Augustine of Hippo - The Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 3 of 17

Augustine of Hippo - The Enchiridion (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love) 3 of 17 Written after 420 C.E. to a man named Laurence, this wonderful book by Augustine is a short treatise on the proper mode of worshipping God. Following 1 Corinthians 13, Augustine describes true worship of God through faith, hope, and love. In thirty-three small chapters, Augustine's description of true worship covers all the major ideas of the Christian religion, providing new and interesting insights on each idea. Given that it was written less than a decade before he died, Augustine's Handbook contains some of his most mature reflections on Christian doctrines. Both those looking to understand the proper mode of worshipping God and those just interested in a brief encapsulation of Augustine's mature thought should look no further than Handbook of Faith, Hope, and Love. It is beneficial for personal and theological study. St. Augustine - (354-430), Bishop of Hippo and "Doctor of the Church" Accepted by most scholars to be the most important figure in the ancient Western church, St. Augustine was born in Tagaste, Numidia in North Africa. His mother was a Christian, but his father remained a pagan until late in life. After a rather unremarkable childhood, marred only by a case of stealing pears, Augustine drifted through several philosophical systems before converting to Christianity at the age of thirty-one. At the age of nineteen, Augustine read Cicero's Hortensius, an experience that led him into the fascination with philosophical questions and methods that would remain with him throughout his life. After a few years as a Manichean, he became attracted to the more skeptical positions of the Academic philosophers. Although tempted in the direction of Christianity upon his arrival at Milan in 383, he turned first to neoplatonism, During this time, Augustine fathered a child by a mistress. This period of exploration, including its youthful excesses (perhaps somewhat exaggerated) are recorded in Augustine's most widely read work, the Confessions. During his youth, Augustine had studied rhetoric at Carthage, a discipline that he used to gain employment teaching in Carthage and then in Rome and Milan, where he met Ambrose who is credited with effecting Augustine's conversion and who baptized Augustine in 387. Returning to his homeland soon after his conversion, he was ordained a presbyter in 391, taking the position as bishop of Hippo in 396, a position which he held until his death. Besides the Confessions, Augustine's most celebrated work is his De Civitate Dei (On the City of God), a study of the relationship between Christianity and secular society, which was inspired by the fall of Rome to the Visigoths in 410. Among his other works, many are polemical attacks on various heresies: Against Faustus, the Manichean; On Baptism; Against the Donatists; and many attacks on Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism. Other works include treatises On the Trinity; On Faith, Hope, and Love; On Christian Doctrine; and some early dialogues. St. Augustine stands as a powerful advocate for orthodoxy and of the episcopacy as the sole means for the dispensing of saving grace. In the light of later scholarship, Augustine can be seen to serve as a bridge between the ancient and medieval worlds. A review of his life and work, however, shows him as an active mind engaging the practical concerns of the churches he served.