In The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief (2006), Huston Smith (d. 2016), the lifelong religion scholar and Professor of Philosophy argues for the ongoing importance of religion despite modern trends towards disbelief and materialism. Though…
The question of how Christians can and should approach our interaction with believers from other faith traditions is an important theological, if not tactical issue which, having often been left unaddressed, has led to many unpleasant and counterproductive engagements with the Christian gospel with those...
Augustine wrote The Trinity over twenty years, ending with a text so enormous that it was published in parts, in rough form, and later revised by Augustine (Harmless, 2010, p. 286). At a high level, the book may be viewed as having two halves –...
Augustine wrote The Trinity over twenty years, ending with a text so enormous that it was published in parts, in rough form, and later revised by Augustine (Harmless, 2010, p. 286). It is somewhat unique in Augustine’s major works in that he pursued it, not...
Augustine lived through what became obvious was the end of the millennium-long Roman empire. It would seem hard to fathom that such a kingdom could ever end, but this decline helped Augustine realize that all human kingdoms end, but God’s kingdom does not.
Augustine’s work Confessions is one of his major works, and includes not only timeless wisdom comparing this world to the kingdom that is coming, it introduces such imporant concepts as original sin, the timelessness of God, and our disordered loves.
1. Thagaste: The Childhood of Augustine One of the most important influences on any human being is the character and quality of their parents and childhood experience. As the child of a fairly well-to-do Italian family in a northern-African outpost of the Roman Empire, Augustine...
In Evangelical circles, self-love is an idea and practice often viewed with suspicion, if not outright hostility, most often being equated with selfishness. Little distinction is made between an unhealthy self-focus and a possibly healthy, biblical self-love. In Christian circles, the biblical and evidential need...
