fathers. He framed the concepts of original sin and just
war.
In Roman Catholicism and the Anglican
Communion, he is a saint and pre-eminent Doctor of the Church, and the
patron of the Augustinian religious order. Many Protestants, especially Calvinists, consider him to be one of the
theological fathers of Reformation teaching on salvation and grace. In the Eastern Orthodox Church he is a saint, and his feast day is celebrated annually on
June 15, though a minority are of the opinion that he is a heretic, primarily because of his
statements concerning what became known as the filioque clause.[1] Among the Orthodox he is called Blessed Augustine, or St.
Augustine the Blessed. "Blessed" here does not mean that he is less than a saint, but is a title bestowed upon him as a sign
of respect.[2] The Orthodox do not remember Augustine so
much for his theological speculations as for his writings on spirituality. In addition he believed in Papal supremacy. [3]
Born in present day Algeria as the eldest son of Saint
Monica, he was educated in North Africa and baptized in Milan. His works—including The Confessions, which is
often called the first Western autobiography—are still read around
the world.
Life
Saint Augustine was of Berber descent[4] and was born in 354 A.D. in Thagaste
(present-day Souk Ahras, Algeria), a provincial
Roman city in North Africa.[5] At the age of 11, Augustine was sent to school at Madaurus, a
small Numidian city about 19 miles south of Tagaste noted for its pagan climate. There he became very familiar with
Latin literature, as well as pagan beliefs and practices.[6] In 369 and 370, he remained at home. During this period he read Cicero's dialogue Hortensius, which he described as leaving a lasting
impression on him and sparking his interest in philosophy.[5] At age seventeen, through the generosity of a fellow citizen Romanianus,[5] he went to Carthage to continue his
education in rhetoric. His revered mother, Monica,[7] was a Berber and a devout Catholic, and
his father, Patricius, a pagan. Although raised as a
Catholic, Augustine left the Church to follow the controversial Manichaean religion, much to
the despair of his mother. As a youth Augustine lived a hedonistic lifestyle for a time and, in Carthage, he developed a
relationship with a young woman who would be his concubine for over fifteen years. During
this period he had a son, Adeodatus,[8] with the young
woman. During the years 373 and 374, Augustine taught grammar at Tagaste. The following year, he moved to Carthage to conduct a
school of rhetoric there, and would remain there for the next nine years.[5] Disturbed by the unruly behaviour of the students in Carthage, in 383 he
moved to Rome to establish a school there, where he believed the best and brightest rhetoricians practiced. However, Augustine
was disappointed with the Roman schools, which he found apathetic. Once the time came for his students to pay their fees they
simply fled. Manichaean friends introduced him to the prefect of the City of Rome,
Symmachus, who had been asked to provide a professor of rhetoric for the imperial court at
Milan.
The young provincial won the job and headed north to take up his position in late 384. At age
thirty, Augustine had won the most visible academic chair in the Latin world, at a time when such posts gave ready access to
political careers. However, he felt the tensions of life at an imperial court, lamenting one day as he rode in his carriage to
deliver a grand speech before the emperor, that a drunken beggar he passed on the street had a less careworn existence than he
did.
It was at Milan that Augustine's life changed. While still at Carthage, he had begun to move away from Manichaeism, in part
because of a disappointing meeting with a key exponent of Manichaean theology. In Rome, he is reported to have completely turned
away from Manichaeanism, and instead embraced the skepticism of the New Academy
movement. At Milan, his mother Monica pressured him to become a Catholic. Augustine's
own studies in Neoplatonism were also leading him in this direction, and his friend
Simplicianus urged him that way as well.[5] But it was
the bishop of Milan, Ambrose, who had most influence over Augustine. Ambrose was a master of
rhetoric like Augustine himself, but older and more experienced.
Augustine's mother had followed him to Milan and he allowed her to arrange a society marriage, for which he abandoned his
concubine (however he had to wait two years until his fiancée came of age; he promptly took up in the meantime with another
woman). It was during this period that he uttered his famous prayer, "Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet" [da mihi
castitatem et continentiam, sed noli modo] (Conf., VIII. vii (17)).
In the summer of 386, after having read an account of the life of Saint Anthony of the Desert which greatly inspired him, Augustine underwent a profound personal crisis
and decided to convert to Catholic Christianity, abandon his career in rhetoric, quit his teaching position in Milan, give up any
ideas of marriage, and devote himself entirely to serving God and the practices
of priesthood, which included celibacy. Key to
this conversion was the voice of an unseen child he heard while in his garden in Milan telling him in a sing-song voice to "tolle
lege" ("take up and read") the Bible, at which point he opened the Bible at random and fell upon the Epistle to the Romans 13:13, which reads: "Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and
drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying" (KJV). He would detail his spiritual journey in his
famous Confessions, which became a classic of both Christian theology
and world literature. Ambrose baptized Augustine, along with his son, Adeodatus, on Easter Vigil
in 387 in Milan, and soon thereafter in 388 he returned to Africa.[5] On his way
back to Africa his mother died, as did his son soon after, leaving him alone in the world without family.
Upon his return to north Africa he sold his patrimony and gave the money to the poor. The only thing he kept was the family
house, which he converted into a monastic foundation for himself and a group of
friends.[5] In 391 he was
ordained a priest in Hippo
Regius (now Annaba, in Algeria). He became a famous
preacher (more than 350 preserved sermons are believed to be authentic), and was noted for
combating the Manichaean religion, to which he had formerly adhered.
In 396 he was made coadjutor bishop of Hippo (assistant
with the right of succession on the death of the current bishop), become full bishop shortly thereafter. He remained in this
position at Hippo until his death in 430. Augustine worked tirelessly in trying to convince the
people of Hippo, who were diverse racial and religious group, to convert to the Catholic faith. He left his monastery, but
continued to lead a monastic life in the episcopal residence. He left a Rule (Latin,
Regula) for his monastery that has led him to be designated the "patron saint of
Regular Clergy", that is, Clergy who live by a monastic rule.
Augustine died on August 28, 430 during the siege of Hippo by
the Vandals. On his death bed he was read the Enneads of
Plotinus. He is said to have encouraged its citizens to resist the attacks, primarily on the
grounds that the Vandals adhered to Arianism, a heterodox branch of Christianity. It is also
said that he died just as the Vandals were tearing down the city walls of Hippo.
After conquering the city, the Vandals destroyed all of it but Augustine's cathedral and library, which they left untouched.
Tradition indicates that his body was later moved to Pavia, where they are said to remain to this
day.[5]
Works
Augustine was one of the most prolific Latin authors, and the list of his works consists of more than a hundred separate
titles.[9] They include apologetic works against the
heresies of the Arians, Donatists, Manichaeans and Pelagians, texts on Christian doctrine, notably De doctrina Christiana (On Christian
Doctrine), exegetical works such as commentaries on Genesis, the Psalms and Paul's Letter to the
Romans, many sermons and letters, and the
Retractationes (Retractions), a review of his earlier works which he wrote near
the end of his life. Apart from those, Augustine is probably best known for his Confessiones (Confessions), which is a personal account of his earlier life, and
for De civitate Dei (The City of God, consisting of 22 books), which he
wrote to restore the confidence of his fellow Christians, which was badly shaken by the sack of Rome by the Visigoths in 410. His 'On the Trinity'
(De Trinitate), in which he developed what has become known as the 'psychologial analogy' of the Trinity, is also among his
masterpieces, and arguably one of the greatest theological works of all time.
Influence as a theologian and thinker
Augustine remains a central figure, both within Christianity and in the history of Western thought, and is considered by
modern historian Thomas Cahill to be the first medieval man and the last classical
man.[10] In both his philosophical and theological
reasoning, he was greatly influenced by Stoicism, Platonism and Neo-platonism, particularly by the work of
Plotinus, author of the Enneads, probably through the
mediation of Porphyry and Victorinus (as
Pierre Hadot has argued). His generally favorable view of Neoplatonic thought contributed
to the "baptism" of Greek thought and its entrance into the Christian and subsequently the European intellectual tradition. His early and influential writing on the human will, a central topic in ethics, would become a focus for later
philosophers such as Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. In addition, Augustine was influenced by the works of Virgil (known for his teaching on language), Cicero (known for his teaching on
argument), and Aristotle (particularly his Rhetoric and Poetics).
Augustine's concept of original sin was expounded in his works against the Pelagians.
However, Eastern Orthodox theologians, while they believe all humans were
damaged by the original sin of Adam and Eve, have key disputes with Augustine about this doctrine, and as such this is viewed as
a key source of division between East and West. His writings helped formulate the theory of the just
war. He also advocated the use of force against the Donatists, asking "Why ... should
not the Church use force in compelling her lost sons to return, if the lost sons compelled others to their destruction?" (The
Correction of the Donatists, 22–24). St. Thomas Aquinas took much from Augustine's
theology while creating his own unique synthesis of Greek and Christian thought after the widespread rediscovery of the work of
Aristotle. While Augustine's doctrine of divine predestination would never be wholly forgotten within the Roman
Catholic Church, finding eloquent expression in the works of Bernard of
Clairvaux, Reformation theologians such as Martin Luther and John Calvin would look back to him as the
inspiration for their avowed capturing of the Biblical Gospel. Bishop John Fisher of Rochester, a chief opponent of Luther,
articulated an Augustinian view of grace and salvation consistent with Church doctrine, thus encompassing both Augustine’s
soteriology and his teaching on the authority of and obedience to the Catholic Church.[11] Later, within the Roman Catholic
Church, the writings of Cornelius Jansen, who claimed heavy influence from
Augustine, would form the basis of the movement known as Jansenism; some Jansenists went into
schism and formed their own church.
Augustine was canonized by popular acclaim, and later recognized as a Doctor of the Church in 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII. His
feast day is August 28, the day on which he died.
He is considered the patron saint of brewers, printers, theologians, sore eyes, and a
number of cities and dioceses. The latter part of Augustine's Confessions consists of an extended meditation on the nature
of time. Catholic theologians generally subscribe to Augustine's belief that God exists outside of time in the "eternal present"; that time only exists within the created universe
because only in space is time discernible through motion and change. His meditations on the nature of time are closely linked to
his consideration of the human ability of memory. Frances
Yates in her 1966 study, The Art of Memory
argues that a brief passage of the Confessions, X.8.12, in which Augustine writes of walking up a flight of stairs and
entering the vast fields of memory [12] clearly indicates
that the ancient Romans were aware of how to use explicit spatial and architectural metaphors as a mnemonic technique for organizing large amounts of information. According to Leo
Ruickbie, Augustine's arguments against magic, differentiating it from
miracle, were crucial in the early Church's fight against paganism and became a central thesis in the later denunciation of witches and witchcraft. According to Professor Deepak Lal, Augustine's vision of the heavenly city has influenced the
secular projects and traditions of the Enlightenment, Marxism, Freudianism and Eco-fundamentalism [citation needed].
Influential quotations from Augustine's writings
- "Give what Thou dost command, and command what Thou wilt." ("Da quod jubes, et jube quod vis," Confessions X, xxix, 40)
- "Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless until it repose in Thee." (Confessions I, i, 1)
- "Love the sinner and hate the sin" (Cum dilectione hominum et odio vitiorum) (Opera Omnia, vol II. col. 962, letter
211.), literally "With love for mankind and hatred of sins "[13]
- "Excess [i.e., 'extravagant self-indulgence, riotous living'] is the enemy of God" (Luxuria est inimica Dei.)
- "Heart speaks to heart" (Cor ad cor loquitur)[14]
- "Nothing conquers except truth and the victory of truth is love" (Victoria veritatis est caritas}[15]
- "To sing once is to pray twice" (Qui cantat, bis orat) literally "he who sings, prays twice"[16]
- "Lord, you have seduced me and I let myself be seduced" (quoting the prophet Jeremiah 20.7-9)
- "Love, and do what you will" (Dilige et quod vis fac) Sermon on 1 John 7, 8[17]
- "Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet" (da mihi castitatem et continentiam, sed noli modo) (Conf., VIII. vii
(17))
- "God, oh Lord, grant me the power to overcome sin. For this is what you gave to us when you granted us free choice of will.
If I choose wrongly, then I shall be justly punished for it. Is that not true, my Lord, of whom I indebted for my temporal
existence? Thank you, Lord, for granting me the power to will my self not to sin.(Free Choice of the Will, Book One)"
- "Christ is the teacher within us"[18] (A paraphrase; see De Magistro - "On the Teacher" - 11:38)
- "Hear the other side" (Audi partem alteram) De Duabus Animabus, XlV ii
- "Take up [the book], and Read it" (Tolle, lege) Confessions, Book VIII, Chapter 12
- "There is no salvation outside the church" (Salus extra ecclesiam non est) (De Bapt. IV, cxvii.24)
- "To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation." (Multi quidem facilius se abstinent ut non utantur, quam
temperent ut bene utantur. - Lit. 'For many it is indeed easier to abstain so as not to use [married sexual relations] at
all, than to control themselves so as to use them aright.') (On the Good of Marriage)
- "We make ourselves a ladder out of our vices if we trample the vices themselves underfoot." (iii. De Ascensione)
- "Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that
they do not remain the way they are." (quoted in William Sloane Coffin, The Heart Is a Little to the Left)
Natural knowledge and biblical interpretation
Augustine took the view that the Biblical text should not be interpreted literally if it contradicts what we know from science
and our God-given reason. In an important passage on his "The Literal Interpretation of Genesis" (early 5th century, AD), St. Augustine wrote:
It not infrequently happens that something about the earth, about the sky, about other elements of this world, about the
motion and rotation or even the magnitude and distances of the stars, about definite eclipses of the sun and moon, about the
passage of years and seasons, about the nature of animals, of fruits, of stones, and of other such things, may be known with the
greatest certainty by reasoning or by experience, even by one who is not a Christian. It is too disgraceful and ruinous, though,
and greatly to be avoided, that he [the non-Christian] should hear a Christian speaking so idiotically on these matters, and as
if in accord with Christian writings, that he might say that he could scarcely keep from laughing when he saw how totally in
error they are. In view of this and in keeping it in mind constantly while dealing with the book of Genesis, I have, insofar as I
was able, explained in detail and set forth for consideration the meanings of obscure passages, taking care not to affirm rashly
some one meaning to the prejudice of another and perhaps better explanation.
– The Literal Interpretation of Genesis 1:19–20, Chapt. 19 [AD 408]
With the scriptures it is a matter of treating about the faith. For that reason, as I have noted repeatedly, if anyone, not
understanding the mode of divine eloquence, should find something about these matters [about the physical universe] in our books,
or hear of the same from those books, of such a kind that it seems to be at variance with the perceptions of his own rational
faculties, let him believe that these other things are in no way necessary to the admonitions or accounts or predictions of the
scriptures. In short, it must be said that our authors knew the truth about the nature of the skies, but it was not the intention
of the Spirit of God, who spoke through them, to teach men anything that would not be of use to them for their salvation.
– ibid, 2:9
A more clear distinction between "metaphorical" and "literal" in literary texts arose with the rise of the Scientific Revolution, although its source could be found in earlier writings, such as those of
Herodotus (5th century BC). It was even considered heretical to interpret the Bible literally
at times (cf. Origen, St. Jerome).[citation needed]
Creation
- See also: Allegorical
interpretations of Genesis
In "The Literal Interpretation of Genesis" Augustine took the view that everything in the universe was created
simultaneously by God, and not in seven calendar days like a plain account of Genesis would require. He argued that the six-day
structure of creation presented in the book of Genesis represents a logical framework, rather than the passage of time in a
physical way - it would bear a spiritual, rather than physical, meaning, which is no less literal. Augustine also doesn’t
envisage original sin as originating structural changes in the universe, and even suggests
that the bodies of Adam and Eve were already created mortal before the Fall. Apart from his specific views, Augustine recognizes
that the interpretation of the creation story is difficult, and remarks that we should be willing to change our mind about it as
new information comes up. [4]
In "The City of God", Augustine also defended what would be called today as
young Earth creationism. In the specific passage, Augustine rejected both the
immortality of the human race proposed by pagans, and contemporary ideas of ages (such as those of certain Greeks and Egyptians)
that differed from the Church's sacred writings:
Let us, then, omit the conjectures of men who know not what they say, when they speak of the nature and origin of the human
race. For some hold the same opinion regarding men that they hold regarding the world itself, that they have always been... They
are deceived, too, by those highly mendacious documents which profess to give the history of many thousand years, though,
reckoning by the sacred writings, we find that not 6000 years have yet passed.
– Augustine, Of the Falseness of the History Which Allots Many Thousand Years to the World’s Past,
The City of God, Book 12: Chapt. 10 [AD 419].
Doctrine of Original Sin
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Augustine's theological views in the early middle era were revolutionary, perhaps none so much as his clear formulation of the
doctrine of Original Sin that has substantially influenced Catholic theology.
His idea of predestination rests on the assertion that God has foreseen, from time
immemorial, all the choices every person who would ever live on Earth would make, and whether they would cooperate with
Grace or not. The number of the people God knows would be saved are the elect, the number
who God knows will not be saved are the reprobate. God has chosen the elect certainly and gratuitously, without any previous
merit (ante merita) on their part.
Yet Augustine also maintains firmly that it is God's will to save all men. God does not destroy human liberty and free choice,
but preserves it, so that the elect would, potentially, have the full power to be damned and the non-elect full power to be
saved.
According to Augustine, God, in his creative decree, has expressly excluded every order of things in which grace would deprive
man of his liberty, every situation in which man would not have the power to resist sin, and thus Augustine brushes aside that
predestinationism which has been attributed to him. Listen to him speaking to the Manichæans: "All can be saved if they wish";
and in his "Retractations" (I, x), far from correcting this assertion, he confirms it emphatically: "It is true, entirely true,
that all men can, if they wish." But he always goes back to the providential preparation. In his sermons he says to all: "It
depends on you to be elect" (In Ps. cxx, n. 11, etc.); "Who are the elect? You, if you wish it" (In Ps. Lxxiii, n. 5). But, you
will say, according to Augustine, the lists of the elect and reprobate are closed. Now if the non-elect can gain heaven, if all
the elect can be lost, why should not some pass from one list to the other? You forget the celebrated explanation of Augustine:
When God made His plan, He knew infallibly, before His choice, what would be the response of the wills of men to His graces. If,
then, the lists are definitive, if no one will pass from one series to the other, it is not because anyone cannot (on the
contrary, all can), it is because God knew with infallible knowledge that no one would wish to. Thus I cannot effect that
God should destine me to another series of graces than that which He has fixed, but, with this grace, if I do not save myself it
will not be because I am not able, but because I do not wish to.
– [19]
Against the Pelagians Augustine also strongly stressed the importance of infant baptism. He believed that no one would be saved unless he or she had received baptism in order to
be cleansed from Original Sin. He also maintained that unbaptized children would go to
Hell. It was not until the 12th century that Pope Innocent III accepted the doctrine of limbo as
promulgated by Peter Abelard. It was the place where the unbaptized went and suffered no pain but, as the Church maintained,
being still in a state of original sin, they did not deserve Parad
