Download or read book Happiness and Wisdom written by Ryan N. S. Topping and published by CUA Press. This book was released on 2012-07-11 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Happiness and Wisdom contributes to ongoing debates about the nature of Augustine's early development, and argues that Augustine's vision of the soul's ascent through the liberal arts is an attractive and basically coherent view of learning, which, while not wholly novel, surpasses both classical and earlier patristic renderings of the aims of education.

Download or read book Divine Discourse written by Nicholas Wolterstorff and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1995-10-05 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prominent in the canonical texts and traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is the claim that God speaks. Nicholas Wolterstorff argues that contemporary speech-action theory, when appropriately expanded, offers us a fascinating way of interpreting this claim and showing its intelligibility. He develops an innovative theory of double-hermeneutics - along the way opposing the current near-consensus led by Ricoeur and Derrida that there is something wrong-headed about interpreting a text to find out what its author said. Wolterstorff argues that at least some of us are entitled to believe that God has spoken. Philosophers have never before, in any sustained fashion, reflected on these matters, mainly because they have mistakenly treated speech as revelation.

Download or read book The Legacy of Sovereign Joy written by John Piper and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2006-08-11 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We admire these men for their greatness, but the truth is Augustine grappled with sexual passions. Martin Luther struggled to control his tongue. John Calvin fought the battle of faith with worldly weapons. Yet each man will always be remembered for the messages he declared-messages that still resound today. John Piper explores each of these men's lives, integrating Augustine's delight in God with Luther's emphasis on the Word and Calvin's exposition of Scripture. Through their strengths and struggles we can learn how to live better today. When we consider their lives, we behold the glory and majesty of God and find power to overcome our weaknesses. If ever you are complacent about sin, if ever you lose the joy of Jesus Christ, if ever you are dulled by the world's influence, let the lives of these men help you recapture the wonder of God. Part of the The Swans Are Not Silent series.

Download or read book On the Predestination of the Saints written by Saint Augustine of Hippo and published by Fig. This book was released on 2022 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Late Have I Loved Thee written by Augustine of Hippo and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2006-12-05 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first collection of Saint Augustine's varied writings on human and divine love—chosen to reflect his lifelong preoccupation with ordo amoris, the principle of rightly directed love. "My weight is my love," Saint Augustine writes in The Confessions. He sees our ability to love as disordered by sin, so that we often choose badly what and how to love. Only by recognizing that we are commanded to love God first can any other object of our love be properly ordered, Late Have I Loved Thee draws on the riches found in Augustine's sermons, letters, treatises, and Scripture commentaries, as well as passages from The Confessions and City of God. Augustine (354-430 A.D.) was the most prolific writer of Christian antiquity and the most influential theologian in Church history. In his first encyclical, God Is Love, current Pope Benedict XVI acknowledges his indebtedness to him. When we read Augustine today, we encounter the same direct, eloquent passions his original listeners experienced, infused with his deep sense of human weakness and burning desire for union with God.

Download or read book Sacrifice and Redemption written by S. W. Sykes and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-11-29 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These essays explore the role sacrificial metaphor has to play in theological interpretation of the death of Christ, and ask whether such a metaphor makes sense today. They make clear that the political and psychological connotations of sacrificial language have in modern times given rise to great unease, and examine, in particular, the Catholic tradition of the eucharistic sacrifice, a tradition that was vigorously challenged at the Reformation. Looking at the various controversies from a variety of perspectives, the contributions to the book have a pronounced ecumenical slant, and illuminate sacrifice at the major, formative moments in history, from Old Testament times to contemporary theology.

Download or read book Expositions of the Psalms 1 32 Vol 1 written by Saint Augustine (of Hippo) and published by New City Press. This book was released on 1990 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "As the psalms are a microcosm of the Old Testament, so the Expositions of the Psalms can be seen as a microcosm of Augustinian thought. In the Book of Psalms are to be found the history of the people of Israel, the theology and spirituality of the Old Covenant, and a treasury of human experience expressed in prayer and poetry. So too does the work of expounding the psalms recapitulate and focus the experiences of Augustine's personal life, his theological reflections and his pastoral concerns as Bishop of Hippo."--Publisher's website.

Download or read book Augustine on the Christian Life written by Gerald Bray and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2015-10-14 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Augustine is widely considered to be one of the most influential theologians of all time and stands as a giant among giants in the history of the Christian faith. However, while many Christians are familiar with the broad strokes of his theology, few readers today have explored the riches of his spiritual life. In this addition to Crossway’s growing Theologians on the Christian Life series, renowned scholar Gerald Bray seeks to show us that Augustine is just as relevant today as it was in AD 430. Focusing on the North African pastor’s personal transformation and dependence on the the Word of God, Bray gives us a picture of this ancient hero of the faith that can sharpen and encourage modern believers. Part of the Theologians on the Christian Life series.

Download or read book The Problem of Free Choice written by Saint Augustine (of Hippo) and published by . This book was released on 1955 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of Augustine's most important works, written between 388 and 395, this dialogue has as its objective not so much to discuss free will for its own sake as to discuss the problem of evil in reference to the existence of God, who is almighty and all-good.

Download or read book Divine Mercy written by Robert Stackpole and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This revised edition takes you on a tour of Divine Mercy throughout salvation history, through the Old and New Testaments, in the writings of the Church's great theologians, and in the lives and writings of the saints down through the ages. In this revised edition, Dr. Stackpole expands his chapter on the great theologian St. Augustine, includes a new chapter on the spiritual master St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and highlights the involvement of Pope Benedict XVI at the first World Apostolic Congress on Mercy in 2008"--Publisher's description.

Download or read book The Patristic Doctrine of Redemption written by H. E. W. Turner and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2004-10-06 with total page 125 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work is based upon a series of lectures which were given at 'Scholae Cancellariae', Lincoln, during Passion Week, 1949, on the invitation of the Warden, the Reverend Canon C. K. Sansbury. It is a laudable custom of the College during Passion Week each year to invite an outside lecturer to lecture upon some subject connected with the Passion of our Lord. The doctrine of Redemption among the early Fathers has never received the attention by scholars which it deserves. The reasons for this neglect are many and various. Scholars primarily concerned with the doctrine of the Atonement normally tend to hurry over the early centuries and to begin a serious discussion with the teaching of St. Anselm and of Peter Abelard, at whose hands the doctrine first begins to take a definite shape. Others select from the patristic material the passages and allusions which fit best into their own preferred doctrinal mould, without paying adequate attention to complementary patterns of thought which possess equal significance. Others again, because of the number and complexity of the issues involved, tend to leave the subject on one side, on the ground that the thinking of the Fathers is not sufficiently clear-cut and precise for anyone except the expert. This little book is offered to the ordinary reader interested in theology in the hope that it may convince him that the early Christian centuries did think honestly and interestingly about the central experience of their religion; to the theological student as a guide to a dark place; and to the expert as a reminder of a serious gap in theological bibliography and as a challenge to go into the land and possess it. from the Preface by H. E. W. Turner

Download or read book On Grace and Free Will written by St. Augustine St. Augustine of Hippo and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-11-19 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Christian Church has no shortage of revered figures and saints, but it is difficult to find one that had a more decisive impact on the course of the Church's history than Augustine of Hippo. Augustine was a bishop of Hippo Regius in Africa, but his works, sermons and writings helped hold the Church together even as the Western Roman Empire was in its death throes, to the extent that every major branch of Christianity recognizes him today. The Catholic Church has venerated him as a saint and a Doctor of the Church, Orthodox Christians also consider him a saint, and Protestants and Calvinists cite him as one of the fathers and inspirations of the Protestant Reformation. In many respects, Augustine has provided the theological bedrock for Christians for nearly 1600 years, and as theologian John Leith noted in 1990, "Augustine, the North African of Berber descent, is today the spiritual father of multitudes who are remote indeed from him racially, politically, and culturally." Augustine's voluminous writings also had the effect of making him one of antiquity's most influential philosophers. Though he will always be remembered within the context of Christianity, Augustine studied the works of Virgil, Cicero, and the ancient Greek philosophers, providing a critical bridge between religious and secular philosophy that would in turn inspire St. Thomas Aquinas and similar thinkers. In addition to framing the concept of original sin, it was Augustine who first wrote at length on the theory of just war. Paul Henry, S.J. noted, "In the history of thought and civilization, Saint Augustine appears to me to be the first thinker who brought into prominence and undertook an analysis of the philosophical and psychological concepts of person and personality. These ideas, so vital to contemporary man, shape not only Augustine's own doctrine on God but also his philosophy of man..." On Grace and Free Will, Augustine's doctrine about the liberum arbitrium or free will and its inability to respond to the will of God without divine grace, is interpreted (mistakenely according to Roman Catholics) in terms of Predestination: grace is irresistible, results in conversion, and leads to perseverance.

Download or read book On the Grace of Christ and on Original Sin written by Saint Augustine and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-06-08 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Augustine, the man with upturned eye, with pen in the left hand, and a burning heart in the right (as he is usually represented), is a philosophical and theological genius of the first order, towering like a pyramid above his age, and looking down commandingly upon succeeding centuries. He had a mind uncommonly fertile and deep, bold and soaring; and with it, what is better, a heart full of Christian love and humility. He stands of right by the side of the greatest philosophers of antiquity and of modern times. We meet him alike on the broad highways and the narrow footpaths, on the giddy Alpine heights and in the awful depths of speculation, wherever philosophical thinkers before him or after him have trod. As a theologian he is facile princeps, at least surpassed by no church father, schoolman, or reformer. With royal munificence he scattered ideas in passing, which have set in mighty motion other lands and later times. He combined the creative power of Tertullian with the churchly spirit of Cyprian, the speculative intellect of the Greek church with the practical tact of the Latin. He was a Christian philosopher and a philosophical theologian to the full.

Download or read book On the Spirit and the Letter written by St. Augustine St. Augustine of Hippo and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-07-18 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The person to whom I had addressed the three books entitled De Peccatorum Meritis et Remissione, in which I carefully discussed also the baptism of infants, informed me, when acknowledging my communication, that he was much disturbed because I declared it to be possible that a man might be without sin, if he wanted not the will, by the help of God, although no man either had lived, was living, or would live in this life so perfect in righteousness. He asked how I could say that it was possible of which no example could be adduced. Owing to this inquiry on the part of this person, I wrote the treatise entitled De Spiritu et Littera, in which I considered at large the apostle's statement, "The letter kills, but the spirit gives life." In this work, so far as God enabled me, I earnestly disputed with those who oppose that grace of God which justifies the servances of the Jews, who abstain from sundry meats and drinks in accordance with their ancient law, I mentioned the "ceremonies of certain meats" [quarumdam escarum cerimoniæ] - a phrase which, though not used in Holy Scriptures, seemed to me very convenient, because I remembered that cerimoniæ is tantamount to carimoniæ, as if from carere, to be without, and expresses the abstinence of the worshippers from certain things. If however, there is any other derivation of the word, which is inconsistent with the true religion, I meant no refernce whatever to it; I confined my use to the sense above indicated. This work of mine begins thus: "After reading the short treatise which I lately drew up for you, my beloved son Marcellinus," etc.

Download or read book The Redemption written by Stephen T. Davis and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2004-10-21 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This interdisciplinary study follows an international and ecumenical meeting of twenty-one scholars held in New York at Easter 2003: the Redemption Summit. After an opening chapter, which explores seven central questions for writers on redemption, five chapters are dedicated to the scriptural roots of the doctrine. A section on the patristic and medieval periods then examines the interpretation of redemption through the centuries. The volume moves on to foundational and systematic issues: the problem of horrendous evil, karma and grace, and differing views on justification. Studies on the redemption in literature, art, music, and preaching form the final part. There is a fruitful dialogue between experts in a wide range of areas and the international reputation of the participants reflects and guarantees the high quality of this joint work. The result is a well researched, skilfully argued, and, at times, provocative volume on the central Christian belief: the redemption of human beings through Jesus Christ.

Download or read book On Continence written by St. Augustine and published by . This book was released on 2018-08-05 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is difficult to treat of the virtue of the soul, which is called Continence, in a manner fully suitable and worthy; but He, whose great gift this virtue is, will help our littleness under the burden of so great a weight. For He, who bestows it upon His faithful ones when they are continent, Himself gives discourse of it to His ministers when they speak. Lastly, of so great a matter purposing to speak what Himself shall grant, in the first place we say and prove that Continence is the gift of God. We have it written in the Book of Wisdom, that no one can be continent, unless God grant it. But the Lord, concerning that greater and more glorious Continence itself, whereby there is continence from the marriage bond, says, "Not all can receive this saying, but they to whom it is given." And since marriage chastity also itself cannot be guarded, unless there be Continence from unlawful intercourse, the Apostle declared both to be the gift of God, when He spoke of both lives, that is, both that of marriage and that without marriage, saying, "I would that all men were so as myself; but each hath his own gift from God; one in this manner, another in that manner."

Download or read book The Covenant of Redemption written by John V. Fesko and published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. This book was released on 2015-12-09 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The covenant of redemption (pactum salutis), the eternal intra-trinitarian covenant, was a common staple within Early Modern Reformed theology, yet there are very few historical works that examine this doctrine. J. V. Fesko's study, The Covenant of Redemption: Origins, Development, and Reception, seeks to address this lacuna.In the contemporary period the covenant of redemption has been derided as speculative, mythological, a declension from trinitarianism, or erroneously derived from one or two biblical proof-texts. Yet seldom have critics carefully engaged the primary sources to examine the different formulations, supporting exegesis, and ways in which the doctrine was employed.Far from speculation, sub-trinitarian, or a cold business transaction, proponents of the covenant of redemption constructed this doctrine based upon a web of interconnected biblical texts and were very sensitive to maintaining a robust doctrine of the trinity, as they employed this doctrine as a bulwark against the anti-trinitarian claims of Socinian theologians. Proponents of the doctrine also saw this pre-temporal covenant as the embodiment of intra-trinitarian love that overflows unto those chosen in Christ for their salvation and ultimate fellowship with the triune God.John V. Fesko explores the historical origins of the doctrine and then surveys its development in the seventeenth- through nineteenth-centuries, examining key advocates of the doctrine including, David Dickson, Herman Witsius, Johannes Cocceius, Francis Turretin, Patrick Gillespie, John Gill, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Hodge, and A. A. Hodge. He then examines the contemporary reception of the doctrine in the twentieth century with a survey of the doctrine's critics, including Karl Barth, Herman Hoeksema, Klaas Schilder, and John Murray. After exploring the claims of the critics, the study moves to examine the views of twentieth-century proponents, including Geerhardus Vos, Herman Bavinck, Abraham Kuyper, Louis Berkhof, and G. C. Berkouwer.