Answer to Question #244102 in History for Another you

Question

1. How did St. Augustine lead his community as a Bishop? Explain.

2. Did St. Augustine experience an easy ruling in his time as Bishop? Why?

Answer 1

1. How did St. Augustine lead his community as a Bishop? Explain.

Augustine’s adaptation of classical thought to Christian teaching created a theological system of great power and lasting influence. He has numerous written works, the most important of which are used and practised in church

Augustine decided for himself that Christianity was possible only if he went further than any churchman said he was required to go. He chose to remain celibate even though he was a layman and under no requirement to do so. His life with a succession of lovers ended. Augustine accepted sexual abstinence as the price of religion. 

2. Did St. Augustine experience an easy ruling in his time as Bishop? Why?

The death of that son while still an adolescent left Augustine with no obligation to hand on the family property, and so he disposed of it and found himself, at age 36, literally pressed into service against his will as a junior clergyman in the coastal city of Hippo, north of Tagaste.

In his last year he found himself and his fellow citizens of Hippo prisoners to a siege laid by a motley army of invaders who had swept into Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar. Called the Vandals by contemporaries, the attacking forces comprised a mixed group of “barbarians” and adventurers searching for a home. Hippo fell shortly after Augustine’s death and Carthage not long after.