I am so proud of my project (I got an A+!) that I want to share it with the world! Here goes:
“Mankind is divided into two sorts: such as live according to man, and such as live according to God. These we call the two cities…The Heavenly City outshines Rome. There, instead of victory is truth.”After the conversion of Constantine, the church was finally growing in the vast empire of Rome. Throughout each city and town, people were turning to Christ for their salvation. It was a glorious time after years of persecution. However not everyone favored Christianity. In fact, there was one man who wanted nothing to do with this faith. He was soon to find out that with this faith he would reach the hearts of many. This is the story of Aurelius Augustine.
Various people today have been inspired by this man’s story. Including Switchfoot’s front man Jon Foreman who in a song expressed his version of what was going on in Augustine’s mind:
Augustine just woke up with a broken heart All this time he's never been awake before At 31 his whole world is a question mark All this time he's never been awake before Watching dreams that he once had Feed the flame inside his head In a quiet desperation of the emptiness He says: There’s got to be something more Than what I'm living for I'm crying out to you …… Do we really know what was going on in Augustine’s mind? Most of us don’t. But we should never hesitate to tell the story of this man.
Augustine was born in Tagaste, a city located in Northern Africa, in 354 AD. His mother, Monica, was a devout Christian. However his father was a pagan. Augustine never had an interest in the faith of his mother; on the contrary he was more interested in following his father’s ways. As a teenager, Augustine had an active sex life, and spent most of his time disturbing other people’s property, cheating, and stealing. When he turned 17, he decided to go to Carthage for his higher studies. During this period, various emperors were ruling different parts of the empire. The last emperor to rule all of Rome, which was about Augustine’s time, was Valentino I. Christianity was being tolerated at the time, but it was something that Augustine himself did not tolerate. That is why he was inspired by the teachings of Cicero and Manichaean philosophers. He kept this from his mother who strongly opposed Manichaeism.
[1] After college, Augustine decided to go back to his hometown Thagaste, to teach rhetoric and Manichaeism. It wasn’t long before Monica found out about the profession he chose. Out of rage, she threw him out of the house. However, Monica still had hope that her son would accept Jesus and become a Christian. Because of this, she followed her son to Carthage where he had moved to teach. She pleaded and begged her son to accept Christ. But Augustine refused to consider it. One day, Augustine was offered a professorship in Rome. His mother begged him not to go. Augustine reassured his mother that he would stay in Carthage and that she should go home and rest. As soon as his mother left for Thagaste, Augustine left for Rome.
A year passed and Augustine once again moved, this time to Milan, Italy. There he taught rhetoric and of course Manichaeism. There was a man in Milan that would teach every day at the cathedral. His name was Ambrose and the way that he taught impressed and amazed Augustine. Consequently, Augustine started attending the services. He then dropped Manichaeism and started teaching Neoplatonism.
[2] Monica then, who had searched for him for over a year, found him and was determined to find him a wife. Augustine had fallen in love with a concubine, who had given him a son, but he refused to get married because of social and political position. Because he had to forsake his lover and son, and the sudden change in philosophies, Augustine became troubled and struggled for a long time. He sought after letting go of his earthly pleasure but as he later stated in Confessions, “Our real pleasure consisted in doing something that was forbidden. The evil in me was foul, but I loved it.”
One day he felt extremely overwhelmed by these things and so decided to take a walk in his garden. As he was walking he claimed to hear a child like voice saying, “Take up and read.” Startled by this, he went inside and on top of the table laid Paul’s epistles that he had been reading. He picked them up and read the first thing that he saw. Not in reveling and drunkenness, not in lust and wantonness not in quarrels or rivalries. Rather, arm yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ; spend no more thought on nature and nature’s appetites.”- Romans 13:13-14
Later he wrote that all shadow of doubt that he had was gone at that moment. He immediately accepted Christ as Savior. This caused quite a polemic in his life. He resigned his professorship, sent a letter to Ambrose and left with his friends and mother for a villa in Cassiciacum. He continued discussion philosophy and speaking against Neoplatonist views.
After 6 months, he returned and was baptized by Ambrose. After he got baptized he headed for Thagaste to become a writer and a thinker. During these set of trips, his mother, lover, son, and one of his closest friends passed away. Due to the grief and pain that came with his losses he became stronger in the Lord and committed to go deeper in God’s Word. He then gathered his friends and started a small group in Thagaste committed to prayer and bible studies.
In 391 AD, Augustine moved to Hippo to start a monastery. On one Sunday while he was at a service at a monastery, whose bishop was Bishop Valerius, Valerius set aside his original sermon and emphasized on the need of priests in the monastery. The entire congregation encouraged Augustine to apply for the position. Against his will Augustine became a priest. He was very upset because his wish was to become a bishop not a priest. Many encouraged him and told him that good things come for those who wait. Since Augustine spoke the local language, Punic, he assigned Augustine with various tasks. Five years after Valerius died, Augustine became the bishop of Hippo.
Augustine released a series of thirteen books that compose what we now know as The Confessions of St. Augustine. This autobiography talks about Augustine’s early life and his thoughts about God and man. Another great book came about when Augustine was confronted with the accusations that Christianity was causing the wars in Rome at that time and that people should turn back to the Roman Gods. Augustine’s response was City of God. He said that the reason Rome was being attacked or punished was not because of new faith but for their past sins. Augustine’s life long struggle with sin and the final release from it gave birth to a great man and his great works. Augustine continued discussion topics and debating against them. One of them was Pelagianism. Pelagius, a British monk, taught that there was no original sin and that man’s tendency to sin is his own choice. Thus not needing any divine grace, individuals must make up their mind to the will of God. Pelagius was excommunicated but the theory was carried on by young Julian of Eclanum. Julian would continuously make personal remarks against Augustine and his friends. Augustine debated with him for the last 10 years of his life. In 429, Northern Africa was attacked by the Vandals. The city of Hippo, one of the few fortified cities, became overwhelmed with refugees. By the third month of siege, Augustine of Hippo, a 76 year old man, died of a fever. Thankfully his works and teachings survived and are the basis of many churches today.
In Augustine we see the perfect example of the words, “I once was lost, but now I’m found.” From a life of utter sin, he accepted the sacrifice of Christ, thus becoming one of the most influential church fathers. Augustine will never be forgotten.
[1] A belief that is based on the teachings of Manes, who combined Christianity with the concept of dualism. Manichaeism states that the world came about as a mixture of light and darkness which represents good and evil. One’s soul, which originated from the Kingdom of Light, wants to escape the body, which represents the Kingdom of darkness. Manicheans believe that the soul can attain such freedom through wisdom, not renunciation of material or sensual things. (Sinful life)
[2] Dominant teaching of philosophy based of Plato’s theory of forms which states that “all things owe their identities to unchanging forms in which they share. Our knowledge comes from recognizing the essential form of a thing, rather than from observing its incidental qualities.
Hope you liked it! Comment if youd like!
Peace
Guimel Sibingo
