Saint Augustine How He Fused Classical Culture (I.E.,...

Saint Augustine: How he fused Classical culture (i.e., both Stoicism and Platonism) with Christianity In Augustine’s day there were many religions available to choose from some of which had many gods. St. Augustine was born to a pagan father and a Christian mother. He lived a life of immorality until his early thirties when he suddenly took a new path. During his upbringing his parents began to instill their beliefs and way of living which he later began to question. Though his mother taught and raised him as a Christian he did not fully accept the faith. Instead, during his education, he became fascinated with the writings of the great philosophers such as Plato. The ideas expressed in the writings of the great philosophers, such as†¦show more content†¦By replacing the absoluteness of Stoicism with absoluteness of God Augustine had successfully incorporated Stoicism into Christianity. After being sent to study in Carthage he became influenced by the Manichean religion and converted to their ways. The views that the Manicheans held stayed with Augustine for sometime but were eventually rejected by the time of his conversion. It was after a long struggle with the demons of his youth that he converted back to Christianity. In 387 A.D., at the age of 32, he was baptized and began to feel like all his misdeeds had been washed away. Although Augustine incorporated Stoicism into Christianity he still was able to incorporate Platonism as well to help connect classical culture with Christianity. These two philosophies are what Augustine had come to identify with after his vast studying and trying other religions. Throughout the Confessions of Saint Augustine there is a great allusion toward Platonist ideals, especially that of dual realities and the concept of a higher, more absolute reality. According to Platonists there is the reality that we hold before us and there is another true reality. The central point of Platonism was the participation of the soul in a supra-sensible world. This concept is easily integrated into Christianity if one views conv ersion to