11. The theological thought of St.

Augustine

A. The life and conversion of St. Augustine

St. Augustine is the most important latin Father of the Church. He is a Doctor of the Church and
is called Dux doctorum: chief of the doctors of the Church, and also the Doctor of grace for his
teaching about grace. He is the patron saint of brewers.

He was born on November 13, 354 in Tagaste in Northern Africa which is now Algeria. His
father was pagan and his mother St. Monica was a pious Catholic. His father converted and was
baptized on his deathbed, but Augustine was not baptized as a baby although he had a
Christian upbringing. He was educated in rhetoric and started reading pagan literature which led
to his abandonment of the Christian faith. He went to the University of Carthage and becomes a
professor of rhetoric there. He had a mistress who lived with him for 15 years and they had a
son Adeodatus (means “gift of God”) in 372.

At this time, Augustine was investigating different philosophies, and eventually became a
Manichaean, a form of gnosticism that taught dualism, rationalism, absence of authority,
rejected Sacred Scripture and had a lax moral code. A summary of his thinking at the time was:
"God, give me chastity and continence - but not just now." But later he becomes disappointed
with Manichaeism when he discovers that it does not lead to the truth. He eventually moves to
Milan where he meets the bishop St. Ambrose. Inspired by St. Ambrose’s preaching, Augustine
comes to believe in SS and Church authority, but he continued living a lustful life. He was in a
crisis when he prayed to God in his garden earnestly for an end to his sins, and he heard a
voice saying “Take up and read”. The first scriptural passage he read was from Romans
13:13-14 which say to put on Jesus Christ and not to give in to the desires of the flesh.

With this, he decides to become a Christian and is baptized by St. Ambrose during Easter of
387. His son and a friend are also baptized together. Augustine then returns to Tagaste but on
the return trip, his mother St. Monica dies. His son also dies shortly after. He sold all his goods
for the poor and founded a monastery focusing on a life of study in Thagaste, but then later
becomes ordained a priest in 391 in Hippo, even though he was fleeing from this. Five years
later he is ordained a bishop and becomes bishop of Hippo in 396. As bishop, St. Augustine
was involved in defending the Catholic faith against heresies of Manichaeism, Donatism, and
Pelagianism. He dies in 430 AD at the age of 76 due to illness when vandals besieged city of
Hippo.

B. The principal works

He wrote more than 100 separate titles, 200 treatises and 300 sermons. These included
apologetic writings against heresies, exegetical works, and doctrinal works.
Confessions​ (written from 397 - 400) which contains 13 books: Confession of sin, praise and
faith. It is his "autobiography" since Augustine writes about his life, conversion and how God
acted in his life.

De Trinitate​ (written from 399 - 420) which contain 15 books about Trinitarian doctrine. He was
countering the Arian heresy and focuses on Sacred Scripture.

The City of God​ (written from 413 - 426 ca) which contains 22 books. It contains Augustinian
philosophy, exegesis, psychology, theology and political thought. The city of God is one that is
eternal. This was written during the time of Rome falling apart. The Romans blame the
Christians for not worshipping the pagan gods. Augustine speaks about the Christian’s role in
the temporal order.

His later thinking can be summed up in a line from his writings: "Our hearts were made for You,
O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you."

C.​ ​The controversies against the Manichaeans, the Donatists, the Pelagians
Manichaeism ​is a form of gnosticism founded by a Persian called Mani in the 3rd century which
then spread to the Roman Empire. It is a dualistic religion which teaches that matter is evil while
what is spiritual is good. Christ is only divine and did not incarnate as a human, so his death on
the cross was not real. It prohibits marriage, procreation (although sexual pleasure was
allowed), animal killing and enforces a rigorous lifestyle. It is rationalistic and taught that
everything can be explained by reason. Salvation is only for the select and comes through
knowledge, it happens when spirit is liberated from the body. It includes elements from the
different religions: Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism. Mani considered himself the Paraclete
proclaimed by Jesus.

Augustine was a believer of Manichaeism for 9 years since he was attracted by their teachings
regarding reason and wisdom, and it was a way for him to live sexual immorality while still
following Christ. However, as Augustine went deeper into its philosophical roots, he found that
the “wisdom” taught by the Manichaeans were based on myths and they could not answer his
questions about its doctrine. After he converted to Catholicism, Augustine was a major
proponent against Manichaeism and wrote a ot to counter this heresy. Augustine said that
matter and the world is good. He argues for the incarnation of Christ, who is both human and
divine.

Donatism​ is a heresy regarding the sacraments that started in Africa in the 4th century. During
the reign of Emperor Diocletian in the 3rd century, he heavily persecuted the Christians and
some clergy and lay people renounced Christianity to avoid being killed. They were called lapsi
who worshipped pagan gods and burned their Christian writings. When Christianity was no
longer persecuted in the 4th century due to the Edict of Milan, many lapsi clergy decided to
return to Christianity but not all Christian agreed. The controversy reached a climax when a new
bishop was named who was ordained by a lapsi bishop, so the Christians who did not agree
elect another bishop who died soon after and then Donatus became his successor and the
heresy bears his name. The donatists are radical traditionalists who follow the teaching of St.
Cyprian that lapsed Catholics who renounced their faith needed to be re-baptized into the
Church. They also think the validity of the sacrament depends on the moral character of the
minister. The Donatist schism lasted for about 100 years from 4th to 5th century.

As Bishop of Hippo, St. Augustine argued against the donatists since there is only one baptism.
He participated in the Synod of Carthage in 411 AD which ended the Donatist schism. St.
Augustine fought for unity within the Church, and said that the sacraments depend on Christ
and not the sanctity of the minister. He was the first person to speak about the imprint of a
sacramental character. They decided there is no re-baptism.

Pelagianism ​is a heresy started by a British monk called Pelagius who moved to Rome. Due to
the moral decadence of Rome, he begins teaching more a rigorous moral standard in terms of
poverty and celibacy. He puts a lot of emphasis on human capacity and voluntarism to reach
salvation alone without the need of grace. He thought that God gave man the natural capacity
for sanctity. He taught that original sin is only a personal sin of Adam and a bad example, but
humans are not born with original sin and thus do not need baptism. Humans can remain
without sin throughout their entire life by human effort alone. Thus Christ was only a good
example as well and grace is only an external help that does not transform man. The
sacraments are not essential and babies do not need to be baptized.

Augustine responds saying that human nature has been wounded by original sin, so every
person is born with original sin and needs to receive grace through baptism to be saved. He
uses St. Paul as a basis for his argument: ​Rom 5:18-19 Consequently, just as one trespass
resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification
and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many
were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made
righteous. ​He argues that baptism is necessary for all people including babies. While man is
ontologically good, even after baptism which removes original sin, Augustine says that man is
radically sinful on an existential level since he still has concupiscence and experiences oneself
as a sinner, thus he continually needs grace. Grace helps man to more perfectly love God and
the good, which cannot be achieved by human will alone. Three main ideas about grace:
absolute primacy of grace, grace is “suavitas amoris” and “audiutorium sine qua non”. In
speaking about grace and freedom, Saint August said “God created us without us, but he will
not save us without us”. ​Augustine​ participates in the Council of Cathage of 418 AD that
condemns Pelagianism.
Later in the 5th-6th century, the semi-Pelagianism heresy arose which involved the initium fidei
debate since the semi-Pelagians argued that man must make the initial step to choose faith,
without the aid of grace.

D.​ ​The Trinitarian doctrine and the doctrine of grace in Saint Augustine
Augustine wrote an important work called De Trinitate about the Holy Trinity to counter the Arian
heresy. He says that the Trinity is one God and there is unity and absolute equality amongst the
three divine Persons. His main Trinitarian doctrine is the “psychological analogies”. Although we
cannot directly understand the Trinity, we can see “images” of the Trinity in human realities. The
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are found in the images of "to live - to know - to love" (love of
one’s self-existence). Another image is the lover as the subject, the beloved as the object, the
lover's love for that object, or memory, intellect and will. With man’s memory, intellect, and love,
he participates in the image of God. With these three, man (in the order of grace) participates in
that same life of God where he knows and loves himself

From the preceding Fathers of the Church, he uses the terms “substance”, “essence” and
“person” to describe the Trinity. He describes the Holy Spirit as a gift, and not an image. He
emphasized that the Persons of the Trinity are relations of paternity, filiation (generation by
knowledge), procession (by love). These relations are not accidents but are subsistent beings.