Changes

Jump to: navigation, search

Augustine of Hippo

54 bytes removed, 12:38, February 1, 2005
cleanup, minor addition
==Life==
Saint Augustine was born in [[354]] in [[Tagaste]] to a [[Christianity|Christian]] mother and a [[Pagan]] father, raised in Roman north Africa, educated in [[Carthage]], and employed as a professor of rhetoric in Milan by 383. He followed the [[Manichaeism|Manichaean]] religion in his student days, and was converted to Christianity by the preaching and example of [[Ambroseof Milan]] of Milan. He was baptized at Easter in 387, and returned to north Africa and created a monastic foundation at Tagaste for himself and a group of friends. In 391 he was ordained a priest in [[Hippo Regius]], (now [[Annaba (city)|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 heresy.
In 396 he was made coadjutor bishop of Hippo (assistant with the right of succession on the death of the current bishop), and remained as bishop in Hippo until his death in 430. 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, parish clergy who live by a monastic rule.
Augustine died on [[August 28]], 430, during the siege of Hippo by the [[Vandals]]. He is said to have encouraged its citizens to resist the attacks, primarily on the grounds that the Vandals adhered to [[Arianism|Arian]] Christianity, which Augustine regarded as heretical.
==Influence as a theologian and thinker==
 
Augustine remains a central figure, both within Christianity and in the history of Western thought. Himself much influenced by Platonism and neo-Platonism, particularly by [[Plotinus]], Augustine was important to the "baptism" of Greek thought and its entrance into the Christian, and subsequently the European intellectual tradition. Also important was his early and influential writing on the human will, a central topic in ethics, and one which became a focus for later philosophers such as [[Wikipedia:Arthur Schopenhauer|Schopenhauer]] and [[Wikipedia:Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]].
Augustine's writings helped formulate the theory of [[just war]]. He also advocated the use of force against the [[Donatism|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)
Augustine was [[canonization|canonized]] by popular recognition and recognized as a [[Doctor of the Church]] in 1303 (?) by [[Wikipedia:Pope Boniface VIII]](?). His [[feast day]] is [[August 28]], the day on which he died.
==The Reception of Augustine in the Orthodox Church==
The [[Fifth Ecumenical Council]] listed Augustine among other [[Church Fathers|Fathers of the Church]], though there is no unqualified acceptance of his [[theology]] mentioned (just as there is none for most saints of the Church).
A long story. He wasn't well known in the East until. Some say he should be called "blessed" while others insist on calling him saint (is there a difference?). Some blame him for many of the theological errors of the West, others view him as a strong theological authority.
==Quotes==
===From ''The City of God''===
 
St. Augustine evidently originated the phrase "love the sinner, hate the sin", which he tied in with a private notion of evil:
::"For this reason, the man who lives by God's standards and not be man's, must needs be a lover of the good, and it follows that he must hate what is evil. Further, since no one is evil by nature, but anyone who is evil is evil because of a perversion of nature, the man who lives by God's standards has a duty of 'perfect hatred' ([Ps. [Psalms|Psalm]] 139:22] ) towards those who are evil; that is to say, he should not hate the person because of the fault, nor should he love the fault because of the person. He should hate the fault, but love the man. And when the fault has been cured there will remain only what he ought to love, nothing that he should hate". (14:6, Penguin ed., transl. Bettenson)
*[http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo More quotes at Wikiquote...]
==Writings==
 At the end of his life (426-428?) Augustine revisited his previous works in chronological order and suggested what he would have said differently in a work titled the ''[[Retractions (book)|Retractions]]'', which gives us a remarkable picture of the development of a writer and his final thoughts.
===Books===
 
*''On Christian Doctrine,'' 397-426
*''[[Confessions (book)|Confessions]],'' , 397-398*''[[City of God]],'' , begun c. 413, finished 426.*''On the Trinity,'' , 400-416.*''[[Enchiridion of Augustine|Enchiridion]]''
===Letters===
 
*On the Catechising of the Uninstructed
*On Faith and the Creed
==Bibliography==
*[[Peter Brown (historian) | Peter Brown]], ''Augustine of Hippo'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967) ISBN 0-520-00186-9*[[Adolphe Tanquerey]], ''The Spiritual Life: A Treatise on [[Ascetical theology|Ascetical]] and Mystical Theology'', 1930, reprint edition 2000, ISBN 0895556596, p. 37.
==External links==
*[http://personal2.stthomas.edu/gwschlabach/docs/jhy-aug.htm Augustine and 'other catholics']
*[http://www.philosophyarchive.com/text.php?era=400-499&author=Augustine&text=Confessions%20and%20Enchiridion%20Introduction The Enchiridion] by Augustine
*[http://www.gutenberg.net/catalog/world/authrec?fk_authors=1156 eTexts] of Augustine's works, at [[Project Gutenberg]]
[[Category:Bishops]]
[[Category:Church Fathers]]
[[Category:Saints]]
interwiki, renameuser, Administrators
13,552
edits

Navigation menu