Fall of Rome

1
Fall of Rome

• Augustines time

2
Fall of Rome

• The late 4th and early 5th centuries were a rough
  time
• Barbarian tribes had been invading various parts
  of the empire for many years
• Barbarian - referred to people who couldnt speak
  Greek properly
• With a depleted army and no effective defense
  against the invaders, authorities in the empire
  decided that one solution to the problem was to
  welcome the invaders as citizens.
• By the end of the 5th century, the empire in the
  West ceased to exist
• It was now a collection of lands ruled by various
  barbarian tribes
• Augustine was born and lived through this period

3
Background

• Mother Monica, a devout Christian, desperately
  wanted Augustine to become a Christian.
• Father Patritius, pagan
• In the search for God, he converted to different
  religions

4
Conversion

• One day, he was sitting in a garden and he was
  struggling with everything, asking - Who am I?
  why am I here? Whats the point? Then he heard a
  childs voice Pick up and read and he did it
  was the New Testament.
• From then on, Augustine was a Christian.
• He later became a bishop.
• He gave us two great doctrines Original Sin and
  Grace

5
Conflict in Hippo

• When Augustine came to Hippo, he
• had to confront the donatists (followers of
  Donatus)
• Donatists were the majority and catholics were
  the minority

6
Augustine vs. Donatists Why Augustine was
concerned

• donatists
• Christians who had split from the church during
  the time of persecution over how to deal with
  clergy members who were traditores
• The donatists did not welcome the apostates to
  their communities - giving them no chance of
  reconciliation
• Apostasy (aka lapsi) means renunciation of a
  religious faith
• Augustine feared that the donatists would not be
  saved because salvation comes through being in
  communion with the catholic (universal) church.

7
Augustine vs. Donatists Salvation

• Augustine

• Donatus followers

• Any church official, who, during the time of
  persecution, renounced Christianity in any way
  (traditori or lapsi) could only restore his
  communion within the church by making a public
  confession his sins and asking the community for
  forgiveness.
• People are human beings and make mistakes and
  need Gods and the communitys forgiveness.
• If they want to be forgiven, they must be truly
  sorry and they must make it known publically to
  the whole community

• Any church official, who, during the time of
  persecution, renounced Christianity in any way
  (traditori or lapsi) is no longer part of the
  communion in the church

8
Reconciliation

• As a result of the arguments between Augustine
  and Donatus, the sacrament of reconciliation
  emerged.
• As a way for people to ask for forgiveness and
  offer penance
• Confessions used to be public

9
Augustine vs. Donatists sacraments

• Donatus Rationale

• Augustines rationale

• Sacraments are valid no matter who confers them
  the authority of the church leader is grounded in
  Christ, through apostolic succession
• any sacrament, be it marriage or baptism,
  conferred by such an official (lapsi or
  traditori) would still be valid

• Rejected the sacraments conferred by any leader
  of the church who was an apostate
• Validity of the sacraments is based on the
  righteousness of the person conferring them
• Any sacrament, be it marriage or baptism,
  conferred by such an official (lapsi or
  traditori) would be invalid

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Pelagianism

• Pelagius
• An English monk
• Believed people were using Gods saving grace as
  an excuse to do what they knew they should not
• Argued that God gives us the possibility of doing
  either good or evil, and which one we choose
  depends on how we use our will
• We cannot blame our bad actions on God because we
  ourselves make the choice to do evil

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Augustine vs. PelagiusSalvation through right
action

• Augustine

• Pelagius

• Right action comes through Grace from God
• Augustine tried to be good but could not do it
  alone
• Adam used free will to sin and after that all
  humans were sinful
• This stain of original sin causes humans to sin
  repeatedly
• Original sin damages the desire to be good

• Right action comes from human will power
• If people try hard enough they wont sin
• Using Adam and original sin as an excuse for
  sinning is lame
• Waiting for the Grace of God is also an excuse
  for not changing behavior

12
Augustine vs. Pelagiussalvation through right
affiliation

• Augustine

• Pelagius

• Human weakness is a sign of the human condition
  its how we are made
• Salvation can only come through the grace of God
• Grace makes us not want to sin
• When we do sin, the church is there to forgive us
  and help us try again

• Human weakness is not pardonable
• Human choice is responsible for our salvation
• we sin because we want to

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Because of all these arguments, Augustine
developed two teachings/doctrines

• Original Sin

• Divine Grace

• Human beings move naturally toward evil because
  of original sin It is a human stain.
• This is why the church baptized infants to wash
  away that stain.

• Human being cannot be good unless they have
  Divine Grace.

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Works of Augustine

• The Confessions
• A spiritual autobiography
• Writes and answers his own struggles/ questions
  about faith
• He is Good because God helps him
• Original sin and Divine Grace
• City of God
• Address the fall of the Roman Empire
• It fell because it was Gods plan not because the
  people stopped worshiping pagan gods as the
  non-Christians stated
• Faith is trusting in God and Gods will not
  expecting God to do peoples wish
• On the Trinity (see The Trinity wk for more info
  )