Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Today, on the Christian History Almanac, we remember a theologian who can lay claim to being the most significant since St. Paul (!)
*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***
It is the 28th of August 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.
On yesterday’s show, we noted the feast of St. Monica- the mother of St. Augustine and the patron saint of parents of wayward children. On the calendar for the Almanac, that was enough for me, and today we were to move on to another character in the history of the church… but maybe it’s the pangs of conscience, or maybe it’s realizing the obvious.
Yesterday was the feast of St. Monica- and her date was set because it was on this, the 28th of August in 430. And I noted that on a weekend edition form about a year ago, you can hear me in a longer conversation about Augustine with Dr. Daryl Ellis- but certainly, he has his own daily show…. Right? Almost 1800 episodes and the guy who can lay claim to being the most significant theologian since Paul- until Aquinas (and there are schools that still follow Augustine- it’s worth noting that Luther was an “Augustinian Monk” and developed his thought out of Augustines). But no- no single episode for him. Why not?
Fear. How do you encapsulate a giant like this in brief? Well… It’s the show I’ve signed up to host and write, so Augustine, here is the quick version of what you need to know about the North African saint.
First- uh-Gus-tin, or AH-gus-STEEN? It’s a matter of preference and custom. Anyone who says otherwise may be noted mentally and avoided.
354-430. Those are his dates- there at the end of the Roman Empire on the cusp of the Middle Ages. His work will certainly reflect the changing times, and his “City of God” was, in part, a response to those who believed that Christianity had made the empire weak and was to blame for its collapse.
He is most famous for his work, The Confessions, which is a classic of Christian spirituality and memoir. Anyone reading the book will come away with Augustine’s deep sense of personal sin and his restlessness outside of the Savior.
You can trace the theological development in the Western church as a response to Augustine’s teachings in these books, as well as as the Bishop of Hippo, who was in charge of the daily activities of a parish and bishopric. His sermons, his work On Christian Doctrine, and On the Trinity reveal his academic but also pastoral sides. A biographer suggests that he wrote over 1,000 total works.
Augustine lived a famously dissolute life as a young man. In search of fame for his oratory, he followed both the faddish philosophies and the leading of his passions until he reached his breaking point and converted to Christianity.
Any attempt to explain Augustine is going to be partial, but we might best understand the man and his thoughts by highlighting three of his opponents.
These would be the Manichees, the Donatists, and the Pelagians.
The Manichees- followers of the Persian Mani saw the world as a duality. There were, in this school of thought, both a “good” and “evil” god, and we were caught in between. While this theory might help make sense of the existence of evil, it also suggests an evil God and elevates evil to the level of good. Augustine was a member of this movement before his conversion- but he would come to see all evil and sin not as some opposing entity to God and the good but rather as a deprivation of the good things.
Secondly, Augustine had to battle with the Donatists. These were the followers of Donatus in North Africa who taught, among other things, that the church only consisted of the pure and sacraments are only valid if performed by a priest in the state of grace. This was in repose to the Christians who ditched the faith during the great persecution- but it led to an overly harsh view of who was “in” and “out.”- Augustine’s doctrine of the church would reflect his battles with the Donatists in teaching that the church will be a mixed bag of saints and sinners here on earth.
And lastly, the Pelagians. Regardless of what the “real Pelagius” taught the perception as that he lacked a doctrine of sin such that humans had a free will with regards to spiritual things. In emphasizing human volition, Augustine argued, he and his followers undercut not only the depth of sin bit more importantly, the depth of salvation. All is grace for Augustine, but that means our starting point is worse than some had thought.
A.N. Whitehead famously wrote that all western philosophy is footnotes to Plato. Might we suggest that all western theology, from Aquinas to Luther to today are in a way, footnotes to the great St. Augustine- born in 354 died on this, the 28th of August in 430.
The last word for today is from the daily lectionary from John 15:
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.
This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 28th of August 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.
The show is produced by a man who just calls him “Gus.” He is Christopher Gillespie.
The show is written and read by a man who, sorry spell-check, is pretty sure Augustine didn’t oppose the “Dentists”… I’m Dan van Voorhis.
You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.
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