Augustine of Hippo (354–430ad)
Scoundrel to Saint, Philosopher to Philosophized
Augustine was born mid-fourth century to a believing mother and unbelieving father. While taught by his mother, he rebelled and fell in with both Manichaeans and hedonists. The Manichaeans were dualists who used the idea that the physical realm was so separate from the spiritual realm as to be the source of evil, which is quite similar to the Gnostics. The Manichaeans, however, rather than suggesting the physical realm was created by the evil one, thought the universe to have been created by the good god, but he was not all powerful and could not prevent evil from infiltrating the world. The Hedonists were those who pursued pleasure as an end goal, and this period in Augustine's life produced an illegitimate son in 372.
When Augustine became a rhetoric professor at the Imperial Court of Milan, he began to study the Neoplatonists as well as Bishop Ambrose, who brought him closer to an understanding of Christianity. During this time in Milan, Augustine's mother is said to have convinced him to give up the woman by whom he had a child and become engaged with a young girl who was equal to his social status. In 386 he converted to Christianity and then annulled his marriage, planning to take celibate vows. Augustine was baptised by Bishop Ambrose in 388 and in 391 he became the Bishop of Hippo.
There is a dispute among scholars as to how much Augustine was influenced by both the Neoplatonists and the Stoics—not to leave out the Manichaeans—and while certainly some of that is part of an effort to discredit Augustine, there does seem to be evidence of those ideas tainting his interpretations of Scripture in some areas. He was not a perfect man, and as is the case with all fallen mankind, had some blind spots in his interpretation of Scripture. His writings are not part of the canon of inspired Scripture and therefore cannot lay claim to infallibility. Some argue Augustine's penchant for things Stoic influenced his beliefs on Predestination. Others say he borrowed too heavily from the Neoplatonists in trying to explain the Trinity. I would suggest his greatest downfall was his attraction to Plato, and suggesting all Christian education should include Plato because he felt most Christian doctrines were contained in the writings of Plato. He felt that one need only change a word or sentiment here or there and one would have the very doctrines of God. This was unfortunately his Achilles heel and the ideas of Plato wrongly influenced many areas within the Church as a result.
So much like many greats in the Body of Christ, he was a mixture of heroic proportion shadowed by flaws. A few areas in which he was influential were on the problem of evil, whether the sensible world can provide us with truth, a theory of 'just war,' the existance of external truth (a priori truth) being proof of the existance of God, the idea that time is a created thing that exists only in man's understanding of reality and is not infinite, an emphasis on reason in approaching Scripture, how teachers should influence their pupils, and not the least his views on the Trinity and his influence on the ideas of both Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin.
Among Augustines most remembered works are: Confessions; The City of God; On The Trinity; Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichaeans; On Baptism, Against the Donatists; Merits and Remission of Sin, and Infant Baptism; On Nature and Grace; On the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin; Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount; The Harmony of the Gospels; On Grace and Free Will.
