On Christian Belief

by Augustine of Hippo

The seven works of Saint Augustine in this volume all deal with the problem of faith in God. They were written over the course of about three decades, beginning with True Religion (390) and extending to The Enchiridion on Faith, Hope and Charity (c. 421). Therefore, this selection of writings provides an impressive insight into the intellectual and spiritual development of one of the greatest of all Western minds, as it grappled with a question that has never ceased to preoccupy and stimulate Western thought: Is it reasonable to believe in God, and what form might such belief take?

This volume presents new translations of True Religion, The Advantage of Believing, Faith and the Creed, Faith in the Unseen, Demonic Divination, Faith and Works, and The Enchiridion on Faith, Hope and Charity.

Genres: Theology, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Christianity

376 pages, Hardcover

Published December 1, 2005

About the author

Early church father and philosopher Saint Augustine served from 396 as the bishop of Hippo in present-day Algeria and through such writings as the autobiographical Confessions in 397 and the voluminous City of God from 413 to 426 profoundly influenced Christianity, argued against Manichaeism and Donatism, and helped to establish the doctrine of original sin.

An Augustinian follows the principles and doctrines of Saint Augustine.

People also know Aurelius Augustinus in English of Regius (Annaba). From the Africa province of the Roman Empire, people generally consider this Latin theologian of the greatest thinkers of all times. He very developed the west. According to Jerome, a contemporary, Augustine renewed "the ancient Faith."

The Neo-Platonism of Plotinus afterward heavily weighed his years. After conversion and his baptism in 387, Augustine developed his own approach to theology and accommodated a variety of methods and different perspectives. He believed in the indispensable grace to human freedom and framed the concept of just war. When the Western Roman Empire started to disintegrate from the material earth, Augustine developed the concept of the distinct Catholic spirituality in a book of the same name. He thought the medieval worldview. Augustine closely identified with the community that worshiped the Trinity. The Catholics and the Anglican communion revere this preeminent doctor. Many Protestants, especially Calvinists, consider his due teaching on salvation and divine grace of the theology of the Reformation. The Eastern Orthodox also consider him. He carries the additional title of blessed. The Orthodox call him "Blessed Augustine" or "Saint Augustine the Blessed."

Santo Agostinho

Reviews

[Tim Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t generally give star ratings to theological works because it’s so subjective as to be literally useless, and at the end of the day the only thing it accomplishes is to open me up to Internet criticism. Patristics, though, feels safer because even the most staunchly orthodox will usually admit that early church writers were occasionally unhinged. Personally, I’m not bothered by the fact that every (yes, every) early Christian writer had at least one bonkers idea that they clung to like a cowboy on a rodeo bull while the rest of Christendom shake their heads in bafflement. I can set peccadillos aside. I sometimes enjoy them, even. I won’t get into what I’d consider to be Augustine’s tilting at windmills. Suffice it to say that I prefer to look for useful things to take away and move on.

This book contains a number of Augustine’s writings, so four stars is about an average of them all. True Religion (De Vera Religione) was the only one that I’d give my subjective five star to — because, agree or disagree, it prompted the most engagement. I took whole pages of notes and thoughts on True Religion. It’s also probably no coincidence that it’s one of Augustine’s earliest (read: philosophical) writings. The later Augustine could be platitudinous, and while that’s not wrong per se depending on what you’re looking for, it isn’t what I need at this point in my life.

[Alex]

Only read the Enchiridion (pp 273 - 343).