Augustine's large contribution of writings covered diverse fields including theology, philosophy and sociology. Along with
John Chrysostom, Augustine was among the most prolific scholars of the early church by quantity.
Theology Christian anthropology Augustine was one of the first Christian
ancient Latin authors with a very clear vision of
theological anthropology. He saw the human being as a perfect unity of soul and body. In his late treatise
On Care to Be Had for the Dead, section 5 (420) he exhorted respect for the body on the grounds it belonged to the very nature of the human
person. Augustine's favourite figure to describe
body–soul unity is marriage:
caro tua, coniunx tua – your body is your wife. Augustine believed that though initially the two elements of body and soul were in perfect harmony, after the
fall of humanity they came into dramatic combat with one another. He wrote of them as two categorically different things: the body as a three-dimensional object composed of the four elements, and the soul as spatially dimensionless. He further defined the soul as a kind of substance, participating in reason, fit for ruling the body. Augustine was not preoccupied, as
Plato and
Descartes were, in detailed efforts to explain the
metaphysics of the soul-body union. It sufficed for him to admit they are metaphysically distinct: to be a human is to be a composite of soul and body, with the soul superior to the body. The latter statement is grounded in his
hierarchical classification of things into those that merely exist, those that exist and live, and those that exist, live, and have intelligence or reason. Sermons directed at Manichaeism focused on their error of teaching the soul was part of God instead of admission that the soul is 'full of illusions'. Like other Church Fathers such as
Athenagoras,
Tertullian,
Clement of Alexandria and
Basil of Caesarea, Augustine "vigorously condemned the practice of induced
abortion", and although he disapproved of abortion during any stage of pregnancy, he made a distinction between early and later abortions. He acknowledged the distinction between "formed" and "unformed" fetuses mentioned in the
Septuagint translation of Exodus 21:22–23, which incorrectly translates the word "harm" (from the original Hebrew text) as "form" in the
Koine Greek of the Septuagint. His view was based on the Aristotelian distinction "between the fetus before and after its supposed 'vivification. Therefore, he did not classify the abortion of an "unformed" fetus as murder since he thought it could not be known with certainty the fetus had received a soul. Augustine held that "the timing of the infusion of the soul was a mystery known to God alone". However, he considered procreation as "one of the goods of marriage; abortion figured as a means, along with drugs which cause sterility, of frustrating this good. It lay along a continuum which included infanticide as an instance of 'lustful cruelty' or 'cruel lust.' Augustine called the use of means to avoid the birth of a child an 'evil work:' a reference to either abortion or contraception or both." in
Palermo, Italy (1140)
Creation In
City of God, Augustine rejected both the contemporary ideas of ages (such as those of certain Greeks and Egyptians) that differed from the Church's sacred writings. In
The Literal Interpretation of Genesis, Augustine argued that God had created everything in the universe simultaneously and not over a period of six days. He argued the six-day structure of creation presented in the Book of Genesis represents a
logical framework, rather than the passage of time in a physical way – it would bear a spiritual, rather than physical, meaning, which is no less literal. One reason for this interpretation is the passage in
Sirach 18:1,
creavit omnia simul ("He created all things at once"), which Augustine took as proof that the days of Genesis 1 had to be taken non-literalistically. As additional support for describing the six days of creation as a
heuristic device, Augustine thought the actual event of creation would be incomprehensible by humans and therefore needed to be translated. Augustine also does not envision original sin as causing structural changes in the universe, and even suggests that the bodies of
Adam and Eve were already created mortal before
the Fall. Apart from his specific views, Augustine recognized that interpreting the creation story was difficult, and remarked that interpretations could change should new information come up.
Ecclesiology Augustine developed his doctrine of the Church principally in reaction to the
Donatist sect. He taught there is one Church, but within this Church there are two realities, namely, the visible aspect (the institutional
hierarchy, the
Catholic sacraments, and the
laity) and the invisible (the souls of those in the Church, who are either dead, sinful members or elect predestined for Heaven). The former is the institutional body established by Christ on earth which proclaims salvation and administers the sacraments, while the latter is the invisible body of the elect, made up of genuine believers from all ages, who are known only to God. The Church, which is visible and societal, will be made up of "wheat" and "tares", that is, good and wicked people (as per Mat. 13:30), until the end of time. This concept countered the Donatist claim that only those in a
state of grace were the "true" or "pure" church on earth, and that priests and bishops who were not in a state of grace had no authority or ability to confect the sacraments. Augustine's ecclesiology was more fully developed in
City of God. There he conceives of the church as a heavenly city or kingdom, ruled by love, which will ultimately triumph over all earthly empires which are self-indulgent and ruled by pride. Augustine followed
Cyprian in teaching that bishops and priests of the Church are the
successors of the Apostles, and their authority in the Church is God-given. The concept of
Church invisible was advocated by Augustine as part of his refutation of the Donatist sect, though he, as other Church Fathers before him, saw the invisible Church and visible Church as one and the same thing, unlike the later Protestant reformers who did not identify the Catholic Church as the
true church. He was strongly influenced by the
Platonist belief that true reality is invisible and that, if the visible reflects the invisible, it does so only partially and imperfectly (see
Theory of Forms). Others question whether Augustine really held to some form of an "invisible true Church" concept.
Eschatology Augustine originally believed in
premillennialism, namely that Christ would establish a literal 1,000-year kingdom prior to the general
resurrection, but later rejected the belief, viewing it as carnal. During the medieval period, the Catholic Church built its system of eschatology on Augustinian
amillennialism, where Christ rules the earth spiritually through his triumphant church. During the
Reformation, theologians such as
John Calvin accepted amillennialism. Augustine taught that the eternal fate of the soul is determined at death, and that
purgatorial fires of the
intermediate state purify only those who died in communion with the Church. His teaching provided fuel for later theology.
Mariology Although Augustine did not develop an independent
Mariology, his statements on Mary surpass in number and depth those of other early writers. Even before the
Council of Ephesus, he defended the
Ever-Virgin Mary as the
Mother of God, believing her to be "full of grace" (following earlier Latin writers such as
Jerome) on account of her sexual integrity and innocence. Likewise, he affirmed that the Virgin Mary "conceived as virgin, gave birth as virgin and stayed virgin forever".
Natural knowledge and biblical interpretation Augustine took the view that, if a literal interpretation contradicts science and humans' God-given reason, the biblical text should be interpreted metaphorically. While each passage of Scripture has a literal sense, this "literal sense" does not always mean the Scriptures are mere history; at times they are rather an
extended metaphor.
Original sin Augustine taught that the sin of Adam and Eve was either an act of foolishness (
insipientia) followed by pride and disobedience to God or that pride came first. The first couple disobeyed God, who had told them not to eat of the
Tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:17). The tree was a symbol of the order of creation. Self-centeredness made Adam and Eve eat of it, thus failing to acknowledge and respect the world as it was created by God, with its hierarchy of beings and values. Augustine wrote that Adam and Eve would not have fallen into pride and lack of wisdom if
Satan had not sown into their senses "the root of evil" (
radix Mali). Their nature was wounded, according to Augustine, by
concupiscence or
libido, which affected human intelligence and will, as well as affections and desires, including sexual desire. In terms of
metaphysics, Augustine found concupiscence to be not a state of being but a bad quality, the privation of good or a wound. Augustine's understanding of the consequences of original sin and the necessity of redeeming grace was developed in the struggle against
Pelagius and his
Pelagian disciples,
Caelestius and
Julian of Eclanum, who had been inspired by
Rufinus of Syria, a disciple of
Theodore of Mopsuestia. They refused to agree original sin wounded human will and mind, insisting human nature was given the power to act, to speak, and to think when God created it. Human nature cannot lose its moral capacity for doing good, but a person is free to act or not act in a righteous way. Pelagius gave an example of eyes: they have capacity for seeing, but a person can make either good or bad use of it. Pelagians insisted human affections and desires were not touched by the fall either. In the Pelagian view, immorality, e.g.
fornication, is exclusively a matter of will, i.e. a person does not use natural desires in a proper way. In opposition, Augustine pointed out the apparent disobedience of the flesh to the spirit, and explained it as one of the results of original sin, punishment of Adam and Eve's disobedience to God. Augustine had served as a "Hearer" for the Manichaeans for about nine years, who taught that the original sin was
carnal knowledge. But his struggle to understand the cause of evil in the world started before that, at the age of nineteen. By
malum (evil) he understood most of all concupiscence, which he interpreted as a vice dominating people and causing in men and women moral disorder. Agostino Trapè insists Augustine's personal experience cannot be credited for his doctrine about concupiscence. He considers Augustine's marital experience to be quite normal, and even exemplary, aside from the absence of Christian wedding rites. As J. Brachtendorf showed, Augustine used Ciceronian
Stoic concept of passions, to interpret
Paul's doctrine of universal sin and redemption. The view that not only human
soul but also senses were influenced by the fall of Adam and Eve was prevalent in Augustine's time among the
Fathers of the Church. It is clear the reason for Augustine's distancing from the affairs of the flesh was different from that of
Plotinus, a
Neoplatonist who taught that only through disdain for fleshly desire could one reach the ultimate state of mankind. Augustine taught the redemption, i.e. transformation and purification, of the body in the resurrection. Some authors perceive Augustine's doctrine as directed against
human sexuality and attribute his insistence on continence and devotion to God as coming from his need to reject his own highly sensual nature as described in the
Confessions. Augustine taught that human sexuality has been wounded, together with the whole of human nature, and requires
redemption of Christ. That healing is a process realized in conjugal acts. The virtue of continence is achieved thanks to the grace of the sacrament of Christian marriage, which becomes therefore a
remedium concupiscentiae – remedy of concupiscence. The redemption of human sexuality will be, however, fully accomplished only in the resurrection of the body. Augustine also taught that the sin of Adam is inherited by all human beings. Already in his pre-Pelagian writings, Augustine taught that Original Sin is transmitted to his descendants by concupiscence, which he regarded as the passion of both soul and body, making humanity a
massa damnata (mass of perdition, condemned crowd) and much enfeebling, though not destroying, the freedom of the will. Although earlier Christian authors taught the elements of physical death, moral weakness, and a sin propensity within original sin, Augustine was the first to add the concept of inherited guilt (
reatus) from Adam whereby an infant was eternally damned at birth. Although Augustine's anti-Pelagian defence of original sin was confirmed at numerous councils, i.e.
Carthage (418),
Ephesus (431),
Orange (529),
Trent (1546) and by popes, i.e.
Pope Innocent I (401–417) and
Pope Zosimus (417–418), his inherited guilt eternally damning infants was omitted by these councils and popes.
Anselm of Canterbury established in his
Cur Deus Homo the definition that was followed by the great 13th-century Schoolmen, namely that Original Sin is the "privation of the righteousness which every man ought to possess," thus separating it from
concupiscence, with which some of Augustine's disciples had identified it, as later did Luther and Calvin. In 1567,
Pope Pius V condemned the identification of Original Sin with concupiscence.
Predestination Augustine taught that God orders all things while preserving human freedom. Prior to 396, he believed
predestination was based on God's foreknowledge of whether individuals would believe in Christ, that God's grace was "a reward for human assent". Later, in response to
Pelagius, Augustine said that the sin of
pride consists in assuming "we are the ones who choose God or that God chooses us (in his foreknowledge) because of something worthy in us", and argued that God's grace causes the individual act of faith. Scholars are divided over whether Augustine's teaching implies
double predestination, or the belief God chooses some people for damnation as well as some for salvation. Catholic scholars tend to deny he held such a view while some Protestants and secular scholars have held that Augustine did believe in double predestination. About 412, Augustine became the first Christian to understand predestination as a divine unilateral pre-determination of individuals' eternal destinies independently of human choice, although his prior Manichaean sect did teach this concept. Some Protestant theologians, such as
Justo L. González and
Bengt Hägglund, interpret Augustine's teaching that grace is
irresistible, results in conversion, and leads to
perseverance. In
On Rebuke and Grace (
De correptione et gratia), Augustine wrote: "And what is written, that He wills all men to be saved, while yet all men are not saved, may be understood in many ways, some of which I have mentioned in other writings of mine; but here I will say one thing: He wills all men to be saved, is so said that all the predestinated may be understood by it, because every kind of men is among them."
Sacramental theology '' by
Vittore Carpaccio, 1502 Also in reaction to the Donatists, Augustine developed a distinction between the "regularity" and "validity" of the
sacraments. Regular sacraments are performed by clergy of the Catholic Church, while sacraments performed by schismatics are considered irregular. Nevertheless, the validity of the sacraments does not depend upon the holiness of the priests who perform them (
ex opere operato); therefore, irregular sacraments are still accepted as valid provided they are done in the name of Christ and in the manner prescribed by the Church. On this point, Augustine departs from the earlier teaching of
Cyprian, who taught that converts from schismatic movements must be re-baptised. Augustine taught that sacraments administered outside the Catholic Church, though true sacraments, avail nothing. However, he also stated that baptism, while it does not confer any grace when done outside the Church, does confer grace as soon as one is received into the Catholic Church. Augustine believed that in a
real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, saying that Christ's statement, "This is my body" referred to the bread he carried in his hands, and that Christians must have faith the bread and wine are in fact the body and blood of Christ, despite what they see with their eyes. For instance, he stated that "He [Jesus] walked here in the same flesh, and gave us the same flesh to be eaten unto salvation. But no one eats that flesh unless first he adores it; and thus it is discovered how such a footstool of the Lord's feet is adored; and not only do we not sin by adoring, we do sin by not adoring." Presbyterian professor and author John Riggs argued that Augustine held that Christ is really present in the elements of the Eucharist, but not in a bodily manner, because his body remains in
Heaven. Against the
Pelagians, Augustine strongly stressed the importance of
infant baptism. About the question whether baptism is an absolute necessity for salvation, however, Augustine appears to have refined his beliefs during his lifetime, causing some confusion among later theologians about his position. He said in one of his sermons that only the baptized are saved. This belief was shared by many early Christians. However, a passage from his
City of God, concerning the
Apocalypse, may indicate Augustine did believe in an exception for children born to Christian parents.
Philosophy ''
Astrology Augustine's contemporaries often believed
astrology to be an exact and genuine science. Its practitioners were regarded as true men of learning and called
mathematici. Astrology played a prominent part in Manichaean doctrine, and Augustine himself was attracted by their books in his youth, being particularly fascinated by those who claimed to foretell the future. Later, as a bishop, he warned that one should avoid astrologers who combine science and
horoscopes. (Augustine's term "mathematici", meaning "astrologers", is sometimes mistranslated as "mathematicians".) According to Augustine, they were not genuine students of
Hipparchus or
Eratosthenes but "common swindlers".
Epistemology Epistemological concerns shaped Augustine's intellectual development. His early dialogues
Contra academicos (386) and
De Magistro (389), both written shortly after his conversion to Christianity, reflect his engagement with sceptical arguments and show the development of his doctrine of
divine illumination. The doctrine of illumination claims God plays an active and regular part in human perception and understanding by illuminating the mind so human beings can recognize intelligible realities God presents (as opposed to God designing the human mind to be reliable consistently, as in, for example, Descartes's idea of clear and distinct perceptions). According to Augustine, illumination is obtainable to all rational minds and is different from other forms of
sense perception. It is meant to be an explanation of the conditions required for the mind to have a connection with intelligible entities. Augustine also posed the
problem of other minds throughout different works, most famously perhaps in
On the Trinity (VIII.6.9), and developed what has come to be a standard solution: the argument from analogy to other minds. In contrast to Plato and other earlier philosophers, Augustine recognized the centrality of
testimony to human knowledge and argued that what others tell us can provide knowledge even if we do not have independent reasons to believe their testimonial reports.
Just war Augustine asserted Christians should be
pacifists as a personal, philosophical stance. However, peacefulness in the face of a grave wrong that could only be stopped by violence would be a sin. Defence of one's self or others could be a necessity, especially when authorized by a legitimate authority. While not breaking down the conditions necessary for war to be just, Augustine coined the phrase in his work
The City of God. In essence, the pursuit of peace must include the option of fighting for its long-term preservation. Such a war could not be pre-emptive, but defensive, to restore peace.
Thomas Aquinas, centuries later, used the authority of Augustine's arguments in an attempt to define the conditions under which a war could be just.
Free will Included in Augustine's earlier
theodicy is the claim God created humans and angels as rational beings possessing
free will. Free will was not intended for sin, meaning it is not equally predisposed to both good and evil. A will defiled by sin is not considered as "free" as it once was because it is bound by material things, which could be lost or be difficult to part with, resulting in unhappiness. Sin impairs free will, while grace restores it. Only a will that was once free can be subjected to sin's corruption. After 412, Augustine changed his theology, teaching that humanity had no free will to believe in Christ but only a free will to sin: "I in fact strove on behalf of the free choice of the human 'will,' but God's grace conquered" (
Retract. 2.1). The early Christians opposed the deterministic views (e.g., fate) of Stoics, Gnostics, and Manichaeans prevalent in the first four centuries. Christians championed the concept of a relational God who interacts with humans rather than a Stoic or Gnostic God who unilaterally foreordained every event (yet Stoics still claimed to teach free will).
Patristics scholar Ken Wilson argues that every early Christian author with extant writings who wrote on the topic prior to Augustine of Hippo (412) advanced human free choice rather than a deterministic God. According to Wilson, Augustine taught traditional free choice until 412, when he reverted to his earlier Manichaean and Stoic deterministic training when battling the Pelagians. Only a few Christians accepted Augustine's view of free will until the Protestant Reformation when both Luther and Calvin embraced Augustine's deterministic teachings wholeheartedly. The
Catholic Church considers Augustine's teaching to be consistent with free will. He often said that anyone can be saved if they wish. While God knows who will and will not be saved, with no possibility for the latter to be saved in their lives, this knowledge represents God's perfect knowledge of how humans will freely choose their destinies.
Sociology, morals and ethics Natural law Augustine was among the earliest to examine the legitimacy of the laws of man, and attempt to define the boundaries of what laws and rights occur naturally, instead of being arbitrarily imposed by mortals. All who have wisdom and conscience, he concludes, are able to use reason to recognize the
lex naturalis,
natural law. Mortal law should not attempt to force people to do what is right or avoid what is wrong, but simply to remain just. Therefore "
an unjust law is no law at all". People are not obligated to obey laws that are unjust, those that their conscience and reason tell them violate natural law and
rights.
Slavery Augustine led many clergy under his authority at Hippo to free their slaves as a "pious and holy" act. He boldly wrote a letter urging the emperor to set up a new law against slave traders and was very much concerned about the sale of children. Christian emperors of his time for 25 years had permitted the sale of children, not because they approved of the practice, but as a way of preventing
infanticide when parents were unable to care for a child. Augustine noted that the tenant farmers in particular were driven to hire out or to sell their children as a means of survival. In his book,
The City of God, he presents the development of slavery as a product of sin and as contrary to God's divine plan. He wrote that God "did not intend that this rational creature, who was made in his image, should have dominion over anything but the irrational creation – not man over man, but man over the beasts". Thus he wrote that righteous men in primitive times were made shepherds of cattle, not kings over men. "The condition of slavery is the result of sin", he declared. In
The City of God, Augustine wrote he felt the existence of slavery was a punishment for the existence of sin, even if an individual enslaved person committed no sin meriting punishment. He wrote: "Slavery is, however, penal, and is appointed by that law which enjoins the preservation of the natural order and forbids its disturbance." Augustine believed slavery did more harm to the slave owner than the enslaved person himself: "the lowly position does as much good to the servant as the proud position does harm to the master." Augustine proposes as a solution to sin a type of cognitive reimagining of one's situation, where slaves "may themselves make their slavery in some sort free, by serving not in crafty fear, but in faithful love," until the end of the world eradicated slavery for good: "until all unrighteousness pass away, and all principality and every human power be brought to nothing, and God be all in all." The
destruction of the Second Temple and the resulting Jewish exile were often viewed as divine punishment for the Jewish rejection of Jesus and led to Christian thinkers to grapple with the presence of Jewish continued existence in their midst. In this context, Augustine developed a theological justification of Jewish presence within a Christian society that came to be known as the witness theory of the Jewish diaspora. Against certain Christian movements, some of which rejected the use of
Hebrew Scripture, Augustine countered that God had chosen the
Jews as a special people, and he considered the scattering of Jewish people by the Roman Empire to be a fulfilment of prophecy as well as punishment for their rejection of Christ. Nevertheless, Jews should not be slain or forcibly converted because they provide Christianity with an ever-present witness to its own validity as their own scriptures, the Old Testament, foretold the coming and resurrection of Christ. Their blind adherence to the Old Testament were proof that Christians had not faked the claims in the New Testament, although the Jews remained blind to the truth. Especially relevant for Augustine's justification was
Psalm 59:11 "Slay them not, lest at some time they for get your Law". Augustine, who believed Jewish people would be converted to Christianity at "the end of time", argued God had allowed them to survive their dispersion as a warning to Christians; as such, he argued, they should be permitted to dwell in Christian lands. The sentiment sometimes attributed to Augustine that Christians should let the Jews "survive but not thrive" (it is repeated by the author
James Carroll in his book ''Constantine's Sword'', for example) is apocryphal and is not found in any of his writings. Augustine's theological justification became the Catholic Church's official policy through the endorsement of
pope Gregory the Great in the sixth century and allowed Jews to live in relative safety among their Christian hosts up until the twelfth century. Augustine claims that, following the Fall, sexual lust (
concupiscentia) has become necessary for copulation (as required to stimulate male erection), sexual lust is an evil result of the Fall, and therefore, evil must inevitably accompany sexual intercourse (
On marriage and concupiscence). Therefore, following the Fall, even marital sex carried out merely to procreate inevitably perpetuates evil (
On marriage and concupiscence 1.27;
A Treatise against Two Letters of the Pelagians 2.27). For Augustine, proper love exercises a denial of selfish pleasure and the subjugation of corporeal desire to God. The only way to avoid evil caused by sexual intercourse is to take the "better" way (
Confessions 8.2) and abstain from marriage (
On marriage and concupiscence 1.31). Sex within marriage is not, however, for Augustine a sin, although necessarily produces the evil of sexual lust. Based on the same logic, Augustine also declared the pious virgins raped during the sack of Rome to be innocent because they did not intend to sin nor enjoy the act. Before the Fall, Augustine believed sex was a passionless affair, "just like many a laborious work accomplished by the compliant operation of our other limbs, without any lascivious heat", that the seed "might be sown without any shameful lust, the genital members simply obeying the inclination of the will". After the Fall, by contrast, the penis cannot be controlled by mere will, subject instead to both unwanted impotence and involuntary erections. Augustine censured those who try to prevent the creation of offspring when engaging in sexual relations, saying that though they may be nominally married they are not really, but are using that designation as a cloak for turpitude. Augustine believed Adam and Eve had both already chosen in their hearts to disobey God's command not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge before Eve took the fruit, ate it, and gave it to Adam. Accordingly, Augustine did not believe Adam was any less guilty of sin. Women were created as a "helper" to men for Augustine.
Pedagogy '' by
Sandro Botticelli, 1494,
Uffizi Gallery Augustine is considered an influential figure in the history of education. A work early in Augustine's writings is
De Magistro (On the Teacher), which contains insights into education. His ideas changed as he found better directions or better ways of expressing his ideas. In the last years of his life, Augustine wrote his
Retractationes (
Retractations), reviewing his writings and improving specific texts. Henry Chadwick believes an accurate translation of "retractationes" may be "reconsiderations". Reconsiderations can be seen as an overarching theme of the way Augustine learned. Augustine's understanding of the search for understanding, meaning, and truth as a restless journey leaves room for doubt, development, and change. Augustine was a strong advocate of
critical thinking skills. Because written works were limited during this time, spoken communication of knowledge was very important. His emphasis on the importance of community as a means of learning distinguishes his pedagogy from some others. Augustine believed dialectic is the best means for learning and that this method should serve as a model for learning encounters between teachers and students. Augustine's dialogue writings model the need for lively interactive dialogue among learners. He recommended adapting educational practices to fit the students' educational backgrounds: • the student who has been well-educated by knowledgeable teachers; • the student who has had no education; and • the student who has had a poor education, but believes himself to be well-educated. If a student has been well educated in a wide variety of subjects, the teacher must be careful not to repeat what they have already learned, but to challenge the student with material they do not yet know thoroughly. With the student who has had no education, the teacher must be patient, willing to repeat things until the student understands, and sympathetic. Perhaps the most difficult student, however, is the one with an inferior education who believes he understands something when he does not. Augustine stressed the importance of showing this type of student the difference between "having words and having understanding" and of helping the student to remain humble with his acquisition of knowledge. Under the influence of
Bede,
Alcuin, and
Rabanus Maurus,
De catechizandis rudibus came to exercise an important role in the education of clergy at the monastic schools, especially from the eighth century onwards. Augustine believed students should be given an opportunity to apply learned theories to practical experience. Yet another of Augustine's major contributions to education is his study on the styles of teaching. He claimed there are two basic styles a teacher uses when speaking to the students:
mixed and
grand. The
mixed style includes complex and sometimes showy language to help students see the artistry of the subject they are studying, whereas the
grand style is not considered quite as elegant. Augustine balanced his teaching philosophy with the traditional
Bible-based practice of strict discipline. Augustine knew
Latin and
Ancient Greek. He had a long correspondence with St Jerome regarding the textual differences existing between the
Hebrew Bible and the Greek
Septuagint, concluding that the original Greek manuscripts were closely similar to the other Hebrew ones, and also that even the differences in the two original versions of the Holy Scripture could enlight its spiritual meaning to have been unitarily inspired by God.
Coercion Augustine of Hippo is one of the very few authors in Antiquity to theoretically examined the ideas of religious freedom and coercion. because it is seen as making him appear "to generations of religious liberals as
le prince et patriarche de persecuteurs." Maureen Tilley says this was a problem by 305, that became a schism by 311, because many of the North African Christians had a long established tradition of a "physicalist approach to religion." For the next 75 years, both parties existed, often directly alongside each other, with a double line of bishops for the same cities. Augustine became
coadjutor Bishop of Hippo in 395, and since he believed that conversion must be voluntary, his appeals to the Donatists were verbal. For several years, he used popular propaganda, debate, personal appeal, General Councils, appeals to the emperor and political pressure to bring the Donatists back into union with the Catholics, but all attempts failed. He had been worried about false conversions if force was used, but "now," he says, "it seems imperial persecution is working." Many Donatists had converted. According to Mar Marcos, Augustine made use of several biblical examples to legitimize coercion, but the primary analogy in Letter 93 and in Letter 185, is the parable of the Great Feast in Luke 14.15–24 and its statement
compel them to come in. argued that, for Augustine, a degree of external pressure being brought for the purpose of reform was compatible with the exercise of free will. Frederick H. Russell describes this as "a pastoral strategy in which the church did the persecuting with the dutiful assistance of Roman authorities," He opposed severity, maiming, and the execution of heretics. While these limits were mostly ignored by Roman authorities, Michael Lamb says that in doing this, "Augustine appropriates republican principles from his Roman predecessors..." and maintains his commitment to liberty, legitimate authority, and the rule of law as a constraint on arbitrary power. He continues to advocate holding authority accountable to prevent domination but affirms the state's right to act.
Herbert A. Deane, on the other hand, says there is a fundamental inconsistency between Augustine's political thought and "his final position of approval of the use of political and legal weapons to punish religious dissidence" and others have seconded this view. Brown asserts that Augustine's thinking on coercion is more of an attitude than a doctrine since it is "not in a state of rest," but is instead marked by "a painful and protracted attempt to embrace and resolve tensions." According to Russell, it is possible to see how Augustine himself had evolved from his earlier
Confessions to this teaching on coercion and the latter's strong patriarchal nature: "Intellectually, the burden has shifted imperceptibly from discovering the truth to disseminating the truth." The bishops had become the church's elite with their own rationale for acting as "stewards of the truth." Russell points out that Augustine's views are limited to time and place and his own community, but later, others took what he said and applied it outside those parameters in ways Augustine never imagined or intended. == Works ==