St augustineofhippo

St. Augustine of Hippo

(354 – 430)

Crede, ut intelligas

Prepared by Tran Minh Van

• Introduction

• Works

• Top 10 contributions to Philosophy

• St. Augustine’s concept of Time

• Integration of Faith and Learning

• Literature

Content

Introduction

• Born Nov 13th, 354 in Numedia

• Bishop of Hippo Regius

• An influential figure in the history of education

• He considered himself to be a Punic

• A pagan to a believer

• Apologetic works against the heresies of the Arians, Donatists, Manichaeans and Pelagians

• Texts on Christian doctrine.

• Exegetical work

• Many sermons and letters

• Best known for his Confessions and The City of God

Works

1. Theory of Time

2. Learning languages

3. Faith seeking understanding

4. Ontological argument

5. Refutation of Skepticism

Top 10 contributions to Philosophy (1)

6. Existence of God from Eternal Ideas

7. Response to the Problem of Evil

8. Divine Illumination

9. Creation Ex Nihilo

10. The Examined Self

Top 10 contributions to Philosophy (2)

- When God created Heaven and Earth, he created time itself as well.

- God is eternal and he is outside of time. Only angels carry out his wills on Earth.

- There literally was no before God created the Heavens and the Earth. There was no time, therefore, when you had not made anything, because you had made time itself.

- God’s years are a day, and God’s day is not recurrent.

St. Augustine’s concept of Time (1)

- “What exactly is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is.”

- “And I confess to thee, O Lord, that I am still ignorant as to what time is.”

- The past does exist, but in our memory, and further the future too exists in our expectations.

- Time is not something that exists in the physical world, like a rock or a chair, but something that purely exists inside the mind.

St. Augustine’s concept of Time (2)

Integration of Faith and Learning- His ultimate faith was based on the intense study

of Scriptures and other authors' writings on religious matters.

- The soul grows by learning.

- Reason and knowledge are interconnected.

- Faith precedes Reason

- “…What I understand, I also believe. Although the majority of things cannot be known by me, yet I know how very useful it is to believe them…”

“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.”

Literature:Reason to Believe

Message from Spirit World

An Analysis of the Concept of Time in the Confessions, Book 11 by Augustine of Hippo

St Augustine's Quote

St. Augustine’s learning for the glory of God

The Educational Theory of Augustine of Hippo - George J. Yogis

The Confessions and Letter's of St.Augustine , with a Sketch of his Life and Work - Philip Schaff

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