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Christian Decisions
Saint Augustine Portrait
  • Profession: Theologian, Saint
  • Type: Philosopher

Augustine of Hippo

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St. Augustine, who served a the Bishop of Hippo in present day Algeria, is considered a Church Father of Christianity (354 - 430AD). His many important written works include The City of God and Confessions. At 17, he journeyed to Carthage to further his education. Although raised in a Christian household, he initially embraced the Manichaean religion. Augustine lived with a woman, whom he had a son, for over a decade outside of marriage. He eventually broke off the relationship, later to become a Christian at age 31. His transformation was significantly influenced by his friend Ambrose, who was the Bishop of Milan . Ambrose baptized both Augustine and his son Adeodatus in Milan in 387. Sadly, within a year, both Augustine's mother and son died. In 391 he was ordained a priest and went on to preach many thousands of sermons, eventually becoming the Bishop of Hippo. Regarding our inherent desires for a relationship with our Creator, Augustine is quoted as saying: "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee."
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Reasons

  • Quotes

    Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.

    - Augustine of Hippo
  • Quotes

    The joyful news that He is Risen does not change the contemporary world. Still before us lie work, discipline, sacrifice. But the fact of Easter gives us the spiritual power to do the work, accept the discipline and make the sacrifice.

    - Augustine of Hippo
  • Quotes

    If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.

    - Augustine of Hippo
  • Quotes

    Passion is the evil in adultery. If a man has no opportunity of living with another man's wife, but if it is obvious for some reason that he would like to do so, and would do so if he could, he is no less guilty than if he was caught in the act.

    - Augustine of Hippo
  • Quotes

    God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist.

    - Augustine of Hippo
  • Quotes

    It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.

    - Augustine of Hippo
  • Quotes

    He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.

    - Augustine of Hippo
  • Quotes

    Let us understand that God is a physician, and that suffering is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation.

    - Augustine of Hippo
  • Quotes

    We are certainly in a common class with the beasts; every action of animal life is concerned with seeking bodily pleasure and avoiding pain.

    - Augustine of Hippo
  • Quotes

    God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.

    - Augustine of Hippo
  • Quotes

    He who created us without our help with not save use without our consent.

    - Augustine of Hippo
  • Quotes

    The problem with the hypocrite is his motivation. He does not want to be holy; he only wants to seem to be holy. He is more concerned with his reputation for righteousness than about actually becoming righteous.

    - Augustine of Hippo
  • Quotes

    Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee

    - Augustine of Hippo
  • Quotes

    I never have any difficulty believing in miracles, since I experienced the miracle of a change in my own heart.

    - Augustine of Hippo
  • Quotes

    Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.

    - Augustine of Hippo
Theodore Roosevelt John C. Polkinghorn (PhD)
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