"Late have I loved thee": After a misspent youth, Augustine of Hippo put his prodigious, redeemed intellect at the service of Christ's church. Thanks largely to the diligence of medieval monks, his 5,000,000-word body of work survived a barbarian invasion the fall of Rome, and the Dark Ages.
Synopsis
This lesson covers the other great example of monasticism's legacy: Augustine of Hippo, who was from the West. After a youth spent pursuing the pleasures of the flesh, Augustine had a dramatic conversion that answered his mother Monica's decades of prayer. For the remaining 40 years of his life, Augustine composed a staggering body of work that laid the theological groundwork for Western Christianity and served as a bridge between the classical and medieval eras.
Key Quotes
- "It cannot be that the son of such tears should perish." (A priest to Augustine's mother, Monica)
- "Augustine wrote voluminously and most of what he wrote has survived to the present day. Ironically, for someone who had just wanted a quiet monastic life, most of his writing either provoked controversy or was the result of great controversy. ... The longer Augustine lived, the more difficult the trials in his life became."
- “Augustine’s theology served as a bridge between the classical world and the Middle Ages. It cast a vision for a Christian society that would be in the world but not of it. Over the next few centuries, it would primarily be the monks who would carry this vision with them to the distant corners of Europe. Copying and recopying Augustine’s writings, they began the long, arduous process of evangelizing the barbarians and rebuilding Western civilization from the ground up.”
- How might Augustine's experience of a divided will early in life have informed his theology of grace?
- What was the heart of the Donatist controversy? What did Augustine say the validity of the sacraments depended on?
- What did Augustine mean by "City of Man" and "City of God"? Are these two terms exactly synonymous with "church" and "state"? Why or why not?
To read the introduction to Augustine's first book, "The Confessions," follow the link below.
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