Denys Klimyentyev Filled with a desire to enact vengeance upon the Spanish, the infamous English corsair Sir Francis Drake and his crew set sail for the Spanish colonies in North America and the Caribbean. He gained a fearsome reputation when he captured Santo Domingo and Cartagena, two very well defended and lucrative possessions in quick succession. Though at the time Drake seemed like an all conquering corsair, he met his match and was surprisingly repulsed by the Spanish in the relatively minor colony of St. Augustine in La Florida. In the work Drake Destroys St. Augustine, James A. Covington describes this part of Drake’s adventures.
Sarapion of Thmuis, a bishop from 326 to 339 from the Nile Delta discussed this topic in his book Against the Manicheans (Neil). During his time, Manichaeism was a “gnostic religion” that was founded in Persia and dealt with the contrast between good and evil in the world (Manicheans). Manicheans believed that human beings were sinful and that evil was “manifested in the physical body” (Manicheans). They presumed that humans could not control the evil that existed in them, or their sin. Sarapion of Thmuis argued that humans still had free will, whether or not they sinned.
This was the first dilemma that Augustine had to face. God is the ultimate being and is Infinite. Language is a human institution and it deals with finite things. That is why rhetoric cannot be used in the concept of God. Augustine’s response to this dilemma was to introduce or to develop such rhetoric that could be used in explaining the concept of God.
John Calvin sparked a theological revolution when he introduced the practice of Calvinism during the 14th century. This ideology suggested spiritual predestination: a conclusion that man had already been picked to go to Hell or Heaven before his life had even begun. While only a few are safe from doom, Calvin’s argument established that the majority of mankind comes into this world already wicked. Humans are not born evil, for their brain does not have any type of moral comprehension or cognitive understanding of evil at the beginning. Evil grows as a product of the environment and the choices made by a person to perform wicked acts.
Saint Augustine and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, even though approximately fourteen hundred years comes between their existences, similarly commenced on a journey to find their respective individual truths; which are portrayed through their identically named autobiographical works, Confessions. They each relate their “eudemonistic explorations” (Naugle 1) which are alike in intention but exceedingly dissimilar in representation. Augustine’s Confessions portrays a “story of his self discovery and salvation, which traced the source of evil and searched for the truth along a life journey, in which he found himself, a sinner of God” (Lam 3). Rousseau’s confessions portray a similar path of “self discovery in which he found himself a good man and the
Regardless of its developing prevalence, Christianity might never have turned into the prevailing religion of the Roman Domain had it not in the end discovered magnificent backing. Under Sovereign Constantine the Incomparable, Christianity went from an abused confidence to the most essential religion in the Roman Domain. Constantine 's backing for Christianity was moderate in its advancement, what 's more, a long way from an anticipated event. Constantine came to control when a progression of common wars toward the fourth 's start century obliterated the tetrarchy built up by Diocletian. The framework went into disrepair as each of the four sovereigns fought the others for control.
St. Augustine lived from 354 to 430 and was, therefore, seventy-six when he died. He was converted in the year 386 and was, accordingly, thirty-two years old at that time. He was ordained a priest in 391 and consecrated bishop in 393 at the age of forty-two. In his Retractions he lists no less than ninety-six books; twenty-eight of these were written before or during the time he was a priest. Eventually sixty-give others appeared, the most extensive and the most important works dating from his thirty-four years as bishop.
People turned to God as their only hope in a life of fear and difficulty. The promise of rewards in the afterlife became the major focus for many people. Bishops took leadership roles in communities and cathedrals became the center of cities and towns. Christianity basically took over and became the new form of “government” in the Western Roman Empire. The church attempted to control and influence kings, nobles, and peasants.
First and foremost, there is already one major discordance from the very beginning between Charlemagne’s rule and that of Augustine’s City of God. The “City of God”, of course, is not a man-made institution, but more an abstract concept denoting the optimal way of life under God’s rule: love for God and love for neighbor. From the text City of God Augustine states, “a city surpassingly glorious, whether we view it as it still lives by faith in this fleeting course of time, and sojourns as a stranger in the midst of the ungodly, or as it shall dwell in the fixed stability of its eternal seat.” Indeed, the city is no actual citadel, with law codes and kings, but a city in spirit represented through the faith of the body of believers.
Augustine faces many decisions in his life which lead to him feeling grief or sorrow about the decisions he makes. This allows the reader to relate to Augustine because many people have felt the same way before about their own life. The emotions that Augustine feels and the struggle he has with his belief in God and the Christian belief are very relatable to many people. I mean in today society many people struggle with their own standing with the Christian
Constantine had flourished the Roman Empire through the established of Christianity. Earlier when he started supporting the religion, there were many sects around. He resolved the disputes over the sects of Christianity and made Nicene Christianity, the true belief to be held. The Arian controversy was not just a dispute over a belief of Christianity but a threat to the unity of Roman Empire.
Augustine, in his work The Perfection of Human Righteousness, combatted the heresy of Pelagianism as described by Caelestius in his treatise, The Definitions Attributed to Caelestius. Following Pelagius, Caelestius by logic and Scripture argued that the Fall did not destroy man’s natural capability to do right. Caelestius argued that God made us free to do the good and thus we all have the power not to sin, and that both the devil and Adam’s original sin are unable to destroy this power. As proof Caelestius gave examples of Old Testament saints who he claimed lived holy lives.
Augustine of Hippo was a Christian philosopher who played a big part and impacted Christianity greatly. Augustine helped Christianity by helping the Church by finding answers to questions that could have damaged the Church if they went unanswered. He explained to the Church original sin, the Trinity, and clarified the concept of predestination. Augustine was the bishop in the city of Hippo located in North Africa. He was the son of the famous Saint Monica, but despite his mother being a devout Christian his father believed in paganism.
These people were tremendously diverse, but each one had unique way of making a difference. Some of these people include Constantine the Great, who was the emperor of the Romans. Another person who helped construct and aid in the expansion of the religion was the Apostle Paul, a Roman born missionary who preached his ideas amongst others. Paul was one of the most important people in the history of Christianity. This was due to the fact that he was one of the original missionaries and it was said that Jesus had came to
He is beginning to realize that he has to change his ways in order to reach absolution. In the ninth book, Augustine shows how he was able to finally connect with God through his books and teachings. “I read on: Tremble and sin no more, and this moved me deeply, my God, because now I had learned to tremble from my past, so that in the future I might sin no more.” (Book IX, Section 4, Page 187) This shows that Augustine was finally able to find God through the readings of the Bible.
