Page 76 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

A History of the Church in Africa

I seized it and opened it, and in silence I read the first passage
on which my eyes fell: “No orgies or drunkenness, no immorality
or indecency, no fighting or jealousy. Take up the weapons of the
Lord Jesus Christ; and stop giving attention to your sinful nature,
to satisfy its desires.” I had no wish to read more and no need to
do so. For in an instant, as I came to the end of the sentence, it
was as though the light of faith flooded into my heart and all the
darkness was dispelled. (Confessions, 8.12.29)

Augustine was baptized by Ambrose, together with his son, at
sunrise on Easter Day A.D. 387. Returning to Hippo, he was ordained
and became the pastor of the local assembly, and in A.D. 396 he was
appointed as bishop. From that point in time, he turned his attention
toward defining and defending the Christian faith. His many books are
available to students even today.

After witnessing the sacking of Rome in A.D. 410, he wrote The City
of God in which he confronted the issues raised by the destruction of
an empire by barbarians. He refuted the argument that the empire
fell into decline because Christians had forsaken traditional gods. He
proposed that Christians look to the City of God because Rome and
human civilization will pass away but God will remain.

Augustine formed a monastic community for contemplation and
study. He seemed to balance pastoral duty, administration, study,
writing, and family. In doing so, he cast an enormous shadow across the
landscape of Christianity. In A.D. 429, he died during a battle with the
Vandals who had invaded Africa from the north.

For the sake of our study, we will consider two issues related to
Augustine and his teachings: Donatism and charismata.

Donatism
The North African church faced the major problem of what to do with
traitors to the church—that is, those who denied their faith during times of
persecution. Donatists believed that pastors or priests who denied the faith
should not be allowed to serve the sacraments. By this time, according to
Catholic theology, the sacraments were a means of grace. Augustine felt that
Tertullian and Cyprian were too ideal to believe the church could be pure.

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