Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Reformation (The Story of Christianity)

by Justo L. González

and soon he was one of the best theologians in the Western church.

Ambrose’s response was to order that funds be raised for the refugees and for ransoming the captives by melting some of the golden vessels and other ornaments the church possessed. This created a storm of criticism, particularly among the Arians, who were eager to find him at fault and accused him of sacrilege.

It is better to preserve for the Lord souls rather than gold. He who sent the apostles without gold also gathered the churches without gold. The church has gold, not to store it, but to give it up, to use it for those who are in need…. It is better to keep the living vessels, than the golden ones.

Augustine, was baptized by Ambrose, who does not seem to have been aware of the exceptional gifts of his convert, who one day would become the most influential theologian for the West since the apostle Paul.

Theodosius was a Nicene Christian—it was under his auspices that the Council of Constantinople gathered in A.D. 381 and reaffirmed the decisions of Nicea.

The first clash took place when some overzealous Christians in the small town of Callinicum burned a synagogue. The emperor decided that they be punished, and that they

also must rebuild the synagogue. Ambrose protested that a Christian emperor should not force Christians to build a Jewish synagogue. After several stormy interviews, the emperor yielded, the synagogue was not rebuilt, and the arsonists were not punished. This was a sad precedent, for it meant that in an empire calling itself Christian, those whose faith was different would not be protected by the law.

That was a title he well deserved, for in a century that gave the church such great preachers as Ambrose of Milan and Gregory of Nazianzus, John of Constantinople stood above all the rest, a giant above the giants of his time.

His holiness was not humble, peaceful, and sweet, but rather proud, stormy, and even bitter.

He was also obsessed by sex.

He was unkempt, and even came to affirm that, having been washed by Christ, there was no need ever to wash again.

Above all, however, he devoted himself to the work that would be his great literary monument:

the translation of the Bible into Latin.

What Jerome then undertook was a direct translation from the Hebrew.

Jerome’s version, commonly known as the Vulgate, eventually became the standard Bible of the entire Latin-speaking church.

Furthermore, many believed the legend that the Septuagint had been the work of seventy-two independent translators who, upon comparing their work, found themselves in total agreement. That legend had long been used to argue that the Septuagint was just as inspired as the Hebrew text. Therefore, when Jerome published a version that disagreed with the Septuagint, there were many who felt that he lacked respect for the inspired Word of God.

A few years later, on August 24, 410, Rome was taken and sacked by the Goths under Alaric’s command. The news shook the world.

When I thought of devoting myself entirely to you, my God…it was I that wished to do it, and I that wished not to do it. It was I. And since I neither completely wished, nor completely refused, I fought against myself and tore myself to pieces.

Soon he had a concubine who bore him a child. He named the boy Adeodatus—given by God.

The purpose of this discipline was learning to speak and to write elegantly and convincingly. Truth was not at issue. That was left for professors of philosophy.

And Cicero, besides being a master of language, was a philosopher. Thus, it was reading Cicero that Augustine came to the conviction that proper speech and style were not sufficient. One must also seek after truth.

Salvation then consists in separating the two elements, and in preparing our spirit for its return to the realm of pure light, in which it will be absorbed.

Since any new mingling of the principles is evil, true believers must avoid procreation.

Manicheism seemed to respond to Augustine’s difficulties with Christianity, which centered on two issues. The first was that, from the point of view of rhetoric, the Bible was a series of inelegant writings—some even barbaric—in which the rules of good style were seldom followed, and where one found crude episodes of violence, rape, deceit, and the like. The second was the question of the origin of evil.

Unlike Manichean dualism, Neoplatonism affirmed that there was only one principle, and that all reality was derived from it through a series of emanations—much like the concentric circles that appear on the surface of the water when hit by a pebble.

Evil then does not originate from a different source, but consists simply in moving away from the One.

Moral evil consists in looking away from the One, and turning one’s gaze to the inferior realms of multiplicity.

Evil, though real, is not a “thing,” but rather a direction away from the goodness of the One.

There remained another doubt: How can one claim that the Bible, with its crude language and its stories of violence and falsehood, is the Word of God?

Ambrose interpreted allegorically many of the passages that had created difficulties for Augustine.

Since allegorical interpretation was perfectly acceptable according to the canons of rhetoric, Augustine could find no fault in this. But it certainly made Scripture appear less crude, and therefore more acceptable.

there were other difficulties of a different sort. He could not be a lukewarm Christian. Were he to accept his mother’s faith, he would do it wholeheartedly, and he would devote his entire life to it.

As he later wrote, at that time he used to pray: “Give me chastity and continence; but not too soon.”

In Rome the famous philosopher Marius Victorinus, who had translated into Latin the works of the Neoplatonists, presented himself at church and made public profession of his faith.

It was at Cassiciacum that Augustine wrote his first Christian works.

much against his will,

Augustine’s consecration to be a bishop jointly with Valerius guaranteed that he would spend the rest of his days at Hippo. (Although neither Augustine nor Valerius was aware of it, there was also a rule against having more than one bishop in a single church.) Valerius died a short time later, and left Augustine as bishop of Hippo.

Augustine became the champion of the freedom of the will.

According to him, human freedom is such that it is its own cause. When we act freely, we are not moved by something either outside or inside us, as by a necessity, but rather by our own will. A decision is free inasmuch as it is not the product of nature, but of the will itself. Naturally, this does not mean that circumstances do not influence our decisions. What it does mean is that only that which we decide out of our own will, and not out of circumstance or out of an inner necessity, is properly called free.

This was important in order to be able to solve the difficulties having to do with the origin of evil. Augustine insisted that there is only one God, ...

one explain the existence of evil? By simply affirming that the will is created by God, and is therefore good; but that the will is...

It is good for the will to be free, even though this means that such a free will can produce evil. The origin of evil, then, is to be found in the bad decisions made by both human and angel...

It is a decision, a direction, a negation of good.

To this, Augustine responded that the validity of any rite of the church does not depend on the moral virtue of the person administering it.

If it were so, Christians would live in constant doubt as to the validity of their

bap...

The first is that the purpose of the war must be just—a war is never just when its purpose is to satisfy territorial ambition, or the mere exercise of power. The second condition is that a just war must be waged by properly instituted authority. This seemed necessary in order not to leave the field open to personal vendettas.

Finally, the third rule—and the most important one for

Augustine—is that, even in the midst of the violence that is a necessary part of war, the motive of love must be central.

There are times when the will is powerless against the hold sin has on it.