Augustine Against Gnosticism

Body

“The reason Gnostics denied that God became fully man in the incarnation is that they held a low view of matter in general and flesh in particular. For Gnostics, matter and flesh were not products of a good creation that fell; the creation of matter and flesh was itself the fall.” - Ref21

Discussion

Augustine Could’ve Written ‘City of God’ in 2022

Body

“Augustine doesn’t assess isolated trends within late Roman culture. Instead, he engages with deep structures and fundamental assumptions: the culture’s virtues as well as its vices, its piety as well as its philosophy, its political environment as well as its popular entertainment.” - TGC

Discussion

“In The City of God Augustine contended that Christians should never enshrine any earthly ‘city’ or empire or nation-state or polis as God’s country.”

Body

“…many Christian theologians have come to believe that ‘Americanism’ is the world’s fourth great monotheistic religion. But that religion would be/is idolatrous. America is a great idea; I celebrate it and want to see it thrive. I’m a patriot, but not a nationalist. Christian nationalism in any country is wrong.” - Roger Olsen

Discussion

3 Models of Heaven in the Early Church

Lately, I have been reading a book called A History of Heaven by Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang. I am fascinated with their 22-page chapter, “Irenaeus and Augustine on our Heavenly Bodies.”

Discussion

The Confessions

In this excerpt from Augustine’s Confessions,1 he explains his own struggles as a Christian with the allure of praise from men.

Discussion