Saint Aurelius Augustine (AD 354 -430) was born in Hurst, Numidia, North Africa. Austin lived a decadent life in his early years. 19 years old, living with others and having children, and then living with other women. Auschwitz studied philosophy in Catholicism and taught rhetoric as a profession. During this period, he mistakenly believed in Manichaeism's dualism of good and evil for eleven years, and his mother Monica was a devout Christian.

In 385, influenced by neo-Platonism, Ossie gave up teaching rhetoric and lived a self-cultivation and quiet life under Bishop Milan Ambrose. He was baptized by the Bishop two years later and his mother died in the same year.

In 388, Ossie returned to his hometown to establish a hermit group. In 395, he became the bishop of Xibo diocese and worked as a priest for 35 years, having close contacts with other churches in Africa. At the beginning of the fifth century, the church was restless and the Roman Empire was unable to resist barbarians. First, alaric sacked Rome in 4 10. Later, Vandals invaded North Africa, killing people and destroying churches. By the end of Ossie's life, Xibe City had been surrounded by Vandals for three months. Despite illness and pain, Ossie died peacefully in an atmosphere of prayer and peace.

Auschwitz thought has the characteristics of life background, and the exploration theme has two aspects: personal aspect includes the discussion of lust, sin, kindness and human nature (The Picture of God); Social orientation includes the theme of the city of God, monastic life, church and Christ.

Austin's contribution lies in maintaining and explaining the truth of faith, and has opened up two paths to truth:

"You believe it, so you know! 」(crede ut intellegas！ )-The Road to Theology

"You know, so you believe! (intellege，ut credas！ )-the road of philosophy

The theological road influenced the theory of Anselmus, the father of scholasticism in the Middle Ages. Ann put forward the theory of "knowing people and discussing the world", which inherited the Australian idea of laying and completing this theory. Ann advocates that faith and reason go hand in hand: the purpose of faith is to pursue reason, and the ontology of reason is God.

Apart from Confessions, Trinity, City of God and On Christian Doctrine, Ossie's current works include: hundreds of sermons, including the interpretation of Chants, Gospels and the Book of John; Hundreds of letters; A large number of apologetics works, including anti-Manichaeism * * * *), anti-Donati (Donati * * *), anti-Balachitism (Pei rajani * * *) and other heresies.

Austin's works have a great influence on the thought and life of western churches, including church theory, original sin theory, grace theory, fatalism, priory rules and so on. Influential figures, such as Saint Bernard, Saint Vincent, Thomas, and even Protestants Luther and Calvin.

Take the historical theology of Ossie's City of God as an example. This book discusses two groups, heaven and earth. "City of God" is a group that transcends time and space, takes God as the center, pursues love and service, and has eternal justice and peace. Its members include angels and saints in heaven. The "city on the ground" is a group that focuses on self and humanity, pursues domination and self-interest, and also has temporary justice and peace, so good and evil exist in human life, and there is a mixture of sadness and joy.

In this life, Christians do not necessarily belong to the "city of God", and some residents of the "city on earth" will enjoy the glory of God in the future. At present, the two cities are developing separately, and they can't be connected and integrated until the end of Christ comes again to judge all the people. The city of God has become the only place that truly enjoys peace forever. Charlemagne, the holy Roman Empire in the eighth century, equated the church with the city of God, which exceeded the original intention of Saint Augustine.

Influenced by Plato's dualism, Auschwitz believed that God had a perfect and unchangeable essence, and interpreted the self-revelation sentence of God: "I am myself" (Ex. 13: 14) as "I am an immutable entity". The characteristics of Auschwitz's thought can easily explain that everything has the essence of "participation" in "perfection" and has obtained the "invariance" of God, but failed to actively answer the changes and defects in the world. Although trying to explain the essence of God in the memory of the world, it actually transcends the external immanence and ignores the relationship between the existence of the world and the essence of God. This dualism of the separation of essence and existence was not answered until Thomas Aquinas' philosophical existence problem.

As far as the historical orientation is concerned, Auschwitz is a thinker who connects Greek philosophy with Christian belief, and also a subjective explorer from the objectivity of "rationality" to "mind".

In a word, Auschwitz has the titles of Latin godfather, theologian, philosopher and spiritual master. And its influence lasted for a long time from ancient times. Through the Middle Ages to modern times, people in different times have different interpretations of his thoughts.

author

Chen Deguang (Professor, Department of Religion, Fu Jen Catholic University)

refer to

1. edited by Huang He. History of Christian Spirituality, Volume I (Bible and Godfather Spirituality), Taipei: Guangqi Culture, 20 12.

2.Eria, translated by Dong Qiang, History of World Religious Thought, Volume III (from * * * to Religious Reform), Taipei: City-State Culture, 2002.

3. Wu Kunru, History of Western Philosophy, Taipei: Zhong Zheng Bookstore, 199 1.

4. Translated by Gan Lan and Wu Yingfeng, Outline of Godfather Studies, Volume II, Taipei: Guangqi Culture, 1975.