Father's of the Church
Rome was not built in a day, as the saying goes. As a matter of fact Rome was conceived, built, prospered, and then conquered from around 800 B.C. to 476 A.D. That is approximately one thousand three hundred years. With these facts in mind it is still impossible to even attempt to think of how many individuals aided the development of the city Rome itself and or Rome's well known religion, Christianity. While some people purposefully engaged in events that would give Rome more power others attempted to destroy the city when in opposition to their intents their acts only made Rome stronger. One of the main reasons that Rome succeeded for such a long period of time was it's constituents belief in Christianity. Rome currently ceases to exist while the religion that saw it through so many obstacles is still alive and strong in about one third of the present population. The rise and spread of Christianity in Rome did not take as long as the development of Rome, however it also took long enough to make it hard to even imagine how many people facilitated the rise and spread of Christianity. During the decline and fall of Rome Christianity was in a struggle to gain and retain believers. Many doubts and questions were formulating
St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), "the most powerful Christian intellects" (Lerner p.212), was born in North Africa at Thagaste. Augustine was born into Christianity with a pagan father and a Christian mother, so he hesitated to completely turn to the Christianity faith. He went on to study in Carthage and there he became very intrigued with philosophy. He founded his own school of rhetoric at Rome in 383. For many years Augustine was frustrated because he could not find a religion that offered spiritual and or intellectual contentment. While in Milan he came under the preaching of St. Ambrose, whose influence, along with a personal experience mentioned in Confessions, convinced Augustine to accept Christianity. Augustine returned to Africa to form his own community and received the title of a priest. He wrote many books, letters, treaties, and sermons about his convictions of the faults in Christianity and his resolutions. Wolfson, H.A. The Philosophy of Church Fathers. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1970 St. Ambrose (339-397) was the man from Milan whose influence convinced Augustine to convert to Christianity and be baptized. Ambrose originated two main points that we previously discussed about Augustine furthering Ambrose's thoughts. "...[The beginning and end of human conduct should be reverence for God rather than any other self-concern...God helps some Christians but not others in this pursuit by the gift of grace" (Lerner p.211). Ambrose's largest contribution came through example rather than writings and sermons like Augustine. St. Ambrose's most influential act was one which accomplished two goals at once. The second mission of Ambrose was to increase the independence of the church from the states powers. St. Ambrose confronted the Emperor Theodosius the Great about a massacre of civilians. He claimed that by breaching divine commandments Theodosius was now subservient to church discipline. Ambrose refused to perform his sermons while the Emperor was present. At first Emperor Theodosius attempted to have Ambrose relieved but was unsuccessful. Ambrose was so strong in his beliefs he convinced the Emperor to support his mission and receive public repentance. This act of Ambrose was so strong because it was unprecedented to have the church make the Roman government a subsidiary in a morality case. Ambrose was able to convince a superior to attempt a life of righteousness which opened eyes and interested many others. At the same time Ambrose furthered the independence of the church from the states power in the aspect of morality. Ambrose wanted to bring it to the attention of Christians that they should not be thinking of a choice between learning and believing, but rather between church and state. He argued that the church is superior to all other in a Christian society at large and that when concerning faith the church takes priority over the sovereign powers because the church cares for the salvation of the soul and not th
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Approximate Word count = 2005
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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