St. Augustine

Paper Summary:

St. Augustine had a huge impact on teachings today and and also is a major historical figure who contributed to our society and the history of communication in a huge way. The paper takes you beyond a biography and explores/summarizes his teachings. It also brings those teachings into a modern light in how they can be applied today.

From the Paper:

"Augustine was born in Tagaste in 354 BC and died almost seventy-six years later in Hippo Regius" (O'Donnell 1). He was the product of "a religiously mixed marriage" as his father, Patricius, was a pagan and his mother, Monica, a Christian (Hackstaff xvi). Their family background was not of high culture, but Augustine went on to gain stature through education, when he attended the excellent school Madaura (Chadwick 1). At the age of 19, Augustine journeyed to Carthage where he had a mistress who bore him a son, Adeodats. That same year, Augustine became hooked on philosophy as he read Cicero's Hortensius, the event that was his "immediate catalyst for transformation" into the famous philosopher he eventually became (Chadwick 2). Once Augustine began to form his own beliefs, he associated himself with opponents of Catholicism in North Africa: Manichaeism, the sect of Mani (Hackstaff xvi). Originally, he found that Manichaeism provided a plausible solution to a difficulty that Augustine could not seem to solve with Orthodox Christianity: the problem of evil. The Manichaeans attempted to deal with evil on its own terms which, put very briefly is: if evil exists, and if God is the cause of all existing things, then God is the cause of evil (Hackstaff xvi). Later on, having set Catholicism aside and having found no satisfaction in the religion of Mani, Augustine came to wonder whether there was any truth available for human knowledge (Hackstaff xxiii). Augustine moved to Milan in 384 BC where he came in contact with Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan. "Two years later, profoundly influenced by the eloquence, reasonableness, and conviction of the Bishop, Augustine again became a catechumen in the Catholic Church, and in 387 BC received baptism at his hands. Augustine fully embraced the Christian belief that all things are good, just because they exist, and held this belief and all other Christian teachings for the rest of his life" (Hackstaff xxiv). "

More papers on St. Augustine:

• Book Review # 6159 : "St. Augustine, The Confessions (Book II)"
• Analytical Essay # 140338 : "A Critical Analysis of "The Confessions of St. Augustine"
• Essay # 71769 : "St. Augustine"

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