Augustine of Hippo 354-430 CE

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Augustine of Hippo 354-430 CE

• Autobiography Confessionsaemulatio of the Aeneid
  by Virgil.
• 13 books (one more to suggest addition of
  Christianity). Plagiarized in his writings
• Friendships important

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Beliefs

• Sex is an interior state of mind
• Transmission of original sin
• Eve, biological mother of humanity, is a type for
  Mary, spiritual mother (typology-
• Greek tupos type, example)
• Evil is a deficiency of good
• World view is dualistic

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Augustine City of God and City of Man

• A new reality, two planes (dualism)
• Gods world--eternal truth existing before and
  after creation
• Physical world of sense-apparent objects
• Believed the world follows a linear progression
  from darkness to light
• From body to soul
• From evil to goodness
• From doubt to faith
• From blindness to understanding

4

• Gods time timeless instant
• Temporal world all things flow upward
• God allows free will

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Group Work

• Read Book 2. Why do you think Augustine wrote his
  Confessions?
• What do you learn about his beliefs from reading
  from Book 2?
• Think of an example of something similar that you
  or your friends have done. What was the
  motivation? Any connection with Augustine?

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Egyptian and Southwest Asian influence on
Christianity

• Roman emperors were theocratic monarchs
  (Augustine wrote the City of God to condemn Roman
  divine emperors)
• Growing social, political, economic unrest
• Distrust of reason
• Growing impulse toward mysticism

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Mystery Cults

• Greece, Egypt, Southwest Asia
• Less intellectual than neoplatonism
• More personal than religious philosophy
• Promise of personal immortality
• Cult of Isis Egypt
• Cybele in Phrygia
• Dionysus in Greece
• Mithra in Persia

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• Heritage back to Neolithic times
• Agricultural
• Birth, death, rebirth of gods and goddesses
  associated with regeneration of crops
• Initiates acted out symbolic rituals
• Spiritual death and rebirth
• Ritual baptism
• Communal meal of flesh or blood of the bull in
  spring
• Cult of Isis Queen of Heaven and Earth Mother

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Cult of Mithra (Persia)

• Associated with sun and forces of Light and
  Goodness
• Man-god Mithra released forces of cosmic life and
  energy by slaughtering Bull of Fertility
• Mithras followers
• Sought regeneration and personal attachment to
  this hero-god

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• Celebrated Mithras virgin birth on December 25
  (after suns rebirth at winter solstice)
• Seven stages of initiation, one of which was
  ritual baptism, fasting, death and resurrection,
  communal meal of bread and wine representing the
  flesh ande blood of the bull (his origin), and
  deliverance from evil
• Favorite religion of Roman soldiers

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Isis and Horus Enthroned
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left Virgin and Child Enthroned, 6th Century CE,
Monastery of St. Catherine, Sinai, Egypt
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Byzantine Empire at Height
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Iconography symbolic forms
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Few Early Christian Images Remain (Islamic
Iconoclasts)

• Jonah and the whale
• Jonah is a type or example for Christ
• Prefigures death
• Third Century CE

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Jonah Regurgitated

• Entry to Dom St. Peter
• Worms, Germany
• 12th Century
• Type prefigures Resurrection

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Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus 359 CE Vatican
Abraham St. Peter Christ Arrest
Trial
Job Adam Eve Entry Daniel/Lion
St. Paul
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Symbols
Luke/ox John/eagle
Chi rho
Greek word ichthys Acronym Jesus Christ, Son of
God, Savior
Matthew/angel
Mark/lion
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The Good Shepherd 300 CE

• Jesus is the good shepherd
• Symbol of promise to the departed to join flock
  in heaven
• Also lamb as sacrificial offering

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Neoplatonists

• Plotinus 3rd C (neoplatonist)
• Union with One ascent through series of levels
  of spiritual purification (Dante)
• Soul is eternal and divine
• Universe is layered in ascending degrees of
  perfection

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Roman Empire

• Octavian tried to restore old Roman values of
  duty and civic pride
• Germanic tribes invaded
• Oppression and poverty
• Constantine 313 CE
• Edict of Milan (by end of 4th C. Christianity is
  official religion)
• Council of Nicea 325

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Christianity

• 36 books in Hebrew Bible
• Sadducees Jewish aristocrats cultural and
  religious solidarity denied that soul survived
• Pharisees more influential Jewish teachers
  interpreters of Hebrew law believed in advent of
  messianic redeemer (a shepherd) human soul is
  imperishable wicked will suffer eternal
  punishment

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Essenes

• Monastic communities near Dead Sea
• Renounced worldly goods
• Practiced asceticism
• Believed in immortality of the soul
• Anticipated coming of teacher of truth
• Dead Sea Scrolls (Essenes lived near Dead Sea)
• forecast final apocalyptic age

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Jesus 0-33 CE

• Gospels 40 years after his death
• No biography, no writings
• Jewish rabbi
• Ethical concerns moral lessons
• Pacifistic message
• Antimaterialistic message
• Temptations of temporal world distract

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Cimabue Madonna Enthroned
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(No Transcript)
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• Evils of material wealth (classical world was
  materialistic)
• Faith over ritual
• Spirit of Hebrew law, not the letter
• Love of God and neighbor
• God was stern, but loving
• Taught cultivation of compassion, righteousness,
  trust in God

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Sermon on the Mount

• Blessed are the poor, the gentle, the mourners,
  the seekers of goodness, the merciful, the pure
  in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted because
  of their belief in Jesus.
• His followers are the light of the world
• Jesus came to fulfill the laws
• Believers should follow his commandments
• Followers should not judge others
• The golden rule

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• Rewards in heaven
• Moral intention is more important than outward
  behavior

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Paul

• Best known of apostles (d. 65)
• Jewish tentmaker from Tarsus in Asia Minor
• Greek and Hebrew language
• Never met Jesus
• Wrote 10-14 of 27 books of New Testament
• Universalized Jesuss message

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• Jesus taught Jews Paul wrote to people of
  Greece, Asia Minor, Rome
• Apostle to the Gentiles
• Laid basis for Jesus as New Adam

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Pauls Teachings

• Salvation by faith
• Jesus son of God
• Jesus, sacrifice for human sin
• Sin had entered world through Adam and Eves
  defiance of God
• Jesuss death was act of atonement
• Jesus was New Adam

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The Bible

• Old Testament
• 39 books in the King James Version)
• written in Hebrew (with a little Aramaic) from
  11th to 2nd century BCE.
• The New Testament
• 27 books in the King James Version)
• written in Greek from 40 AD to as late as 150 AD)

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Faith vs. Reason