“THE LIFE AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE”
PRESENTED TO DR. WAYNE LAYTON
THEO 5513D: APOLOGETICS
BY
TREVOR RAY SLONE
MANHATTAN, KS
OCTOBER 25, 2012
There is one man in the history of Christian thought, besides Jesus and the Apostle Paul,
that stands out more than all the others, whether they be theologians, philosophers, monks,
popes, kings, or whatever else they may have been. That man’s name is Aurelius Augustine.1
Augustine was both a philosopher and a theologian, and the impact that he made on the Christian
tradition has been felt throughout the centuries since his birth and can still be felt quite
noticeably even today in the twenty-first century. In this paper there will first be a cursory
discussion regarding the life of Aurelius Augustine. After that this paper will move on to the area
of Augustine’s major theological and apologetic contributions to the Christian faith, and more
particularly his view on the correlation between faith and reason, and then this paper will end
with some brief closing remarks.
Aurelius Augustine
Aurelius Augustine, known by many as Saint Augustine, Augustine of Hippo, or simply
Augustine, “was born in Thagaste, Numidia, in North Africa (roughly modern Algeria) on
November 13, 354.”2 His father, Patricius, was a pagan and an official of the Romans curia, and
his mother, Monica, was a devout Christian who prayed earnestly for Augustine for many years.3
At age twelve Augustine’s parents sent him to a school where he adopted a pagan lifestyle, and
at age sixteen he went to Carthage and studied rhetoric, Latin classics, and Greek philosophy, of
which Plato’s Idealism “impressed him.”4
1
Erwin Lutzer, Doctrines that Divide: A Fresh Look at the Historic Doctrines That Separate Christians (Grand Rapids:
Kregel Publications, 1998), 157.
2
Gannon Murphy, Voices of Reason in Christian History (Camp Hill: Christian Publications, Inc., 2005), 84.
3
Ibid.
4
H. Lynn Gardner, Commending & Defending Christian Faith: An Introduction to Christian Apologetics (Joplin:
College Press, 2010), 317-318.
Eventually Augustine “made his spiritual pilgrimage from Greek paganism through
Manichean dualism to neoplatonism and finally to Christian theism.”5 His education and
incredible genius became idols to him in his early years. 6 He also had a son, Adeodatus, out of
wedlock.7 His time following the Manichean religion eventually became of great use to him in
his later days as a Christian; for he sought to thoroughly refute the teachings of Mani (the leader
of the Manicheans) from an apologetic standpoint.
Augustine “partly owed his conversion to reading Athanasius’ Life of Saint Anthony, and
lived as a monk until he was forced to take a more active role in the church,”8 which was, more
specifically, his ordination as Bishop of Hippo in A.D. 396.9 He held this particular bishopric for
thirty-four years, during which time he wrote works on a wide variety of subjects, including
“doxological, theological, axiological, exegetical and apologetical” issues.10
Augustine has been criticized for a lot of things throughout the centuries, but probably
the biggest complaint people have against him is his infatuation with platonic and neoplatonic
thought. It could also be claimed that he accepted these ideologies on a very uncritical level for
most of his life.11 Nevertheless, overall Augustine made many significant contributions to the
world of Christian thought, not least of which were his books Confessions and The City of God,
to which this paper will now turn to briefly examine, along with some of his other writings and
teachings.
5
Norman L. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1999), 60.
Murphy, Voices of Reason, 85.
7
Ibid.
8
Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity: Vol 1, The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation (New York:
Harper One, 2010), 169.
99
Murphy, Voices of Reason, 92.
10
Ibid.
11
Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, 62.
6
A Brief Look at Some of Augustine’s Contributions to Christian Thought
As was stated above, Augustine has contributed a great deal to the world of Christian
theology and apologetics. To be sure much of what he wrote and taught could almost be deemed
heretical, most especially his particular method of interpreting the Scriptures, namely on a most
heinously allegorical level. It must be noted in passing though that ultimately his theological
views were extremely orthodox, and considering that this type of hermeneutic was something
that most biblical exegetes did in those days it can certainly be seen why this was and still often
is overlooked when considering and discussing his influence on Christian history and thought.
Ultimately, regardless of his allegorical method of interpretation and his often heavily platonic
bent, he nevertheless was a mighty man of God who should rightfully be considered one of the
greatest Christian thinkers of all time, and most especially of the first millennium A.D.
One of Augustine’s most famous works is his Confessions, in which he deliberates his
life prior to becoming a Christian12 and also more specifically his conversion to Christianity. He
reminisces in this work about when he came to Carthage, and that he was immediately
surrounded by unholy things.13 He also goes into a bit of detail regarding his obsession with
sexuality and lust.14 The reason that this part of this work of Augustine’s should be counted as
being significant to the Christian faith is that it shows that even the greatest of Christians struggle
with the wiles of the sinful life, most notably prior to becoming a Christian. This is important to
the apologetic arena in that it can establish to the non-Christian that one does not have to be
12
This work also included various apologetic arguments within it.
Augustine, Confessions, 3.1.1. Cited in Gannon Murphy, Voices of Reason, 84.
14
Ibid.
13
perfect to become a Christian, for apologetics is ultimately and fundamentally a sub-discipline of
evangelism, something that many modern apologists tend to forget or overlook.
Also, Augustine, in his work On the Canon makes the point that it is vitally important
for Christians to study the Word of God. For instance, he says in chapter 9, “…those matters that
are plainly laid down in them [the Scriptures], whether rules of life or rules of faith, are to be
searched into more carefully and more diligently; and the more a man discovers, the more
capacious does his understanding become.”15 This is important for apologetics in that the
Scriptures contain, and even to some extent are, the basis for a proper Christian apologetic, for
although one may not start their particular apologetic method with presupposing that Scripture is
true, that supposition is nevertheless a necessary, although not sufficient, supposition that one
must possess and embrace if he is to be a true Christian in the first place, and one cannot be a
true Christian apologist if he is not first and foremost a true Christian. So all those who wish to
partake in the task of Christian apologetics must necessarily know what the Scriptures say that
they are attempting to defend, for to suppose that something is true without even knowing the
cognitive content of the thing is irrational and meaningless, as one cannot make a rational
judgment regarding the truth or falsity of a propositional claim, such as those made in the
Scriptures, without first knowing and understanding the true substance of such claims.
Next, in his work entitled The City of God Augustine compares and contrasts two cities,
namely the city of man, which is an analogy for the sinful, unregenerate people of the world,
past, present, and future, and the city of God, which is an analogy for the Christians of the world,
past, present, and future. One of the most important points that Augustine makes in this book can
15
Augustine, “On The Canon,” in Christian Apologetics: An Anthology of Primary Sources, Khaldoun A. Sweis and
Chad V. Meister, eds. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 273-276.
be found in book 1, chapter 35. He says, “…let this city [the city of God] bear in mind, that
among her enemies lie those hid who are destined to be fellow-citizens, that she may not think it
fruitless labor to bear what they inflict as enemies until they become confessors of the faith.”16
This passage here shows very clearly that Christians need to be careful in how they live in this
world (the city of men) because Christians never know which of the people that they come into
contact with may someday come to know Christ as their Lord and so become members of the
body of Christ (citizens of the city of God). This is important to the apologetic task in that it
should remind all who practice the discipline of apologetics that they should be careful as to how
they interact with nonbelievers, for they do not want to set a bad example and turn those
nonbelievers off to the faith. More pointedly though this statement by Augustine points out that
when Christians are persecuted by nonbelievers they should embrace such persecution
gracefully, knowing that it may eventually lead to the conversion of such persecutors.
Finally, Augustine, following the tradition of Plato but also expounding on it further in
relation to the Christian God (as the One in Platonic thought), brought about the idea “that
Christians understand that the good, the beautiful, the true, and the real, are indeed one,” because
all of these four things are established in the reality of God.17 This idea essentially argues that the
good, the beautiful, the true, and the real are all necessarily tied to each other due to the fact that
they all stem from the very essence of God. Hence, if something is not any one of these four
things, namely good, beautiful, true, or real, then it is necessarily not any of these things. Also, if
something is one of these things then it is necessarily all four of these things. In other words
16
Augustine, “The City of God,” in Christian Apologetics: An Anthology of Primary Sources, Khaldoun A. Sweis and
Chad V. Meister, eds. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 513-518.
17
R. Albert Mohler Jr., The Disappearance of God: Dangerous Beliefs in the New Spiritual Openness (Colorado
Springs: Multnomah Books, 2009), 50.
something cannot be true and good but not real and beautiful, or real but not true, good, and
beautiful.
However, it would seem that this idea presented by Augustine falls short of being
acceptable, for it would require that some things that are objectively immoral be considered good
and beautiful, such as someone being raped, for if someone is raped then that event was real but
it cannot rightfully be called good or beautiful. But when we consider that this idea only applies
to things that can legitimately fit into, or be considered as relating to all of these four categories
the problem is seemingly resolved, for although the event of someone being raped may be real
and yet not good, an event is not something that can be considered as true or false, and so it
cannot be considered as something that Augustine’s above assertion is referring to. Yet, since
there doesn’t seem to be anything that legitimately fits into, or that can rightfully and rationally
be said to relate to, all four of these categories, namely true, good, real, and beautiful, then
Augustine’s assertion seems to be useless if one is not talking specifically about God, for the
only types of “things” are: propositions/statements/questions/commands….., which cannot be
considered to be beautiful in and of themselves; events, which cannot in and of themselves be
considered true or false, for they either happened or they did not, but that is not the same thing as
being true or false; persons/creatures (which would technically include plant life and all living
things), which cannot rightfully be classified as true or false; ideas/concepts, which, when
distinguished from propositions, also cannot be legitimately classified as true or false; and
inanimate objects (which would include water, paintings, dirt, sculptures….), which again cannot
appropriately and rationally be classified as true or false. Those seem to be the only types of
“things” that there are, namely propositions/statements/questions/commands….., events,
persons/creatures, ideas/concepts, and inanimate objects; and since none of them can rightfully
be said to even be considered as fitting into or relating to all four categories, namely good, true,
beautiful, and real, or in other words it would be meaningless and irrational to consider placing
each of these five “things” into at least one of these four categories, then Augustine’s assertion
that the if something fits into one of these categories then it necessarily fits into all four of these
categories is meaningless unless the object of such an assertion is God Himself. Hence, this
particular contribution to Christian thought by Augustine, while an astute notation regarding
God, is essentially only that and nothing more.
Augustine’s View Regarding Faith and Reason
To put it ever so concisely, Augustine believed that reason precedes faith and also that
faith precedes reason.18 In other words, Augustine was aware that for something to be believed
(i.e. for someone to have faith in something19), it must first be known of and understood by the
one who is to believe it. For instance, if one was asked to believe that “the White House is
white,” they must first understand what the words in that proposition mean (White House, white,
the, is), have an idea of what the proposition “the White House is white” is attempting to convey
ideologically, and there must be some type of referent in their mind, whether actual or fictitious,
that both the words in the sentence and the concept as a whole that the proposition is attempting
to express are linked to, otherwise it would be impossible for that person to actually believe the
proposition that the White House is white.
However, Augustine was also keenly aware of the fact that as far as the Christian
religion and the propositional truth in the Bible are concerned, faith necessarily precedes reason,
18
Kenneth D. Boa and Robert M. Bowman Jr., Faith Has Its Reasons :Integrative Approaches to Defending the
Christian Faith (Colorado Springs: Biblica Publishing, 2005), 16.
19
This is not an attempt to argue that faith and belief are the same thing, but for the purposes of this discussion it
seems best to keep it simple and just equate the two, since to a large extent they are indeed the same thing.
for one cannot come to faith in Christ by reason alone, but he must first have his mindset altered
by the Holy Spirit through the power of regeneration.20 So, while people must understand on a
basic level what propositions are being presented to them regarding the Christian religion, and
while they may even fully intellectually ascent to the truths of those propositions, they
nevertheless are completely incapable, apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, of accepting such
truths in a way that would alter their way of thinking and living, especially to the extent that they
would begin to love Christ above all and live a Christian life simply because it pleases God,
which is one of the fundamental principles of the Christian faith.21
Conclusion
In Conclusion, there has been, in this paper, a brief discussion of the life of Aurelius
Augustine. In this paper there was also a talk about some of the contributions that Augustine
made to the realm of Christian theology and apologetics. Finally, there was a brief discussion
about Augustine’s view of the relationship between faith and reason. It can be seen from this
quick look at the life and work of Augustine that he was a great man of thought who contributed
immensely to the Christian tradition and faith.
Bibliography
Augustine. Confessions. 3.1.1. Cited in Gannon Murphy. Voices of Reason in Christian History.
Camp Hill: Christian Publications, Inc., 2005.
20
This is not the place to get into an argument about the logical succession and progression of steps regarding a
person attaining salvation, but it is being argued here that regeneration logically precedes faith.
21
This is so even though many people ignore this principle these days, especially when they are attempting o
evangelize.
Augustine. “On The Canon.” in Christian Apologetics: An Anthology of Primary Sources.
Khaldoun A. Sweis and Chad V. Meister, eds. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012.
Augustine. “The City of God.” in Christian Apologetics: An Anthology of Primary Sources.
Khaldoun A. Sweis and Chad V. Meister, eds. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012.
Boa, Kenneth D., and Robert M. Bowman Jr. Faith Has Its Reasons :Integrative Approaches to
Defending the Christian Faith. Colorado Springs: Biblica Publishing, 2005.
Gardner, H. Lynn. Commending & Defending Christian Faith: An Introduction to Christian
Apologetics. Joplin: College Press, 2010.
Geisler, Norman L. Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics. Grand Rapids: Baker
Academic, 1999.
Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity: Vol 1, The Early Church to the Dawn of the
Reformation. New York: Harper One, 2010.
Lutzer, Erwin. Doctrines that Divide: A Fresh Look at the Historic Doctrines That Separate
Christians. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1998.
Mohler Jr., R. Albert. The Disappearance of God: Dangerous Beliefs in the New Spiritual
Openness. Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2009.
Murphy, Gannon. Voices of Reason in Christian History. Camp Hill: Christian Publications, Inc.,
2005.