Augustine of Hippo
North African theologian and philosopher whose Confessions was the first Western autobiography Show bio
Bio
Saint Augustine stole pears as a boy, though he was neither hungry nor poor. He later saw that sin means choosing a lesser good over a greater one. Augustine read a dialogue by Cicero as a student and caught a lasting thirst for truth.
He spent ten years in another faith, Manichaeism, before Saint Ambrose baptized him in 386. Augustine told that story, stolen pears and all, in Confessions, the West's first autobiography.
He came to teach that people cannot escape sin without God's unearned grace. Augustine became known as the Doctor of Grace, and many Protestants count him a Reformation father.
Books by Augustine of Hippo
- The Confessions of Saint AugustineThe Confessions of Saint Augustine
A life story told as a long prayer, as Augustine recalls his wild youth and turn to God. As a boy he stole pears he did not even want, just for the thrill of it.
- The City of GodThe City of God
A huge work of history and faith, written after Rome was sacked in 410, compares earthly power with heaven. Augustine answers pagans who blamed Christians for the fall of the city.