BIOGRAPHICAL OVERVIEW
Saint Augustine of Hippo is often considered the father of the Western Church (Lane, 2006, p. 47). Augustine lived from 354 to 430 AD. In 384, Augustine became a professor of Rhetoric at Milan. Here, in the midst of Neo-Platonist study, Augustine was enlightened to the fact that evil is not independent of God and transcendency; rather it is “the absence or lack of good,” which comes only from God (Lane, 2006, p. 48). This 
was a foundational element to Augustine’s conversion and baptism, which took place in 387.
Moving forward, Augustine “devoted himself to an ascetic life of study” (Lane, 2006, p. 47). During this period of his life, Augustine produced a number of philosophical works with apparent intent of disputing false ideologies and philosophies such as Manicheism. Augustine spent the remainder of his life in Africa. He served from 396 to 430 as Bishop over the church in Hippo until his death (Lane, 2006, 49). During that time he battled and arguably conquered Donatism.
Throughout his life, Augustine produced over one hundred works, some of his most important being his Confessions and Of the City of God (Wikipedia, Augustine). He also produced over six hundred sermons (John MacArthur and The Masters Seminary Faculty, 2005, Preaching, p. 33). His preaching was exegetical as well as allegorical and imaginative, certainly a great model for preachers today (John MacArthur and The Masters Seminary Faculty, 2005, Preaching, p. 33). Saint Augustine is more than a significant church father. In his desire to overcome false doctrine and in his administration of God’s word, he is also a father of modern ecclesiology.
CONVERSION
Augustine’s conversion is a fantastic event. We have today a singular account of his conversion, born directly of Augustine’s own soul. The better part of the eighth book of Confessions is dedicated to his conversion, although the bulk of it addresses the calling and only a short segment speaks of the conversion experience itself (Augustine, 427). “But as for my temporal life, everything was uncertain, and my heart had to be purged of the old leaven. “The Way”—the Saviour himself—pleased me well, but as yet I was reluctant to pass through the strait gate” (Augustine, 427, 8.1.1). It is clear that Augustine’s philosophical background combined with the call of the Holy Spirit led him to an understanding of a creator and most importantly a savior.
Augustine’s life was filled with worldly pleasure. He had much to lose if he came to Christ—and he did. These pleasures are what caused his reluctance to acknowledge what he had already determined to be truth. It was upon God’s divine work, through a young child, that Augustine was called to read the scripture. By grace he was led to the greatest letter of the Apostle Paul and read:
Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts (Romans 13.13,14 NASB).
This was clearly a call to abandon his previous life and to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ and His salvation. Upon completing the reading of this short passage he modestly states “all the gloom of doubt vanished away” (Augustine, 427, 8.12.29). The work of the Spirit became complete in Augustine, causing him to forsake his sinful life, which he loved, in exchange for true joy.
DONATISM
Donatists had holiness issues. “The primary disagreement between Donatists and the rest of the early Christian Church was over the treatment of those who renounced their faith during the persecution under the Roman emperor Diocletian (303–305), a disagreement that had implications both for the Church’s understanding of the Sacrament of Penance and of the other sacraments in general” (Wikipedia, Donatist). Augustine understood that forgiveness to a far greaeter extent than the Donatists and spent considerable time disputing their beliefs.
The vast majority of the church rejected the Donatist perspective on the restoration of those who renounced their faith. “The critical issue for the Donatists was the purity of the church and the holiness of it’s pastors” (John MacArthur and The Masters Seminary Faculty, 2005, Pastoral Ministry, 34). They felt that forgiveness for forsaking the church during the Diocletian persecutions would be introducing impurity into the congregation and into the pastorate. Their ecclesiology was focused on self-righteousness instead of grace. Because of Augustine’s work to discredit the Donatists, the Roman Catholic Church considers him to be the father or Roman ecclesiastecism; “salvation [being] from original and actual sin as a result of the grace of a sovereign God who irresistibly saves those whom He has elected” (Cairns, p. 142).
Where Augustinian doctrine bears significant differences from modern evangelical theology, he was used magnificently by God in his day to refute the cult leaders of his day. He put out the fires of Satan’s deceptions and in many ways still influences the church today through his testimony as well as his theology.
References
Augustine. (427). A. Outler (Trans), Augustine’s testimony concerning the confessions. Dallas, TX: Perkins School of Theology.
Augustine of Hippo. (n.d.) In Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine.
Cairnes. E. E. (1996). Chsitianity through the centuries. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Donatist. (n.d.) In Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donatist.
John MacArthur and The Masters Seminary Faculty. (2005). Preaching: how to preach biblically. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc..
John MacArthur and The Masters Seminary Faculty. (2005). Pastoral ministry: how to shepherd biblically. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc..
Lane, T. (2006). A concise history of christian thought. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.
Saint Augustine of Hippo: On True Grace
