Talk:Augustine of Hippo

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Revision as of 20:47, February 12, 2006 by FrJohn (talk | contribs)
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I made quite a few changes to this page. Because of the (vigorous) controversy regarding Augustine, I have removed the appellation 'Church Father' since that label should be reserved for those 'theolgical writers' whose writings do not require careful examination (e.g. St John the Theologian, St Gregory the Theologian, St John of Damascus, St John Chrysostom, St Photius the Great, St Simeon the New Theologian, St Gregory Palamas, etc.).

I expanded the passage on his feast day, explaining some of the controversy and changed the date from August 28 (from where did that come??) to June 15. Not only does June 15 match the GOA and OCA, it also matches the Wiki here! (August 28 did not.)

I cleaned up the Greek text. All those ampersands are hard to read!

I expanded the information on when Augustine's writings were translated into Greek (and removed the question mark in parentheses).

I added a category to the 'moderate views' on Augustine -- I felt there needed to be a reference to those who accept him as a saint but not as a Church Father.

I added another book by an Orthodox writer explicitly on Augustine. I believe it provides better balance.

Finally, I alphabetised the Bibliography and added another external link.

[2006.02.12 19:47]

Hi T.R. Thanks for your contributions and also the explanation of your changes. I put back in the "church father" part since it is commonly used for him, even by Orthodox folks (even Origen is referred to as a "Church Father" although not a Saint.) I'm not quite sure what the best way to preserve NPOV here. August 28th was the day of his death, or his birth into new life -- it is typically for this to be at least one of the feast days for a saint, although they may have others. I'm not sure why June 15th has precedence in the Eastern calendar. I put back the mention of Aug. 28th in a more qualified way. For the record (esp. for other readers), I generally find treatments such as Azkoul's very one-sided and not at all "mainstream" Orthodoxy. Even so, I'm glad you added the book to the list. Finally, please sign your discussion posts by using three or four tildes. {{User:FrJohn/sig]}.