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[[ImageFile:Saint Augustine of Hippoby Philippe de Champaigne.jpg|right|thumbthumbnail|300px|St. Augustine]]'''Saint Augustine''' or '''Augustine of Hippo''' (A.D. 354–430) is considered one of the great fathers of the [[Christian]] church, and has been of momentous importance in the development of Christian thought. It was Saint Augustine who first developed the Christian doctrine of "[[original sin]]," upon which [[Saint Thomas Aquinas]] later expanded.

'''Both Saint Augustine''' or '''Augustine of Hippo''' (A.D. 354-430) is considered one of and Saint Thomas Aquinas fully supported the great fathers use of the [[Christiancapital punishment]] church, and has been of momentous importance in the development of Christian thought. <ref>[https://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/n012rp_DeathPenalty_Aquinas.htm It was Saint St. Augustine who first developed and St. Thomas In Favor of the Christian doctrine Death Penalty]</ref> Augustine wrote about 5 million words that survive today -- much of "it searchable in English online<ref>[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1156 The Gutenberg Project has several online in English]</ref><ref>[original sin]https://www.online-literature.com/saint-augustine/ some of his combined works searchable here at the Literature Network]</ref>," upon which [[Saint Thomas compared with an estimated 8 million words written by Aquinas]] later expanded.

Augustine was born in 354 AD at Tagaste in Roman [[North Africa]] to a [[pagan]] father and a [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] Christian mother. His early adult life, which is described in his autobiographical book ''[[Confessions]]'', was characterized by religious confusion and searching. Although raised as a [[CatholicChristian]] by his mother, he converted to [[Manichaeanism]] soon after leaving home to study at an academy in the city of [[Carthage]]. During this period, he investigated [[astrology]] and cohabitated with a woman who bore him children. He eventually grew discontent with the Manichaeans, however, not least due to the influence of his mother and of [[Saint Ambrose]], the bishop of [[Milan]]. His break with Manichaeanism did not mean an immediate return to the Catholic faith. Instead, he turned at first to the study of [[Neoplatonism|Neoplatonic]] philosophy.

{{Christianity}}It is difficult to overvalue Augustine's importance for to the development of early Christianity. Through his numerous letters, sermons and scholarly works, he took an active part in the theological discussions of his day.

Augustine wrote against slavery, which was rampant in the ancient world, and on which the Roman Empire was utterly dependent. He boldly wrote a letter urging the emperor to set up a new law against slave traders and was very much concerned about the sale of children. Christian emperors of his time for 25 years had permitted the sale of children, not because they approved of it, but as a way of preventing infanticide when parents were unable to care for a child. He noted that the tenant farmers , in particular , were driven to hire out or to sell their children as a means of survival <ref>The Saints, p. 72</ref> In his famous book, ''The City of God,'' the development of slavery is seen as a product of sin and as contrary to God's divine plan. He wrote that God "did not intend that this rational creature, who was made in His image, should have dominion over anything but the irrational creation--not man over man, but man over the beasts." Thus he wrote that righteous men in primitive times were made shepherds of cattle, not kings over men. "The condition of slavery is the result of sin," he declared. He argued that the first mention of slavery in the Bible is Noah's prophecy concerning his grandson Canaan and his descendants. Therefore, Augustine reasoned, slavery was "introduced by sin and not by nature."<ref>Augustine, ''The City of God'', Chapter 15, p. 411, Vol. II, Nicene & Post-Nicene Fathers, Wm. Eerdman's, Grand Rapids, MI, reprinted 1986</ref>

<blockquote>'{{cquote|The truth is like a lion; you don't have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.}}{{cquote|In what is necessary, unity; in what is not necessary, liberty and in all things charity.}}{{cquote|Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he hold to as being certain from reason and experience. '''Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn'''. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men. '''If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven''', when they think their pages are full of falsehoods and on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason? Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. '''For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion'''.'' -- De Genesi ad litteram libri duodecim ("The Literal Meaning of Genesis") <ref>http://www.pibburns.com/augustin.htm</ref></blockquote>}} == Book biography of Saint Augustine == *''Augustine of Hippo: A Biography'' by Peter Brown, ‎University of California Press; Revised Edition (August 7, 2000)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Augustine Video biographies of Hippo, Saint}}Augustine:

[[Category:Christian Philosophers]]