Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( aw-GUST-in, US also AW-gə-steen; Latin: Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a Christian theologian and philosopher from Roman Africa. He was the bishop of Hippo Regius from Thagaste in Numidia Cirtensis, (present-day Souk Ahras, Algeria). His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosophy and Western Christianity, and he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church in the Patristic Period. His many important works include The City of God, On Christian Doctrine, and Confessions.
In his youth he was drawn to the Manichaean faith, and later to the Hellenistic philosophy of Neoplatonism. After his conversion to Christianity and baptism in 386 by Saint Ambrose, Augustine developed his own approach to philosophy and theology, accommodating a variety of methods and perspectives. His contributions to theology are numerous and varied. He is traditionally known as Doctor Gratiae ("Doctor of Grace") for the vast influence of his views on the necessity of unmerited, prevenient grace, for salvation and the nature of original sin.
Additionally, he made important contributions in ecclesiology, noting the validity of sacraments regardless of the merit of the celebrant against the views of the Donatists. In his book The City of God, Augustine imagined the Church as a spiritual City, distinct from the material Earthly City, against the backdrop of the fall of the Western Roman Empire. His other notable works include On the Trinity and the Confessions, the latter of which was the first Western autobiography and remains a widely read work in the Western literary canon.
Augustine is recognized as a saint in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Lutheran churches, and the Anglican Communion. Generally regarded as one of the greatest theologians and philosophers in the history of the Catholic Church, he is one of the traditional four great Latin Doctors of the Church, along with Jerome, Gregory, and Ambrose. His thoughts profoundly influenced the Medieval worldview, and he was the most cited author in the Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Many Protestants, especially Calvinists and Lutherans, consider him one of the theological fathers of the Protestant Reformation due to his teachings on salvation and divine grace, although this interpretation is disputed by the Catholic Church. In the East, he remains highly venerated, but some of his teachings, including the filioque, are more disputed.
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