St. Augustine, of course.

You know that if yesterday was St. Monica, today is her son, St. Augustine.

Do you think that when Augustine wrote the Confessions, he could have imagined that 1600 years down the line, a 20-year old kid would be sitting reading him, surrounded by inventions he could never imagine in a land he didn't even know existed...and coming fairly close to getting it? (at least the first 10 books)

When you consider Augustine, consider how long ago he lived and wrote, but then actually read his the words, especially in the Confessions and the City of God and see how fresh they are...it's astonishing. When I taught high school, I had a small honors seminar of seniors, and they read the Confessions, amazed that this figure from antiquity could be so much like them, have the same questions and grapple with the same issues. (Read what he says, for example about careerism and business, about the pointlessness of enforced education, about sin, of course)

A complex, endlessly fascinating thinker, whose conflicts reflect the history of the Church in that era in a vivid way and remind once again, that there is nothing new under the sun, which can either bring you hope or despair, depending on your mood.

And just remember - Augustine was not a "wild playboy who then converted and settled down." He had, by his own account, a rather active youth, but once he found his (unnamed) mistress, he settled down and was faithful to her and to their son, Adeodatus. His journey was long and complex, leading him in stages towards the fullness of Christianity, through Manicheeism, Neoplatonism and then, via Ambrose , the prayers of his mother and finally opening himself to the grace of God, to the truth of life in Christ.

If you've never read Peter Brown's biography of Augustine, you should.

Here's the link.

Here's a wonderful resource on Augustine Through the Ages: An Encyclopedia, published, I must mention, not by any Catholic publisher, but by Eerdmans. Go figure.

Here are a couple of good pages devoted to Augustine:

Here

Here.

Comments

[Jim]

I just re-read Peter Brown's biography of Augustine on a long weekend trip. It's one of the very best books about Christianity in late antiquity and Brown has updated the latest printing with recent Augustinian scholarship in an extensive epilogue. It made layover time in an airport fly by!