Augustine Becomes a Bishop who Writes

After his conversion Augustine returned Africa.  The Bishop of Hippo pressed him into ordination as a presbyter in 391.  He established a monastery and became the next bishop of Hippo in 395, serving until his death on August 24, 430.

From the moment of his conversion Augustine wrote, devoting his enormous intellectual abilities to the defense and consolidation of the Christian faith.  He exposited the letters of Paul, gaining the reputation as the “second founder of the Christian faith.”  His major contribution to Christianity was the development of theology as an academic discipline.  The major areas of his contribution were the doctrine of the church and sacraments, arising from the Donatist controversy; the doctrine of grace, arising from the Pelagian controversy; and the doctrine of the Trinity.  His works can be divided into three major periods:

·    First period (386-396) consisted of philosophical dialogues, anti-Manichean writings, and theological and exegetical works.

·    Second period (396-411) consisted of later anti-Manichaean writings, ecclesiastical writings, and theological and exegetical works, especially those taking on the Donatists.  His most famous work of this period was Confessions.

·    Third period (411-430) consisted of largely anti-Pelagian works plus his greatest work The City of God, which took 13 years to write.