It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. –Hebrews 2:10 Historical Background Christianity historically has not taught the “prosperity gospel”. On the contrary, it might be properly called the Suffering Gospel. Jesus was not prosperous in this life, but suffered and died on the cross. His disciples made it […]
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Augustine’s City of God: The Tragedy Of Cicero
Augustine had great respect for the Roman statesman and orator Cicero, whose writings inspired him to pursue philosophy, especially Platonism. What Augustine writes about the death of Cicero and Fall of the Roman Republic (Bk III, 30) is a sobering historical lesson for all idealists who aspire to and engage in politics. After Gaius Julius Caesar had conquered Pompey, he was suspected of aiming at royalty, and was assassinated by […]
Read moreAugustine’s City of God: The Dark Side of Human Dignity
Two Contrasting Conceptions of Human Dignity In Book I of the City of God, Augustine contrasts Greco-Roman (pagan) and Christian conceptions of dignity. Cato the Younger and Lucretia are paragons of pagan virtues, of man and woman, respectively. They committed suicide out of a strong sense of dignity. Lucretia killed herself to protest her innocence as a rape victim; Cato the Younger, a Stoic, would rather die as a free […]
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Augustine’s City of God: The Sanctuary
Sanctuary in Our Time According to a NPR report today, a Protestant Church in the Hague Netherlands has kept a nonstop service since Oct. 26 to protect an Armenian immigrant family from deportation, for what New York Times refers to as “an obscure Dutch law” forbids police from disrupting a church service. This reminds me of Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame, in which “sanctuary” protected Esmeralda from the gallows. […]
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Augustine’s City of God: The Conception of Time
In Preface of Book I, Augustine writes, “I treat of [City of God] both as it exists in this world of time, a stranger among the ungodly, living by faith, and as it stands in the security of its everlasting seat.” Augustine’s conception of time underlies his view of history. In his Confessions, his writes that time exists only within the material world as God’s creation, which is subject to […]
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Augustine’s City of God: I. Preface
Augustine of Hippo’s magnum opus The City of God is one of the greatest works of the Western intellectual tradition—so powerful, in fact, that one could argue all of Christian theology has been a series of footnotes to Augustine. — Charles Mathewes, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Virginia In the beginning of 2010, I read Augustine’s Confessions for the very first time, and immediately followed up with City of […]
Read moreOn the Dignity of the Person: Human Worth and Gift-giving
Man as Scrooge Watching the movie “Scrooge” (1951) starring Alastair Sim has become part of Christmas tradition for me. I’ve seen other film adaptions of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”, but no actor conveys the joy of reclamation as infectiously as Sim did in the 1951 film. Scrooge was rich, but he lived as a poor wretch. He had no appreciation of human worth, neither the worth of his fellow human […]
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