The Life of Augustine

Augustine experienced a great number of differing viewpoints throughout his life. From his birth to the time he was a bishop, he moved through several different systems of belief, including Platonism, Manichaeism, and astrology, until coming to Christ at the age of thirty-two. Many have claimed that he was the “greatest leader of the western church” because of his writings and his addition to the theology debates of the day.[1]

Early Life

Augustine was born in 354 at Thagaste, in what is the modern country of Algeria in Northern Africa.[2] His father was Patricius, a poor man who worked tirelessly and sacrificed much so that Augustine could attain a classical education. Augustine appreciated this, saying “who did not extol and praise my father, in that he went even beyond his means to supply his son with all the necessaries for a far journey for the sake of his studies?”[3] This does not mean that he fully approved of what his father did, adding, “this same father did not trouble himself how I grew towards Thee, nor how chaste I was, so long as I was skilful in speaking”.[4] Brown points out that Augustine expresses deep grief at the loss of a friend, but only mentioned his father’s death in passing.[5]

In sharp contrast to his father, Augustine heaps adoration on his mother, Monica. He recalled that “like all mothers,—though even more than others,—she loved to have me with her.”[6] He stated that even though he lied to her so that he could sail to Rome, she “continued her intercessions for me with Thee”. Augustine felt that God did not allow her to stop him from taking this journey in order that Augustine would subsequently be made a Christian, which was his mother’s prayer.[7]

Education

Brown states that Augustine was trained to be a “master of the spoken word.”[8] Though he was not exposed to a wide variety of authors, his education taught him to be a perfectionist. He failed to learn Greek, making him the only philosopher of that time to know little of the language. Augustine’s education taught him to value words and to weave together his writings rather than merely put words to parchment.[9]

This would also have taught him the importance of aptly describing experience. He won a prize at school for showing the ‘rage and pain’ in a poem by Virgil. Apparently a man of deep emotion, when he arrived in Carthage to continue his studies, he said that he “I loved not as yet I loved to love.”[10] During this time he rejected the Scriptures as “unworthy” and blamed his pride for finding their style lacking.[11] He also joined with the Manichees in Carthage, something that he would later speak out against.

Manichaeism

Augustine fell in with the Manichees because he had difficulty understanding how a loving God could allow evil, pain, and suffering in the world. Brown relates that the Manichean system of belief thought they could “sweep the board, just by posing it – as if an awkward question meant knowing anything”[12] Even among this group, Augustine did not fit in. One Manichee would later write to him saying, “I knew that you always hated such stuff. I knew you were one who loved lofty things, things that shunned the earth, that sought out heaven, that mortified the body, that set the soul alive.”[13]

When Augustine began to question Faustus, considered the most spectacular leader of the Manichees, he “found at once that the man was not learned in any of the liberal studies save literature, and not especially learned in that, either.”[14] Augustine discovered that the spirituality and intellectual level of the Manichean belief was essentially static. In order to avoid any complex topics within religion, the Manichees simply ignored them. To a man who had been trained as a philosopher and classic literature, this simply could not be an answer. Faith without being able to experience it would be hollow to him.

Conversion

After relocating to Milan, Augustine found himself in a difficult situation. The certainties he had know as a youth had dissolved. He commented later to a Manichean friend that “there was no one more open to being taught than I was.”[15] Upon arrival in Milan, he came under the influence of Ambrose, who was serving as the bishop of Milan. Ambrose was considered a distinguished preacher and scholar, and he helped Augustine to read the Bible with understanding. He also showed Augustine the neoplatonist synthesis of Greek philosophy and Christian doctrine. [16]

By the time that Augustine came into contact with the priest Simplicianus, he had already begun moving towards Christianity. He had moved from Manichaeism to Platonism to neoplatonisim, and finally to what he called “Philosophy”, which Brown calls a fortified type of Platonism, using the teachings of Paul.[17]

Augustine and his childhood friend Alypius had been visited by Ponticianus at the house they were staying at. Ponticianus noticed a copy of the writings of Paul on a table in the house and began to tell them about other men that he had led to Christ. Augustine was taken aback at those who seemed to be able to boldly proclaim their faith while someone such as him who had struggled and thought about such things for years could still fight as to whether it was true or not. “(T)hey who neither have so worn themselves out with searching after it, nor yet have spent ten years and more in thinking thereon, have had their shoulders unburdened, and gotten wings to fly away.”[18]

Augustine fled to the small garden at the house, physically and intellectually fighting with himself over what he had learned. Alypius followed him out to the garden, but Augustine chose to move farther away to where he couldn’t be bothered or heard. Tearfully, he threw himself to the ground near a fig tree, exclaiming, “How long, how long? Tomorrow, and tomorrow? Why not now? Why is there not this hour an end to my uncleanness?”[19] Immediately after this, he thought that he heard the voice of a child cry out “take up and read; take up and read”. He took this as a sign, a “command to me from Heaven to open the book, and to read the first chapter I should light upon”.[20]

He returned to where Alypius was sitting and saw the book of Paul’s writings sitting next to him. Augustine picked up the book, opened it, and read the first paragraph that he could see, which was Romans 8:13-14, saying “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

“No further would I read, nor did I need; for instantly, as the sentence ended,—by a light, as it were, of security infused into my heart,—all the gloom of doubt vanished away”.[21] He then passed the book to his friend, who did the same thing and fell on another verse. He also made the decision to convert to Christianity. They immediately went back into the house to tell Monica who celebrated by exclaiming Ephesians 3:20, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think”.

Augustine knew that he had come to the end of the career which he had worked hard to develop, but he also knew that he would be in a field which offered him essentially endless, fruitful progress. He gave credit to the prayers of his mother that his career had come about.[22] He had regained his sense of purpose, saying that “God has given me a mind to place the Discovery of Truth above all things, to wish for nothing else, to think of nothing else, to love nothing else.”[23]

Having experienced the saving grace of Christ, Augustine began to make changes in his life. He had long struggled with lust and pride, having kept a concubine for many years. She bore him a son early in their relationship, but never was she considered more than a mistress. Previously, none of the systems of thought that he had pursued made any demands on his personal morality, so he believed that his immoral lifestyle was justified.[24] After his conversion, Augustine broke all ties with his past, quickly being baptized into the faith by Ambrose.

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[1] Jonathan Hill, Zondervan Handbook to the History of Christianity. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), 90.

[2] Peter Brown. Augustine of Hippo (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969), 19.

[3] Augustine. Confessions. II, iii, 5. Augustine’s writings are contained within Schaff’s volume, but this paper will reference the correct location in Augustine.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Brown, 30.

[6] Confessions, V, viii, 15.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Brown, 36.

[9] Ibid., 36-37.

[10] Confessions, III, i, 1.

[11] Ibid., III, v, 9.

[12] Brown, 48.

[13] Ibid., 50.

[14] Ibid., 58.

[15] Ibid., 81.

[16] Hill, 90.

[17] Brown, 105.

[18] Confessions, VIII, vii, 18.

[19] Ibid., VIII, xii, 28.

[20] Ibid., VIII, xii, 29.

[21] Ibid.

[22] Brown, 110.

[23] Ibid.

[24] James P. Eckman, Exploring Church History (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2002), 35-36.