Christ the Savior Essay

Augustine took birth on 13 November, 354, at Tagaste. He was born in a respectable, middle class family. His father, Patricius who was one of the curiales of the city was still a pagan. However, his wife, Monica was an ardent Christian and her devotion and faith brought her husband too to follow Christianity before he died in 371. It was in a Christian atmosphere that Augustine received his formal education. . It is said that once when he was very ill, he asked to be baptized, but, as he recovered fast he did not want to receive the sacrament then. Augustine’s friendship with â€Å"men of payer† gave him three great ideas which he deeply engraved upon his soul: â€Å"a Divine Providence, the future life with terrible sanctions, and, above all, Christ the Savior. † In Confessions I, he writes: â€Å"From my tenderest infancy, I had in a manner sucked with my mother’s milk that name of my Savior. Thy Son; I kept it in the recesses of my heart; and all that presented itself to me without that Divine nature, though it might be elegant, well written, and even replete with truth, did not altogether carry me away† (Augustine) Augustine was doing well in his school and his father Patricius wished to send him to Carthage to study forensic medicine, but it took Patricius many months to make the necessary arrangements. Augustine, in the meantime had to spend another year at his school at Tagaste in total idleness. It is said, â€Å"an idle mind is the devil’s workshop†, (Proverb) and Augustine plunged himself wholeheartedly to the pleasure of the flesh. Even when he joined Carthage, the many seductions of this great city which was half pagan pulled him towards untoward things. He had a great desire to excel in everything, even evil. Very soon he made his confession to his mother that he had a son outside wedlock. Augustine had a certain dignity about himself even in his fall. By the age of nineteen he had got over his problems and in 373, when he read Cicero’s Hortensius he imbibed a love of the wisdom which Cicero speaks of. He was now heart and soul into philosophy. But this faith underwent a great crisis when he along with his friend Honorataus became prey to the Manichaeans. He was taken up by the promise of free philosophy. They claimed that they had found a scientific explanation to nature and Augustine’s inquiring and probing mind was attracted towards it. Moreover it was alluring as it â€Å"propagated a moral irresponsibility resulting from a doctrine which denied liberty. † Now Augustine devoted himself fully to the sect. He read all their books and it was during this period that he developed his literary faculties. When his student days at Carthage were over, instead of practicing forensic, he returned to Tagaste to teach Grammar. He was an excellent teacher and his students adored him. One of his students, Alypius followed him to the wrong path but later along with him was baptized at Milan. His mother Monica was so upset about him joining the Manichaeans that she would not have him in the house, but a saintly bishop told her, â€Å"the son of so many tears could not perish. † ( Bishop Ambrose) Augustine went back to Carthage where he taught the students rhetoric. He pursued liberal arts and his intellect sharpened and gained full maturity at this time. His first works on aesthetics were completed around this time and it was now that he started deploring Manichaeism. According to him Manichaeism philosophy —– â€Å"They destroy everything and built up nothing. † (Augustine, Confessions) Their arguments he found feeble now and he could find no science in them—â€Å"science in the modern sense. † (Augustine, Confessions) When he met Faustus of Milve, the Manichaen bishop, the spell was broken and he left the sect. He had been with them for nine years. It was in Italy under the influence of Bishop Ambrose, whose kindness made Augustine attend his sermons that he embraced the faith. For three years his mind underwent a struggle. First of all he turned towards the philosophy of Academics, then neo-Platonic philosophy. Finally it was the reading of the Holy Scriptures which told him that Jesus Christ was the true Savior. In 386 Augustine took himself to the country side of Verecundus, where he devoted himself to true philosophy which he considered was all about Christianity. He slowly studied Christian doctrine and became acquainted with it. In his book, ‘Against the Academics’ Augustine had described â€Å"the ideal serenity of this existence, enlivened by a passion for truth. † He held philosophical conferences where they discussed truth, certainty, true happiness and God and soul. In 387, during Easter time, Augustine received the sacrament of Baptism. In the Dialogues he tells us about his conversion, the progress he made in the Faith, his conferences with his friends on the Divinity of Jesus Christ, the transformation of his own soul, the calming of his passions and his decision to choose wisdom as his spouse. Frankly his philosophy is neo-Platonic, but he never hesitates to subordinate his philosophy to religion. He was a Christian first of all, and he tried to find harmony between the two doctrines, but it was the fundamental points of Christianity that he sought. â€Å"First— the great mystery, the word made flesh and then love, resting on the basis of humility. † He sought Divine grace in Christian baptism. Though he and his friends resolved to retire to Africa in solitude, it was his mother Monica who retired to Africa in solitude. Augustine was in Milan writing his works, On Music and On the Immortality of the Soul. In 387, his mother Monica left this world to be with her maker. Confessions IX tell us about Augustine’s grief and her saintly death. In 388 Augustine returned to Tagaste, here he wanted to lead the perfect life, so the first thing he did was to sell all his worldly belongings and give the proceeds to the poor. He then went to his estate and there with his friends lived a life of prayer, and poverty. It is during this time that he wrote De Vera Religione, De Genesi contra Manichaeos and De Magistro. Augustine never thought of entering priesthood, however he was called to Hippo by one of his friend’s who wanted him to pray over him. Augustine was praying in the church when the people gathered round him and begged the bishop of Hippo Valerius to ordain Augustine as a priest. He was ordained in 391. He went back to Tagaste to resume the religious life and there he preached for five years as a priest. He fought against Manichaeaism now and his success was great. Valerius at this time was getting old and he took the permission of Aurelius, Primate of Africa to have Augustine preach with him as coadjutor. Augustine was Bishop of Hippo for thirty four years. Augustine now combined his pastoral duties with the ‘austerities of the religious life’ he lived in a monastery with his clergy and they all bound themselves in poverty. He thus founded the order of monks who had their training with him and then went out and founded monasteries throughout Africa. Augustine was the defender of the truth and so he combated the Manichaean, the Donatists, and the Pelegian Controversies. In 426 the holy Bishop of Hippo, at the age of seventy-two chose deacon Heracles as his successor and departed from this land on 28 August, 430. He was seventy six years old. In Confessions a notable thing about it is Augustine’s confessions about his sexual career. As a young man, he was sexually alive, lived out of wedlock with his mistress and had a son through her. Critically observing, he was not much different from other youngsters but the difference lay in that his sexual exploitations were a source of immense pain to him. This may be the reason why he emphasis on it. He describes his sexual impulses in the negative form. â€Å"Thorns, (2. 3) desire in the mud (2. 2) an open sore (3. 1); he feels he cannot control his sexual feelings until he has help from God. Augustine was not unique in this negative attitude. There were many wealthy young men in Rome who gave away everything they had when they converted to the faith. Confessions represent a literary milestone. According to A. F. West it â€Å"dates the entrance of a new kind of autobiography—the autobiography of introspection, the self registered record of the development of a human soul. † In his Retractions Augustine says of his Confessions, â€Å"The thirteen books of my Confessions whether they refer to my evil or good, praise the just and good God, and stimulate the heart and mind of man to approach unto Him. And, as far as pertaineth unto me, they wrought this in me when they were written, and this they work when they are read. † Augustine clearly meant that Confessions was not a book of his confessions only, but one which the reader should ponder upon and praise the one who is to be praised, the just and good God. He says that his account of his past sin is to draw attention to the love of God: â€Å"I will now call to mind my past foulness, and the carnal corruptions of my soul, not because I love them, but that I may love Thee, O my God. For love of Thy love do I it. † (2. 1. 1) ( Augustine, Confessions) His intention of his book is to focus the reader’s attention on God and not on his life. â€Å"Why, therefore, do I place before Thee so many relations of Things? †¦ that I may awaken my own love and that of my readers towards Thee, that we may all say, â€Å"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. † (11. 1. 1) (Augustine, Confessions) This was the purpose of his book. Yet it would be wrong to say that he did not confess and there is no repentance. â€Å"But yet do Thou, my most secret Physician, make clear to me what fruit I may reap by doing it. For the confessions of my past sins, – which Thou has â€Å"forgiven† and â€Å"covered,† that Thou mightest make me happy in thee. † (10. 3. 4) Bonner comments â€Å"The Confessions first and foremost a work of praise, as is made clear by the opening words, taken from Psalm 145: ‘Great art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised: great is Thy power, and infinite is Thy creation. ‘ ‘Confession,’ then, for Augustine, is primarily confession of praise and thanksgiving to God for his mercies. Confession of sin has its place, but in relation to God’s grace and not in its own right. † In conclusion, we can summarize his book by his words: â€Å"For Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee. † (Augustine, Confessions) He is talking about his spiritual journey when his heart was restless till it found rest in God. Works Cited: Augustine. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2002. 1222. Web link: www. cce/org/a/Augustine/confessions/html