St. Augustine
...with two extremely important questions about their faith. These questions are, "What is God like?" and "How should we live in response to God?" Some feel that we need others to direct us, some feel we need them to challenge us, but everyone agrees that we need others. That is exactly how Saint Augustine struggles to find his faith and beliefs. He found it extremely difficult to come with a conclusion when it was staring at him straight in the face, but just as he did, we draw up our own conclusions with the guidance of others.
Saint Augustine, born Aurelis Augustinus, was an influential and great philosopher and theologian of early times. He was considered the most important of the Latin Church Fathers. His writings of sermons gained fame, notably Confessions and his Treatise City of God. Through his work he helped distinguish the church in Western Europe from the church that it had reformed elsewhere.
Saint Augustine was born on November 13, 354 AD in Tagaste, Numidia (modern-day Nigeria). His father, Patricius was a pagan and his mother, Monica was a devoted Christian who prayed untiringly for her son's conversion to become a Christian herself. His mother later became officially declared by the Roman Catholic Church and became a saint as well. Due to his
parents mixed beliefs, St. Augustine questioned both sides of religion; thus, making him an earnest seeker after "truth". As a young man, St. Augustine went to Carthage to study rhetoric. He was profoundly influenced by the philosophical treatise Horentsius, written by the Roman statesman, Marcus Tullius Cicero. When questioning his parents' religion, he was particularly drawn to Manichaeism, also known as the Manichees. Manichaeism is a dualistic philosophical religion based on a God of Good and a God of Evil. This religion, at first, seemed to correspond to most of the plausible...
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