I remember buying a few books on philosophy when I was 17. They were interesting, but I wasn’t overwhelmingly convinced by any of the famous philosophers.
I remember watching a BBC show in later years, in 1995, called Sophie’s World. I read the book too. It was fun fiction which integrated a range of famous philosophers.
Anyway, today I asked Microsoft Copilot to list 20 famous philosophers. Augustine was among them. I’ve come across his name in both philosophy and theology. Another name associated with both is Jonathan Edwards, a major American theologian, philosopher, and revivalist preacher. But he wasn’t on the list. I remember asking my philosophy lecturer in college about him, and she’d never heard of him 😀.
Anyway, Augustine is a fascinating chap. YouTube is full on information about him. I even watched a movie of his life story a few years ago. When I first started attending an evangelical church, I thought it strange when the preacher quote Augustine. I thought of him as a Roman Catholic saint, which he is. We even had a church named after him in Cork, my hometown.
But he’s well respected by Protestants. He’s an early church figure, and both Roman Catholics, Protestants, and probably Eastern Orthodox folk see him as part of their heritage. Here are a couple of videos by evangelicals on Augustine:
One of his most famous quotes is the following:
“Because God has made us for Himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.”
Here are another few:
- “Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.”
- “Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.”
- “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.”
- “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.”
Anyway, where is Hippo? It’s in modern‑day Annaba, Algeria. Quite a few big names in the early church were from North Africa. As with all theologians and philosophers, I wouldn’t necessarily agree with him on everything. But he’d be interesting to chat with. Maybe I’d go through YouTube and discover more about him before I’d meet him. Who’d pay for the dinner though? 🧐
Anyway, here are a couple of hymns associated with Augustine’s writings:
Hibernia Gospel 