The next study in our great men of church history series. Today we are talking about the early church father, Augustine of Hippo.
St. Augustine
As we continue to study men who have made great strides in church history over the years, we’d be remiss not to cover one of the greatest theologians we’ve had… Augustine of Hippo later to be sainted as Saint Augustine.
St. Augustine has an interesting biography which is largely chronicled by his own hand in his most popular work simply entitled, “Confessions”. In which he confesses his sinful nature to God starting from recalling his youth up. His journey is a rough one coming from a spiritually divided home. His mother Monica was a devout Christian and his father Patricius was a practicing Roman pagan. He sets his design on intellect and rhetoric in lieu of religion and begins to study away from home. At school he indulges in a hedonistic lifestyle and a pursuit for greatness in the Roman culture. Philosophically he aligns himself to the religion of Manichaeism.
The death of his father, his disenfranchisement of Manichaeism, his introduction to the Bishop Ambrose of Milan, and the persistency of his Christian mother all combine to funnel him toward Jesus and a life of total surrender to the Church. Join us today as we walk through his life and read from his own thoughts about his journey.