Theological Term of the Week: Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo
Bishop of Hippo, and “the Christian thinker who has had by far the greatest influence on the beliefs, practices, and spirituality of Western Christianity.”1  He lived from 354 until 430.

• From 2000 Years of Christ’s Power by N. H. Needham, page 251: 

Augustine’s 34 years as bishop of Hippo make him shine out as one of the brightest stars in the patristic galaxy. A preacher, a practical Church administrator, a theologian, a mystic, a man of learning, a leader of the monastic movement, a writer of many books, and a pastoral counsellor: among the early Church fathers there were few who surpassed Augustine in these roles, and none who combined them all so successfully. He had no equal at all in the way he mingled passionate religious feeling with sharp and deep doctrinal thinking. The emblem that tradition has assigned to Augustine sums up his personality: a heart on fire, pierced by two arrows in the shape of a cross. Profoundly gloomy and pessimistic about human nature and earthly life, Augustine burned with other-worldly love for Christ and the heavenly country His cross had purchased for His people. To read Augustine (especially his prayers) is to have heart and mind lit up by eternity and ushered into the presence of God; down through the centuries, no other father of the church has had so many spiritual pilgrims come and quench their soul-thirst from the well of his writings. 

As Bishop of Hippo, Augustine became involved in several religious controversies. The two most important were with Donatism and Pelagianism.

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: Who was Saint Augustine of Hippo in church history?
2. Christianity History: Augustine of Hippo
3. Southern Equip: Augustine’s testimony demonstrates the grace of emptiness
4. Christian Classics Ethereal Library: St. Augustine
5. Christian History Institute: Augustine’s Life and Times

Related terms:

• Ambrose of Milan
• Athanasius
• Basil of Caesarea
• Cappadocian fathers
• Gregory of Nanzianzus
• Gregory of Nyssa
• Hilary of Poitiers
• Irenaeus of Lyons
• Jerome
• John Chrysostom
• Justin Martyr
• Monica
• Origen
• Sabellius
• Tertullian

Filed under Christian History

1From 2000 Years of Christ’s Power by N. R. Needham.

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