1. St. Augustine of Hippo
(354 – 430)
Crede, ut intelligas
Prepared by Tran Minh Van
2. • Introduction
• Works
• Top 10 contributions to Philosophy
• St. Augustine’s concept of Time
• Integration of Faith and Learning
• Literature
Content
3. Introduction
• Born Nov 13th
, 354 in Numedia
• Bishop of Hippo Regius
• An influential figure in the history of
education
• He considered himself to be a Punic
• A pagan to a believer
4. • Apologetic works against the heresies of the Arians, Donatists,
Manichaeans and Pelagians
• Texts on Christian doctrine.
• Exegetical work
• Many sermons and letters
• Best known for his Confessions and The City of God
Works
5. 1. Theory of Time
2. Learning languages
3. Faith seeking understanding
4. Ontological argument
5. Refutation of Skepticism
Top 10 contributions to Philosophy (1)
6. 6. Existence of God from Eternal Ideas
7. Response to the Problem of Evil
8. Divine Illumination
9. Creation Ex Nihilo
10. The Examined Self
Top 10 contributions to Philosophy (2)
7. - When God created Heaven and Earth, he created time itself as
well.
- God is eternal and he is outside of time. Only angels carry out his
wills on Earth.
- There literally was no before God created the Heavens and the
Earth. There was no time, therefore, when you had not made
anything, because you had made time itself.
- God’s years are a day, and God’s day is not recurrent.
St. Augustine’s concept of Time (1)
8. - “What exactly is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is.”
- “And I confess to thee, O Lord, that I am still ignorant as to what
time is.”
- The past does exist, but in our memory, and further the future too
exists in our expectations.
- Time is not something that exists in the physical world, like a
rock or a chair, but something that purely exists inside the mind.
St. Augustine’s concept of Time (2)
9. Integration of Faith and Learning
- His ultimate faith was based on the intense study of Scriptures
and other authors' writings on religious matters.
- The soul grows by learning.
- Reason and knowledge are interconnected.
- Faith precedes Reason
- “…What I understand, I also believe. Although the majority of
things cannot be known by me, yet I know how very useful it is to
believe them…”
10. “Faith is to believe what you
do not see; the reward of this
faith is to see what you
believe.”
11. Literature:
Reason to Believe
Message from Spirit World
An Analysis of the Concept of Time in the Confessions, Book 11 by Augustine of
Hippo
St Augustine's Quote
St. Augustine’s learning for the glory of God
The Educational Theory of Augustine of Hippo - George J. Yogis
The Confessions and Letter's of St.Augustine , with a Sketch of his Life and
Work - Philip Schaff
