Augustine

Many consider Saint Augustine of Hippo a main figure in the development of orthodox Christian doctrine during the early Christian Church. Augustine was born in Northern Africa in AD 354. His father was a pagan and his mother a Christian. Though his parents were not extremely well to do, they had enough money to allow Augustine to obtain an education in the liberal arts. This education will eventually affect how he sees Christianity, especially concerning the use of neo-Platonic ideas in Christian theology.

Augustine converted to orthodox Christianity late in life. He struggled with the many earthly things he needed to give up for a complete conversion of body, mind, and soul. It is in Confessions that Augustine shows the world this struggle with and eventual conversion to orthodox Christianity. Though the conversion did not come easily, Christianity held a variety of appealing ideas for Augustine that influenced how he viewed the world in which he lived. In turn, the late conversion of Augustine allowed for his non-Christian experiences and study to have a strong effect on how he viewed orthodox Christianity and the number of heresy-sects of Christianity that continued to thrive during his lifetime. His education also created a unique view for Augustine concerning the use of pagan philosophies in Christian doctrine. Finally, all of the experiences and views of Saint Augustine eventually had a profound influence on orthodox Christian doctrine and philosophy.

Augustine was actually born a Christian and taught Christian doctrine by his mother Monica while still young. However, born Christian and not interested in pagan religions, Augustine was also not particularly interested in orthodox Christianity either. He spent most of his young life with little to do with any particular religion. Eventually, as Augustine continued his education, he started questioning his spirituality and the idea that he was living a selfish life void of something important inside himself. It was during this time that Augustine discovered the appealing ideas that Christianity had to offer.

The most appealing idea of Christianity to Augustine was that it allowed for a logical view of God, as well having a certain amount of mystery. In Confessions, Augustine continually discusses the importance of his education in the liberal art as an important aspect of his understanding of Christianity. Using logic, Augustine understood the Christian ideas of sin, evil, and God's relationship to humanity and all creation. He believes it is a man's natural state to want to be near God spiritually, yet in their weak state of flesh, they often move away from the one thing they yearn for most, which is God. Augustine says of this, "...to praise you [God] is the desire of man, a little piece of your creation. You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you".

Since the idea of logic in religion was appealing for Augustine, it opened the door for the use of pagan philosophical ideals to enter Christian doctrine. Augustine was especially interested in the Platonist and Neo-Platonists views on God. Throughout Confessions, Augustine uses many of these philosophical views to show that Christian ideals are indeed logical. He found many of the basic Christian tenements in the philosophical ideals of Plato. The only thing lacking in the Greek philosophy was Christ, whom Augustine found to be an important part of the Christian experience. Augustine writes of these Platonist views in Book 7 of Confessions. A good example of the blending of Platonist and Christian ideas occurs around the issue that both the writings of Platonists and the New Testament are saying many of the same things only using different words. According to Augustine, the words and ideas of God should be taken from whatever context they appear in, including writings considered by many Christians to be pagan. According to Augustine, and example of this is as follows:

In reading the Platonic books I found expressed in different words, and in a variety of ways, that the Son 'being in the form of the father did not think it theft to be equal with God' because by nature he is that very thing. But that he took on himself the form of a servant and emptied himself, was made in the likeness of men and found t behave as a man, even the death of the Cross so that God exalted him from the dead 'and gave him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of celestial, terrestrial, and infernal beings, and every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord in the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:6-11) - that these books do not have.

Here one can see that Augustine finds a basic Christian tenement in Platonic writings, yet these writings are still lacking in the fact that Christ is not in them. In this same chapter, Augustine also uses an allegory concerning the taking of gold to Egypt by the Hebrews. Augustine writes "...since the gold was yours [God's] wherever it was" which refers to the idea that God's word is from God and should be used by God's people no matter where the words came from, even if they came from