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AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Dates Lived: 354-430

Most important works:

  • Confessions (398)
  • On the Trinity (416)
  • On Christian Doctrine (426)
  • The City of God (426)

Biggest Contributions:

  • Articulated the doctrine of original sin and God’s grace through divine predestination over against Pelagius’ emphasis on free will and innate human goodness
  • Proposed a distinction between the “church visible” and the “church invisible”
  • Popularized the amillennial view of the End Times, which has become the most dominant throughout church history
  • Wrote about the relationship between church and state; he was the first to advocate the idea of a “just war”
  • Developed a sacramental theology that would form the foundation of the practices of the Roman Catholic Church

 

Favorite Quotes

“You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” (Confessions I, i, 1)

“Give what You command, and command what You will.” (Confessions X, xxix, 40)

“Man’s maker was made man,
that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast;
that the Bread might hunger,
the Fountain thirst,
the Light sleep,
the Way be tired on its journey;
that the Truth might be accused of false witness,
the Teacher be beaten with whips,
the Foundation be suspended on wood;
that Strength might grow weak;
that the Healer might be wounded;
that Life might die.” – (Sermons 191.1)

“Excess is the enemy of God.”

“If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.”

“To sing once is to pray twice.”

“Love God, and do whatever you please.” Sermon on 1 John 7, 8

“Works not rooted in God are splendid sins.”

Related Posts:
A Look at Augustine’s Confessions
Augustine: The Early Years
Augustine’s Fruitless Pursuit
Augustine’s Conversion
Augustine: Let Me Know You

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