Saint Augustine of Hippo, one of the greatest minds in the history of the Christian Church, was born on this day in the year 354.
He was African; yet that basic fact about him is too often forgotten in the white-washed history of the church. A great theologian, he was also the author of the first autobiography in the history of Western literature -- The Confessions.
I've read Augustine's memoir many times over the years, and I have collected a number of editions of the work. It is as alive today as it was when he penned it, and it remains a great inspiration to me, as it does to many people across the world.
Augustine once wrote: "Wisdom and folly both are like meats that are wholesome and unwholesome, and courtly or simple words are like town-made or rustic vessels -- both kinds of food may be served in either kind of dish."
Hanna Rosin has a fascinating piece in the current edition of The Atlantic about how the so-called Word of Faith movement and its prosperity teaching may have contributed to the materialist boom before the financial bust.
She writes: "America's mainstream religious denominations used to teach the faithful that they would be rewarded in the afterlife. But over the past generation, a different strain of Christian faith has proliferated--one that promises to make believers rich in the here and now. Known as the prosperity gospel, and claiming tens of millions of adherents, it fosters risk-taking and intense material optimism. It pumped air into the housing bubble. And one year into the worst downturn since the Depression, it's still going strong."
Here's one for fans of canon law: the full text of Pope Benedict's Apostolic Constitution, which provides a way into the Catholic Church for Anglican clergy and laity who have become, perhaps, unhappy about the recent direction taken by the Anglican Communion.
The Vatican says, "This Apostolic Constitution opens a new avenue for the promotion of Christian unity while, at the same time, granting legitimate diversity in the expression of our common faith. It represents not an initiative on the part of the Holy See, but a generous response from the Holy Father to the legitimate aspirations of these Anglican groups. The provision of this new structure is consistent with the commitment to ecumenical dialogue, which continues to be a priority for the Catholic Church."
Some critics will regard that as ecclesiastical spin of the highest order, and will consider this document a route map for annexation.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~36~RS~)