In the fourth century CE, the Roman emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, causing many of his subjects to follow his lead in this regard. Thus, the Roman Empire had become Christian earlier in the century in which Augustine was born. They had also adopted the Nicene Creed, and its Trinitarian view of Godhood. At that time, the Roman Empire controlled North Africa, including a town called Hippo Regius. It was in this town that a woman named Monica (possibly a Berber) gave birth to him, raising him in the Catholic faith. Her very name “Monica” is often believed to be Berber, although Augustine’s father had a more Latin name which may indicate some degree of Romanization. It is unknown whether either one was a Berber or an Italian Roman.
Nonetheless, Augustine became disenchanted with the Catholic Church for a time. He turned to another Christian religion called “Manichaeism,” which had been named after its Persian founder. Thus, he was correct to say that he had never left Christianity, although it is true that he temporarily left Catholicism. Later in life, he converted back to Catholicism, this time to stay in it. He is now one of the saints of the Catholic Church, as indicated by his popular title of “St. Augustine.” But Catholics haven’t been the only ones to admire his work. Other Christian churches have, too – including the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. Even the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther, often a critic of Catholicism, had some positive things to say about St. Augustine.
The earliest known portrait of St. Augustine (from the sixth century)
This audiobook is partly a biography, drawing upon Augustine’s memoir entitled the “Confessions.” Today, it is sometimes known as “The Confessions of St. Augustine,” to distinguish it from other works entitled the “Confessions.” Augustine had a clear (and even poetic) way of writing his native Latin, which may have been influenced by the earlier Latin style of the Roman orator Cicero. Since Cicero was a pagan, Augustine obviously must have disagreed with him about religious matters. Nonetheless, he admired Cicero’s style, and mentions his encounter with Cicero’s works in his own work the “Confessions” (as this audiobook shows). Thus, we know much about Augustine’s philosophical influences from his own account of them.
St. Augustine
But the most prominent of Augustine’s philosophical influences may have been Plato, a Greek philosopher from a still earlier century. They also discuss this Platonic influence in this audiobook. Augustine may not have gotten Platonic ideas directly from Plato’s works, but from another classical philosopher known as “Plotinus.” Some have interpreted Augustine as trying to synthesize Platonic views with his version of Christianity. It’s possible to read too much into this, but it seems safe to say that such a synthesis did occur at some level. Augustine made (at least some of) Plato’s views more acceptable to the Catholic establishment. Whenever their views were not in conflict, Augustine tried his best to reconcile them with the established Catholic orthodoxy.
St. Augustine
Nonetheless, there are some Catholics – such as the later St. Thomas Aquinas – who disagreed with some prominent aspects of Platonic philosophy. Thus, one doesn’t have to be anti-Catholic to criticize Augustine’s support for Platonic ideas, since many Catholics have done the same. My objections to Augustine’s philosophy tend to be the same objections that I offer against Plato’s philosophy, and St. Thomas Aquinas might well have agreed with some of these objections. But in religious matters, I find much in Augustine’s views to agree with, as does most of the Christian world. As I mentioned earlier, Catholics aren’t the only ones to admire St. Augustine.
St. Augustine
Later in Augustine’s life, the city of Rome fell in the year 410. Thus, the Christian world would debate about whether Christianity had contributed to its fall. It was in this context that Augustine wrote “The City of God,” his own contribution to this discussion. This may still be the most famous of his works. But they don’t go into “The City of God” much in this audiobook, arguing that the philosophical substance of the book was contained in earlier Augustinian works such as his semi-autobiographical “Confessions” (mentioned previously). If this is a weakness, it seems a small one to me, since this audiobook is an excellent overview of Augustine’s ideas. It helps to place Augustine’s ideas into the context of the times.
St. Augustine
Thus, I highly recommend this audiobook to anyone interested in St. Augustine, or the early history of Christianity. It may also benefit someone interested in the early history of Western philosophy more generally.
If you liked this post, you might also like:
Part of the audiobook series
The Giants of Philosophy
St. Augustine
Others to be covered later
See also the audiobook series
The World of Philosophy
Avicenna and Medieval Muslim Philosophy
Others to be covered later
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