Augustine’s Deep Thoughts of Sin and Suffering Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, is unarguably one of the most influential church fathers whose views have helped shape modern protestant theology. He largely contributed to shaping a bible-focused theology that transformed Europe and the majority of the world, and many modern theologians dream of reaching the international stature that Augustine did. But to reach that stage that Augustine got to, did not come easy. He went through a lot of doubts and suffrage, but all of it would ultimately help create the man who still today, is teaching and leading people to Christ.
For Augustine, sin is not just another noun or something he tries to avoid as a Christian like we do today, it is taken very seriously because a good chunk of Confessions is Augustine not only talking about sin but also about asking why we sin and what it is. For a lot of us we ask ourselves questions that we can give simple answers to, like why do we like to win competitions? Or why do I want to be better then others at certain things? I believe that would all agree in saying that the answer would be to feed our ego, or to show others that we can be superior to others, which overall is a sin. But for Augustine and people in Augustine’s time, learning what ego was, was about 1,500 years down the …show more content…
In the Book 1 Augustine expresses his belief in the inherent sinful nature of mankind. Augustine (1.6.8) observes that infants have selfishness and pride, as they seek to be served. In addition, Augustine (1.7.11) states, ‘Hear me, O God! Woe to the sins of men! When a man cries thus, thou showest him mercy, for thou didst create the man but not the sin in him”. He believes that God created mankind but not the sin in him. Augustine (1.7.12), also, observes that he was never innocent, but guilty of sin as he was conceived in iniquity (meaning that he inherited a sinful nature from his parents).” (Ndhlovu
For Augustine, sin is not just another noun or something he tries to avoid as a Christian like we do today, it is taken very seriously because a good chunk of Confessions is Augustine not only talking about sin but also about asking why we sin and what it is. For a lot of us we ask ourselves questions that we can give simple answers to, like why do we like to win competitions? Or why do I want to be better then others at certain things? I believe that would all agree in saying that the answer would be to feed our ego, or to show others that we can be superior to others, which overall is a sin. But for Augustine and people in Augustine’s time, learning what ego was, was about 1,500 years down the …show more content…
In the Book 1 Augustine expresses his belief in the inherent sinful nature of mankind. Augustine (1.6.8) observes that infants have selfishness and pride, as they seek to be served. In addition, Augustine (1.7.11) states, ‘Hear me, O God! Woe to the sins of men! When a man cries thus, thou showest him mercy, for thou didst create the man but not the sin in him”. He believes that God created mankind but not the sin in him. Augustine (1.7.12), also, observes that he was never innocent, but guilty of sin as he was conceived in iniquity (meaning that he inherited a sinful nature from his parents).” (Ndhlovu