Sixteen Centuries Later, Augustine of Hippo Still Speaks

Last week I began listening to a series of lectures from The Great Courses series titled Books That Matter: The City of God. The author of that massive tome was the Fourth Century luminary Augustine of Hippo. The lectures are by Charles Mathewes who earned his PhD in Religion from the University of Chicago.

Several decades ago I read Augustine's Confessions, and perhaps ten years ago listened to a lecture series on Augustine himself. This series is entirely dedicated to Augustine's opus.

In both the church and the Dylan song that references him (John Wesley Harding album) he's referred to. as St. Augustine. He lived from 354 to 430, which in those days was a pretty full life.  

Keep in mind that all his writings were produced in the era before printing presses, so it is unlikely that such a volume as The City of God, which is more than a thousand pages in length, would have been a bestseller in its day. They didn't have typewriters, and it's probable that the scribes he dictated the book to got writers cramp from time to time. 

The City of God was one of Augustine's later works. He lived during the fall of the Roman empire and saw the sack of Rome in 410 A.D., events that no doubt influenced his ideas about what matters most in the grand scheme of things. According to Mathewes, The City of God, is one of the most important books in Western civilization. You may not have even heard of it, but it's been highly influential in the 1600 years since it was written.  

This book is not about the fall of Rome and collapse of its empire. It was only written with that as a backdrop. 

If you're like me, you've probably pictured the invasion of the Visigoths from the North as violent warriors coming down into Roman territories with unsheathed swords, violent and terrifying. Eventually they pillage the Capitol of the Empire. The reality was quite different. 

First, by the time the empire was collapsing, Rome wasn't even the capitol any more. Constantine had moved the Capitol of the empire to Constantinople in 330, decades before the sack of Rome. 

Second, the Visigoths were not "giant, ignorant cavemen wearing animal skins" who plundered the countryside and then the City of Rome itself. Rather, they came to Rome decades earlier with their families as immigrants and refugees striving to escape the Huns. This began in 376 and by the 400s they were Arian Christians who were quite at home in this civilized culture. (I find this quite interesting in light of our current debates over immigration policy.)

Much more can be said, but my intent here was to more or less give a little background on Augustine to give context to these quotes from an "Early Church Father." 

Ten Quotes from St. Augustine

1. "Love the sinner, hate the sin."

2. "Patience is the companion of wisdom."

3. "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you."

4. "As a youth I prayed, 'Give me chastity and self-restraint, but not right now.'"

5. "I have become a question to myself."

6. "Doubt is the origin of wisdom."

7. "What is love's perfection? To love our enemies, and to love them to the end that they may be our brothers."

8. "Anger is a weed; hate is the tree."

9. "I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are very wise and very beautiful; but I never read in either of them, 'Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.'"

10. "I do not know what I do not know."

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Related Links

I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine and Thoughts on Being Human

I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine: An Early Dylan Morality Play

Mark Joseph Talks About His Latest Book: Rock Gets Religion

His book, published in 2017, is titled Rock Gets Religion: The Battle for the Soul of the Devil's Music. It's actually Mark Joseph's third volume of anecdotes and insights related to the relationship between rock music and musicians of faith.

A speaker at one of the writers conferences I attended in the 1980's described how all the major New York publishing houses had a wing devoted to Christian publishing. With the upheavals of the Sixties, a "Jesus Movement" followed in its wake, along with a return to the kind of fundamentalism that the publishing houses didn't understand. The Charismatic movement was similarly a strange animal to these publishers who weren't sure how to produce books that connected with this surging demographic. They lost money on many new product intros and most washed their hands of it all as numerous new Christian publishing houses sprang up, along with Christian book stores. This same process must have been happening in the music scene as a new genre emerged called Christian Contemporary Music.

Mark Joseph's newest book is about Christian artists who have crossed back over from the CCM pasture into the all-encompassing mainstream. Many of these artists never identified with the CCM subculture. Others, like Amy Grant, were successful in the CCM world but moved into the mainstream and had some success there as well. Separatists can quote Bible verse to support their view: "Love not the world..." The other side of the coin is Jesus's admonition to be "in the world but not of it."

In reading about the life of St. Augustine I learned that his first brush with a Bible turned him off. He was given a very poor translation of the Scriptures and felt it could hardly be God's word if it were so badly written. He was a lover of Greek philosophers and the writings of Cicero were among the most beautiful words in literature. Ten years later he did indeed encounter a good translation of the sacred texts when his life was bottoming out. He became receptive.

Augustine, however, never stopped appreciating the writings of Greek scholars. When criticized for this, he pointed out how the Israelites when they left Egypt brought gold with them. Augustine justified this love of classic literature by declaring that the gold of Egypt was still gold.

When it comes to rock and rap and other genres, some of the issues become controversial. Is it a compromise of one's religion, or the fulfilling of urgent need to affirm faith in the midst of the culture as opposed to standing on a pillar in the desert, a la 4th Century pillar saints. Mark Joseph delves into all of it in this volume.

EN: What was your purpose in writing this book?

Mark Joseph: I like to tell stories, whether through films, music or books and this is a great story that I've been telling in different formats for a quarter of a century and for the most part it's one that has slipped under the radar of popular culture. It began with a piece I did for Billboard Magazine back in 1994. When I was just getting started I realized the parallels between what was happening in Christian rock and what was then called the Negro Baseball Leagues and how in both cases the story was more complicated than it appeared to be--it wasn't as simple as black hats and white hats. I realized that it wasn't just racists who wanted to keep blacks out of major league baseball, it was also those who ran the leagues that were for blacks only--they had a vested interest in keeping the races separate. And the same was true in music. While many Evangelicals claimed they were being kept out of mainstream music, and there was some truth to that, there were also leaders of Christian music who were actively working to keep the music industries separate because that's how they made a living.

EN: In the 60’s and 70’s there appeared Christian publishers, Christian music (CCM), Christian television, Christian movies… Often of quite uneven quality. How did this “Christian” subculture develop?

MJ: It's a frame of mind that many Christians fall into--a kind of 'if I can't get my way on everything I'll take my marbles and go home" attitude. Life is about give and take and working together and sometimes you don't get everything you want and you have to keep at it, not run away. There has been cases of more secular people trying to block religious expression in popular culture, I document it in the book, but the answer isn't to run and create a safe harbor but to stay put and negotiate those differences. The LGBT community has done a great job in this area and Christians would do well to emulate their success. They don't escape and create gay subcultures in media, they work hard to be a presence in the mainstream. In my view, attaching the term "Christian'" as an adjective to describe various art forms is a huge mistake. First, it's not theologically accurate since Christian is a noun not an adjective and no thing can be Christian. But it's also a huge turnoff to those who aren't already devout. It makes art feel like it's not for them. American popular culture should be a place for everybody to share their ideas without being segregated into this or that camp by religion or political views.

EN: You produced the soundtrack for Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. Based on your own experience and observations, what are the special challenges that Christian actors, producers, screenwriters face in Hollywood?

MJ: The challenge that Christians in Hollywood must face and succeed at is working hard to not just preach to the choir but also to ensure that their art simultaneously reaches those who don't agree with them as well and this can be done. Narnia is a great example--a good part of the audience believed as C.S. Lewis did that Aslan as a stand-in for Jesus Christ. Others just enjoyed the story of a kind-hearted lion--and both groups enjoyed the show. That's something to shoot for. It's ok and important to tell religious stories or films that faith is present in--but it has to be done in a way that still allows the story to make sense to those who don't believe. Christians should always try to remember their own frame of mind back when they didn't believe and never forget to tell stories that can reach the people they used to be, in addition to the people they've become.

EN: Music has played such a major role in shaping our culture. What’s interesting is how many musicians of whom we’re all familiar with have been influenced directly or indirectly at one time or another by The Vineyard Church and its offspring. (eg. Bob Dylan, Mumford & Sons). Who are some others that come to mind? And how was it that the Vineyard was so successful in this regard?

MJ: The Vineyard has had a massive impact in this area--it and Calvary Chapel are largely responsible for much of this. Lifehouse is another band that grew out of the Vineyard. These were two churches that took music seriously and didn't look down on musicians but celebrated them. If more churches emulated that attitude, we'd see another explosion of talent in the next two decades.

EN: Alice Cooper’s foreword is very direct and thought provoking. How did that come about?

MJ: Alice and his wife Sheryl have been friends and always supportive of the things I've been doing. We talk often when they're on the road. In many ways he has lived out the premise of the book that runs counter to the popular narrative that religious people have to flee public life. I've always maintained that if you're good, people will put up with your views even if they think they're archaic or quaint. That's Alice. He believes. And who better to listen to than a guy who knows and has experienced the dark side and the bright side? I had originally just asked him for a one line endorsement. But when the publisher sent me the cover I just thought it was such an Alice looking cover that I asked him to do the foreword instead. And he did. Our culture needs more Alice Coopers who are winsome, excellent at their craft, unflinching in their beliefs, but still fun to be around.

Related Links
The Rock & Roll Rebellion: Why People of Faith Abandoned Rock Music and Why They're Coming Back (1999)
Faith, God and Rock & Roll: How People of Faith Are Transforming American Popular Music (2003)
Rock Gets Religion: The Battle for the Soul of the Devil's Music (2017)

Augustine's Influence

"Our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee." ~ St. Augustine

Our philosophy club has been listening to a series of lectures called The Great Ideas of Philosophy by Professor Daniel N. Robinson. A little over a year ago we discussed a lecture titled "Augustine and the Light Within." Augustine's influence on the development of Western Christianity was significant.

One of the most influential writers of the first millennium A.D., his significance comes from taking an intellectual approach to the sacred texts which had become the canon of Christian faith, the Old & New Testaments. He was fluent in the ideas of Greek philosophy and brought together this foundation of Greek thought and spiritual insight to produce two significant written works, his Confessions and The City of God.

His first encounter with the Bible did not, however, impress him. It was a bad translation, and failed to convey the literary beauty and ideas contained in this profound book. The writings of Cicero, on the other hand, startled and captivated him with the fluid wonder contained in both the writing and ideas. It would be another ten years before he discovered the power of the Bible.

After leaving North Africa Augustine was offered a professorship in Milan where he came under the influence of Neoplatonism as well as the preaching of St. Ambrose. Inwardly he was in a great turmoil, which he relates in his vivid and introspective Confessions. Robinson refers to him as a bon vivant, a rascal and debauch. Until he met his Savior and embraced the faith he had earlier rejected.

After Rome was pillaged by the Visigoths in 410 he returned to North Africa where he spent fourteen years on the twenty-two books which comprise The City of God. This latter work contrasted two cities, God's city where the saints abide in joyful submission to God's will, and the earthly city where worldly selfishness reigns.

Augustine's primary positive influence was to show that being a Christian and an intellectual was not a contradiction. The predominant attitude up till Augustine's time was that you only need to know the Bible and that's all. Every other book is irrelevant. God's Word is all that matters.

St. Augustine recognized that truth is truth wherever it is found and there was much good in the works of Greek thinkers like Aristotle and those who followed up on those foundations. This was not an easy position to adopt and he wrestled with it until he saw what he believed was God's perspective on the matter. He used the example of Moses and the Israelites taking the gold from Egyptians when the left Egypt after Passover. "Gold is gold wherever it comes from," Augustine said, and in the realm of ideas the same holds true.

Likewise, how can Christians challenge ideas like Epicureanism, Stoicism and Hedonism if they have never read or tried to understand what the writers who proposed these views meant by them?

For what it's worth Augustine was, like ourselves, a man of imperfect understanding and some of what he wrote had negative consequences later. Like many writers, context can have an impact on the message. Augustine wrote during the period of Rome's decline and fall. In one section of his epic The City of God he thus argued in favor of using force to preserve the truth against the dark hordes. Unfortunately, a thousand years later these passages were used to justify the Spanish Inquisition.

Nevertheless, he is recognized as an important writer and thinker in the history of ideas, and in cultural history as reflected in Bob Dylan's tribute which can be heard on his John Wesley Harding album.

I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine

I dreamed I saw St. Augustine,

Alive as you or me,

Tearing through these quarters

In the utmost misery,

With a blanket underneath his arm

And a coat of solid gold,

Searching for the very souls

Whom already have been sold.

"Arise, arise," he cried so loud,

In a voice without restraint,

"Come out, ye gifted kings and queens

And hear my sad complaint.

No martyr is among ye now

Whom you can call your own,

So go on your way accordingly

But know you're not alone."

I dreamed I saw St. Augustine,

Alive with fiery breath,

And I dreamed I was amongst the ones

That put him out to death.

Oh, I awoke in anger,

So alone and terrified,

I put my fingers against the glass

And bowed my head and cried.