The early church

Augustine of Hippo

354 to 430 · Roman North Africa

Augustine of Hippo (354 to 430) was a North African bishop and theologian whose writing shaped Western Christianity more than almost anyone after the apostles. Brilliant and restless, he chased pleasure, ambition, and rival philosophies for years before his conversion in Milan in 386. As bishop of Hippo Regius he wrote the Confessions and City of God, and taught that human beings are made for God and stay restless until they rest in him.

Life and context

Augustine was born in 354 in Thagaste in Roman North Africa (modern Algeria). His mother, Monica, was a devout Christian; his father was not. He trained as a teacher of rhetoric in Carthage, took a concubine, and had a son, Adeodatus. For years he followed the Manichaean sect and later Neoplatonism, teaching in Rome and then Milan. He was open about his long resistance to God, praying in his youth, in his own famous words, ‘Lord, make me chaste, but not yet.’

Under the preaching of Bishop Ambrose and a quiet moment in a Milan garden in 386, where he heard a child chanting ‘take up and read’ and opened Paul’s letter to the Romans, he was converted. Ambrose baptized him in 387. Monica died soon after. Augustine returned to Africa, was ordained, and became bishop of Hippo around 395, serving until his death in 430 as the Vandals besieged the city.

What he taught and wrote

The Confessions (written about 397 to 400) is the first great spiritual autobiography, a book-length prayer that traces his wandering and God’s pursuit. City of God (413 to 426), begun after Rome was sacked in 410, contrasts the City of God with the city of man and reads all of history as the story of two loves. He also wrote On the Trinity and On Christian Doctrine. Against the teacher Pelagius, who held that people could be righteous by their own will, Augustine defended the priority of grace and the reality of original sin, and he opposed the Donatist schism.

What his witness points us to

Augustine’s whole life is an argument that the human heart cannot be satisfied by anything less than God, and that we are rescued not by our own effort but by grace. His most quoted line, addressed to God, gathers it up: ‘you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.’ The rest he found was a Person, Jesus Christ.

Frequently asked questions

When did Augustine of Hippo live?

Augustine lived from 354 to 430. He was born in Thagaste in Roman North Africa and served as bishop of Hippo Regius from around 395 until his death as the Vandals besieged the city.

What did Augustine of Hippo write?

His best-known works are the Confessions (about 397 to 400), a book-length prayer tracing his conversion, and City of God (413 to 426). He also wrote On the Trinity and On Christian Doctrine.

What did Augustine teach about grace?

Against Pelagius, Augustine taught that human beings cannot make themselves righteous by willpower; salvation is a gift of God's grace. He is closely associated with the doctrines of original sin and the priority of grace.