Shannon Costello

The pope recently spoke at the United Nations in New York, where he proved himself more than capable of intelligent discourse in a secular setting. I admire that. I see American Christianity as having a tendency to immerse itself in its own subculture so much as to make itself nearly incomprehensible to the rest of the country.

Augustine was a Bishop, and yet he paid close attention to the news, noted analysts’ interpretations, and carefully refuted them, often using arguments built from non-Christian thinkers. He was well-read, a condition which can only be attained after a great deal of time has been spent. His education then became a tool for a higher purpose, not just an end in itself. I would like to be like that!

Having finally - finally completed the first part of this massive work, I thought it would be a good idea to attempt to consolidate these books in my mind before proceeding further.

Augustine was writing in a time and culture so far removed from mine it might as well have been a different world. Religion and science and philosophy and politics all seem to be treated on the same level. Thus it wasn’t strange when the fall of Rome was claimed to be a direct result man’s abandonment of the Roman gods in favor of Christianity.

Augustine, not liking that argument so well, moved to refute it. In the process he completely dismantles the religion of the opposition, thoroughly exposing its flaws and contradictions. He points out that Rome had fallen on hard times before Christianity was widespread and shows how the presence of Christians may have mitigated the scope of the disaster. Really he seems to deal with that accusation in short order- but then goes well beyond that and overwhelms the very foundation of his opponents.

Augustine points out that the Roman gods did their worshippers no good whatsoever: they failed to deliver their people from worldly trouble and led them into moral pitfalls, particularly through plays and sacred rites. He casts doubt on the ability of such gods to grant eternal happiness after death.

Not content with that, Augustine goes on to show that a polytheistic situation is pretty hard to delineate clearly without having various gods treading on each other’s toes in divine turf battles. He points out inconsistencies in teachings about the gods and demons. Throughout these arguments he frequently appeals to writers and thinkers with whom his audience would be familiar. And all the time he is moving the reader along to an in-depth exposition of Christianity. In this last book, for example, he speaks of Porphyry’s description of a search for the universal way of deliverance for the soul, pointing out that Porphyry’s language suggests that he believes such a way exists. And in passing Augustine inserts little nuggets in defense of Christianity: Why should it be strange that Jesus, the son of God, should be born miraculously?