Archive for April 2025
Contemplating the Father with Gregory of Nazianzus
I’ve decided I need a breather from writing the chapters in my Systematic Theology on creation and anthropology. They are thrilling to write as the contrast between a classical approach to creation and a modern one makes for quite a story. Nevertheless, I need to let them marinate for a bit. I write in such…
Read MoreA Mirror on the Soul
In his Confessions, Augustine opens up to us the inner state of his soul in the early part of his life, and shares with his readers how he came to terms with himself, with the world around him, and with God. The book is unique in the history of Christian literature in that it is…
Read MoreGod’s Victorious Love
The importance of Augustine of Hippo’s thought for western Christianity is difficult to overstate. Medieval theology is deeply influenced by Augustine, and the retrieval of Augustine’s thought is everywhere evident in the theology of the Reformers. Today, the reception of Augustine’s views of election, human nature, sin and grace, and sacramental theology—to name a few—can…
Read MoreKeeping Station at the Cross
I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? -Psalm 77:11-13 The Mighty Deeds of God The works of God are worth retelling.…
Read MoreWho was the true heir of Augustine, Luther or Erasmus?
This year we celebrate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s book On Bound Will, in which he made his strongest case for the sovereignty and grace of God in opposition to the Romanist scholar, Desiderius Erasmus, who had opened their contest with On Free Will. Though primarily a debate about the role of the human…
Read MoreAugustine and the Challenge of Donatism
Perhaps one of the most interesting issues that arises when one studies Augustine is the question of Donatism.[1] The historical roots of Donatism are to be found in the persecution of Christians that took place under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian between A.D. 303 and 305. During these times of persecution, some persons ultimately renounced…
Read MoreAugustine’s Classical Toolbox
On a recent visit to see family, I was asked to assist with a small plumbing issue. It was a matter of routine maintenance, and I was happy to help and certain that the problem was within my (albeit limited) plumbing skills. So, I boldly approached the connection between two hoses with the intention to…
Read MoreAugustine the Catechist
Many people may know Augustine the theologian, or Augustine the philosopher, or Augustine the bishop. Augustine’s writings cast a large net, big enough for a wide range of readers and disciples. But do we know Augustine the catechist? Do we know the Augustine who stooped down to make the faith intelligible to newcomers, placing their…
Read MoreAugustine and the Pelagian Controversy
Augustine’s controversy with the Pelagians was one of the decisive moments in Western Church history. Strangely, little is known of Pelagius himself. The dates of his birth and death are unrecorded. Who was Pelagius? He was from Roman Britain, and may have been a monk; certainly he flourished in Rome as a Christian teacher in…
Read MoreAugustine the Reluctant Shepherd
A loyal protégé and friend of St. Augustine, one Possidius of Calama, offered an illuminating eulogy of the pastoral work of the famous Bishop of Hippo. At the end of his Vita Augustini (“Life of Augustine”), Possidius writes, “Those who read what he has written on divine subjects profit a great deal; however, I think…
Read MoreAugustine’s Christian Platonism Revisited
Any serious study of the history of Christianity must come to terms with the complex role that Platonism played in the development of Christian philosophy and theology. While Platonism was a formative presence in the development of early Christian thought, its influence has waxed and waned through the centuries. Recently Platonism has again become a…
Read MoreNew Credo Magazine: Saint Augustine
Although debated, some believe Saint Augustine may just be the church’s greatest theologian. From Manichaean to Christian, his conversion chronicled in Confessions has proven to be a classic. But Augustine also was an apologist, defending Christianity in City of God when Christians were blamed for the fall of civilization around them. Yet Augustine was also…
Read More