Augustine in Church History.

Essay by Trusk1883 September 2003

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Augustine was born in A.D. 354 in a city in Africa. His father was not a Christian when Augustine was a child, but later became a Christine like his mother, Monica. Monica prayed for a long time about her husband's conversion from pagan to Christianity. Augustine had many gifts and talents and soon enough his parents realized this and sent him to get the best education possible. When he was seventeen years old he had a child and named him Adeodatus. He was being taught to write and speak elegantly and not to focus on truth. But later leaned that truth must be sought out and that elegance was irrelevant.

At that time, Manicheism was spreading fast through the Mediterranean. Manicheism often made fun of the Bible and its teachings. Augustine believed in Manicheism because it questioned the fact that there is only one God. They believed that if God was the only divine being than Satan would not be a divine creature and evil isn't really real.

Then when Augustine moved to Milan, he became a Neoplatonist. This belief is philosophy mixed with religious overtones. While Augustine was in Milan, his mother insisted that he heard the sermons of Ambrose. He agreed and realized that the Bible wasn't so crude and violent that he originally thought. He eventually accepted the teachings of the Bible and prayed to God that he would take away his pleasures, but not right away. He wanted to convert to a true Christian, but he didn't want to do it right away because he still enjoyed doing all the things he was used to doing. Finally he converted and got baptized along with his son. He also quit teaching so he could give all of his time to God. Soon after his mother died and...