Given as excellent an education as a 4^th century North African could acquire, Augustine embarked upon a career as a rhetorician in Italy beginning in 370, where he also became interested in philosophy after reading Cicero’s Hortensius and converting to Manichaeism. 

He returned to Thagaste, his hometown, in 374 but became increasingly disillusioned with Manichaeism when Faustus, a noted teacher of that sect, could not satisfactorily answer his questions. 

He left for Milan ca. 383 (thru Rome), where he became a city professor or oratory (384-6) He heard Ambrose’s sermons and his more satisfactory allegorical interpretation of the OT. Of as much importance were the acquaintances he made with the Platonists there, which caused him to reject the Manichees for good. 

He became a Christian in 386, simultaneously deciding to forgo secular pursuits. He moved to Cassiciacum where he wrote several dialogues attempting to reconcile his philosophy with his newfound Christianity. After his baptism in 387 by Ambrose and the death of his mother Monica, who had consistently prayed for his salvation, he moved back to Africa. 

Here he was forcibly ordained a presbyter in Hippo (391). During this early period, Augustine wrote several works against Manichaeism. In ca. 395 he became bishop. 

His episcopate was marked by two major controversies, with the Donatists and with the Pelagians. 

The Donatists regarded themselves as the true church based on their descent from churches whose bishops had not become traitores in the Decian persecution one century beforehand. Augustine engaged them in polemic for over a decade stretching into the early 5^th century. Social tensions between Catholics and Donatists mounted to the extent that imperial intervention was needed, which Augustine had requested himself. After this time the Donatists survived but only in small numbers—in Hippo they ceased to present the bishop with many problems. 

Pelagius rejected Augustine’s statements about the relationship between God’s grace and human good works in Confessiones, stating his own views in De natura in 406. Augustine slowly became enmeshed in the conflict, writing several works against Pelagius and several more against the latter’s intellectual successor, Julian of Eclanum. Pelagian conflict starts in 412. The bishop of Hippo’s strategy was first to mobilize the African church against P. and then imperial condemnation, which occurred in 418. Augustine spent most of the last two decades of his life embroiled in this debate about the relationship between original sin/human nature and predestination/grace

His numerous works have been divided by occasion, importance, and stages of his life. I will mention only the most influential, referring the interested reader to DECL, pp. 64–80 for a complete summary and bibliography of primary sources. 

Confessiones: (397-400/1) 

The first proper autobiography in Western literature, this text takes its stand amongst the literary classics. It provides a summary of Augustine’s life before turning to Scriptural exposition, ostensibly written to God but intended to be “overheard” by the reader. 

Primary themes include: God’s providential act of salvation in individual lives, grace, the relationship between pagan wisdom/philosophy and Christianity, the problem of evil, ontology, anthropology, prayer, the ascetic life, time, creation, and Word and sacrament in church life. 

De civitate dei: (began 413 finished 426/7) 

Written on the occasion of the sacking of Rome by the Goths in 410, this treatise primarily deals with God’s purposes in human history and the extent to which humans can know these purposes. The book is structured around the several ages of history, beginning with a refutation of the Roman religion, continuing onwards through the history of the “two cities”—the city of God and the city of man—which co-exist and both desire concord and harmony in temporal matters, but which are opposed in their ultimate ends: the former aimed towards true being and goodness in God while the latter is directed towards nothingness and evil. 

De doctrina Christiana: (396) 

This shorter treatise sets forth rules for Scriptural exegesis and preaching. Throughout the concern is to adapt received secular wisdom to the purposes of the church. Important concepts arising in this work include the uti/frui distinction—things not God ought to be used in service of one’s ultimate goal to enjoy God—and the signa/res theory of language—words are signs pointing to the reality they symbolize. The latter was of particular importance to biblical exegesis because the res to which the Bible points is God; any interpretation not ultimately pointing to God is faulty. 

De trinitate: 

A summa of Latin Nicene Trinitarian theology, this work is most famous for introducing analogies comparing the persons of the Trinity to the activities of knowing, loving, and willing united in the human mind. These analogies stand on the basis of Augustine’s scriptural explication of the Trinity in the first half of the work, but are usually the element of that work most influential in later Trinitarian thought. Biblical Commentaries: Augustine wrote dozens of exegetical works and more than 1,000 of his sermons survive. Of particular importance are some of the works he composed on Genesis in which he interpreted the creation of the world contrary to Manichean doctrine but with a Neoplatonic metaphysical background. 

His Ennarationes in Psalmos clearly state his principle that all Scripture must be interpreted to inspire the reader and audience to accord with the greatest commandments: to love God and to love one’s neighbor. His expositions have in their background Augustine’s exceptional rhetorical training, his Neoplatonist ontology, and Tychonius’ Rules. Retractationes(426/7).