AUGUSTINE, SAINT

born Nov. 13, AD 354, Tagaste, Numidia died Aug. 28, 430, Hippo Regius , also called Saint Augustine Of Hippo, Augustine also spelled Augustin, original Latin name Aurelius Augustinus bishop of Hippo in Roman Africa from 396 to 430 and the major Christian theologian of the early Western Church. His best known works are the Confessions and The City of God. A brief account of the life and works of Saint Augustine follows; for a full biography, see Augustine. Augustine recounted the story of his restless youth and his conversion in the Confessions. Though his mother, Monica, was a devout Christian, Augustine was not baptized in infancy. As a 19-year-old student at Carthage he read a treatise of Cicero that directed him to philosophy. His first discovery was Manichaeism, a materialistic dualism. At the age of about 28, he went to Rome and then to Milan, where he met the bishop Ambrose. Disillusioned with Manichaeism, he turned to Neoplatonism, in which he found solutions to his problems about the being of God and the nature and origin of evil. He was converted to Christianity in 386 and was baptized by Ambrose in 387. Augustine returned to Africa, was ordained priest in 391, and became bishop of Hippo in 396. He served as pastor, teacher, preacher, and civil judge. He wrote extensively, especially in controversy with heretical groups (the Manichaeans, Donatists, and Pelagians) and in commentary on the scriptures. His masterpiece was The City of God, which espoused a religious philosophy of predestination. born Nov. 13, 354, Tagaste, Numidia [now Souk Ahras, Algeria] died Aug. 28, 430, Hippo Regius [now Annaba, Algeria] also called Saint Augustine of Hippo, original Latin name Aurelius Augustinus feast day August 28, bishop of Hippo from 396 to 430, one of the Latin Fathers of the Church, one of the Doctors of the Church, and perhaps the most significant Christian thinker after St. Paul. Augustine's adaptation of classical thought to Christian teaching created a theological system of great power and lasting influence. His numerous written works, the most important of which are Confessions and City of God, shaped the practice of biblical exegesis and helped lay the foundation for much of medieval and modern Christian thought. Augustine is remarkable for what he did and extraordinary for what he wrote. If none of his written works had survived, he would still have been a figure to be reckoned with, but his stature would have been more nearly that of some of his contemporaries. However, more than five million words of his writings survive, virtually all displaying the strength and sharpness of his mind (and some limitations of range and learning) and some possessing the rare power to attract and hold the attention of readers in both his day and ours. His distinctive theological style shaped Latin Christianity in a way surpassed only by scripture itself. His work continues to hold contemporary relevance, in part because of his membership in a religious group that was dominant in the West in his time and remains so today. Intellectually, Augustine represents the most influential adaptation of the ancient Platonic tradition with Christian ideas that ever occurred in the Latin Christian world. Augustine received the Platonic past in a far more limited and diluted way than did many of his Greek-speaking contemporaries, but his writings were so widely read and imitated throughout Latin Christendom that his particular synthesis of Christian, Roman, and Platonic traditions defined the terms for much later tradition and debate. Both modern Roman Catholic and Protestant Christianity owe much to Augustine, though in some ways each community has at times been embarrassed to own up to that allegiance in the face of irreconcilable elements in his thought. For example, Augustine has been cited as both a champion of human freedom and an articulate defender of divine predestination, and his views on sexuality were humane in intent but have often been received as oppressive in effect. Additional reading Texts and translations No complete printed edition of Augustine's works exists in Latin. The most recent attempt is the edition published by the Benedictines of Saint-Maur of France, Sancti Aurelii Augustini Hipponensis Episcopi Operum, 12 vol. (16791703), also available in J.-P. Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 3247 (184142); but many works, particularly sermons and letters, have been discovered since. A work-by-work index of editions is available in Eligius Dekkers and Emil Gaar, Clavis Patrum Latinorum, 3rd ed. augmented and corrected (1995). Two different electronic versions of the Latin texts only are available on CD-ROM: CETEDOC: Library of Christian Latin Texts, 3rd ed. (1996); and CAG: Corpus Augustinianum Gissense, ed. by Cornelius Mayer (1995), which includes a comprehensive bibliography current to the date of publication. Translations of most of the important works appear in the series A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, ed. by Philip Schaff, vol. 18 (188794, reprinted 1989), also available as part of Early Church Fathers (1997), on CD-ROM from Logos Systems. A new translation of the complete works is being published: The Works of Saint Augustine, trans. by Edmund Hill and ed. by John E. Rotelle (1990 ). Augustine's two most important works, Confessions and City of God, are available in numerous editions. Both James J. O'Donnell, Confessions, 3 vol. (1992), and Jacques Fontaine (ed.), Confessioni, 5 vol. (199297), presume knowledge of Latin and contain substantial commentaries. The best English versions are The Confessions of St. Augustine, trans. by John K. Ryan (1960); Confessions, trans. by Henry Chadwick (1991); and The Confessions, trans. by Maria Boulding (1997). Although no comprehensive commentary on City of God exists, two versions are The City of God Against the Pagans, 7 vol., ed. and trans. by George E. McCracken et al. (195772), in The Loeb Classical Library series; and the best translation, Concerning the City of God Against the Pagans, trans. by Henry Bettenson (1972, reissued 1984). Scholarly literature In addition to the bibliography in CAG cited above, ongoing bibliographic survey is provided in the volumes of Revue des tudes augustiniennes (irregular). Cornelius Mayer et al. (eds.), Augustinus-Lexikon (1986 ), will comprise a detailed encyclopedia of subjects relating to Augustine; similar, but in one volume and in English, is Allan Fitzgerald (ed.), Augustine Through the Ages: An Encyclopedia (1999).An indispensable and justly acclaimed biography is Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo (1967, reissued 1986); also of value is Gerald Bonner, St. Augustine of Hippo: Life and Controversies (1963). Several concise introductions to Augustine's life and thought exist: James J. O'Donnell, Augustine (1985); Henry Chadwick, Augustine (1986); John M. Rist, Augustine: Ancient Thought Baptised (1994); and Garry Wills, Saint Augustine (1999). F. van der Meer, Augustine the Bishop (1961; originally published in Dutch, 1947), surveys, readably and in great detail, the pastoral work of Augustine at Hippo.Good studies of Confessions include John J. O'Meara, The Young Augustine (1954, reissued 1980); Michele Pellegrino, Le confessioni di Sant'Agostino (1956; also available in a French translation, Les Confessions de Saint Augustin, 1960); Robert J. O'Connell, St. Augustine's Confessions: The Odyssey of Soul (1969); and especially Gillian Clark, Augustine: The Confessions (1993). A good collection of current essays on City of God by scholars in several languages is Elena Cavalcanti (ed.), Il De civitate Dei: l'opera, le interpretazioni, l'influsso (1996).The best one-volume study of Augustine's thought is Eugene TeSelle, Augustine the Theologian (1970). John Burnaby, Amor Dei: A Study of the Religion of St. Augustine (1938; reissued with corrections and a new foreword, 1991), is sympathetic and illuminating but dated. For Augustine in his cultural context, there is still nothing better than Henri Irne Marrou, Saint Augustin et la fin de la culture antique, 4th ed., 2 vol. in 1 (1958; reissued in 1 vol., 1983). Other useful studies are Brian Stock, Augustine the Reader: Meditation, Self-Knowledge, and the Ethics of Interpretation (1996); and Sabine MacCormack, The Shadows of Poetry: Vergil in the Mind of Augustine (1998). Augustine's political views are addressed in Herbert A. Deane, The Political and Social Ideas of St. Augustine (1963); and R.A. Markus, Saeculum: History and Society in the Theology of St. Augustine, rev. ed. (1988). Augustine's views on sexuality have come under scrutiny in recent years; the most comprehensive study is Kim Power, Veiled Desire: Augustine on Women (1996); but Peter Brown, The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity (1988), is also important.