St. Augustine, Professor Robert OConnell
St. Augustine, Professor Robert OConnell
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St. Augustine

Author: Professor Robert O'Connell

Narrator: Charlton Heston

Unabridged: 2 hr 8 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/04/2006


Synopsis

Aurelius Augustinus was a key figure in the transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. He lived at a time when no distinction was made between philosophy and theology, and the purpose of both was to show the way to wisdom, happiness, and blessedness. Augustinian thought is perhaps best capsulated in Anselm's famous maxim: "I believe in order to understand." Augustine believed the principal business of life is to arrive at the blissful vision of God, but he came to see that this can be done only after death. Only eternal and unchangeable goods are worth enjoying, and all other joys or pleasures are mere stops along the way. Temporal life is a "living death, a dying life"; its primary characteristic is the dizzying flux of time and change. Evil is not an active, threatening force; it is a lack, a privation, a corruption. For Augustine, every time we make a judgment of relative value, we implicitly acknowledge an absolute standard of value; and this absolute is God. Our final end, the contemplation of God after death, is a blissful, changeless, restful, and peaceful stillness of vision.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Igor on February 26, 2019

Too short indeed. Even considering to be listen by generalists, I found it too short and basic.......more

Goodreads review by AttackGirl on April 13, 2021

Where is my review?......more

Goodreads review by Maxfield on August 18, 2012

Very well done short overview. Read by Charlton Heston which is pretty awesome.......more

Goodreads review by Nishant on April 26, 2018

The historical facts are nil and the book deals only with psychology and philosophy of that times.. Plausible read.......more