Critical Analysis: Saint Augustine

Critical Analysis: Saint Augustine

Saint Augustine came from humble beginnings, his mother was Christian and his father followed a traditional pagan religion. His mother played a large role in Augustine's conversion to Christianity(Gonzales, 241). Augustine was extremely intelligent and was sent off to study in Madura. When resources ran out he fell upon hard times and returned home where he experimented with his sexual desires and would be the peak of his sinful behavior. He impregnated a concubine and had a son whom he named Adeodatus. Augustine was sponsored and continued his studies in rhetoric. The young student looked for truth in his writings and turned to Manichaeism. Augustine's involvement in Manichaeism and Neo-Platonism played a large role in his conversion and his actions as a saint.

Mani was a religion that characterized human existence into spiritual and matter, which was goodness and evil. Salvation lied in separating the two elements to keep the spirit pure for the reabsorption into the realm of pure light. Mani ridicules Christianity and according to followers, the Bible was not the Word of the eternal principle of light but instead a principle of darkness. The Word was composed of stories of violence, deceit, and rape (Gonzales, 244). Augustine joined Manichaeism because it offered to fill the gaps that he saw within Christianity. However, many of his questions still went unanswered, and eventually turned to Neo-Platonism, where he again found his faith in Christianity. Neo-Platonism was a philosophy with religious aspects and encouraged study discipline, and mystical contemplation to reach the One, the source of life and existence. According to Neo-Platonism, evil doe not come from a different source but instead is present when one moves away from the One. Evil was not a physical thing, differentiating from the teachings of Manichaeism( Gonzales, 245).

Augustine was very accepting of Neo- Platonism because it was able to give him the more important questions that Manichaeism left unanswered. He was able to accept there was one infinite being of goodness and was the source of all things and without the One there is evil. He studied under Ambrose, who taught him allegorical interpretation, which in turn led him to understand the bible not as a book of inelegant writings but as a guide to the One. Augustine gave up his career in rhetoric, and his ambitions in every