Pastor Augustine was not a perfect man, but he embodied certain virtues, disciplines, and convictions that we would do well to emulate. Sixteen hundred years after he lived and wrote he continues to teach.
Summary of Augustine’s Life. Augustine was born in Hippo (modern-day Algeria) in AD 354 to a Christian mother and a pagan father. At age 18 he discovered Cicero’s writings and started his quest as a philosopher. At first, he was drawn to … [Read More]
Augustine for the 21st Century (5): What Can We Learn from Augustine as a Pastor-Theologian?
Southeastern Family Gives Over $60,000 So That “All Peoples May Know Him”
Southeastern family gives over $60,000 so that ‘all peoples may know him’
8/28/2009
by Lauren Crane
Southeastern Seminary students, faculty and staff were blessed this week to be able to donate money and gifts in excess of $60,000 to support the International Mission Board in a time of economic hardship.
The school, under the leadership of President Daniel Akin, was challenged to give to the International Mission Board during a special time of offering. On Tuesday, August 25, and … [Read More]
Why Johnny Can’t Preach
Last week our Lifeway Campus store asked me for a list of five favorite books that they could display in their store as recommended reading. They are asking various professors from our faculty to do this throughout the year.
I wanted an ancient work, which was easy to choose – Augustine’s City of God – everyone should read it. And then I added a few “modern classics” that are accessible and don’t have any good popular … [Read More]
Augustine for the 21st Century (4): What Were Augustine’s Starting Points and How are They Relevant for Today?
Augustine teaches us to use Christian doctrine as a lever to unseat false prophets such as Peter Singer, Richard Dawkins, or Christopher Hitchens.
Augustine defended Christianity from one basic starting point: the biblical narrative is true and it alone explains the world within (existential viability) and the world without (empirical adequacy). He knew that his interlocutors did not agree. Augustine understood that, as Romans 1 puts it so damningly, the Roman pagans were busy suppressing the … [Read More]
Augustine for the 21st Century (3): What Can We Learn from Augustine’s Apologetic Strategy?
Augustine teaches 21st century evangelicals how to defend the faith in their respective contexts. Among the many lessons we may learn from him, one is central: We as Christians must “out-narrate the narrators.” In the face of the narratives emerging from naturalist, pantheist, and Muslim worldviews, we must communicate the biblical narrative in such a way as to show that it alone makes sense of the world.
Like Augustine, we must expose the flaws in competing … [Read More]
More Christmas in August @ SEBTS
At Southeastern we continually challenge our students not to ask ,”should I go to the nations who have never heard the gospel?” Rather our consistent encouragement is, “why should I stay?” With almost 3.5 billion people with either no or very limited access to the gospel, the reason we raise the latter question is clear. It is the one we should be asking as Southern Baptists. It is the question we should be asking as … [Read More]
Augustine for the 21st Century (2): What is Augustine’s Argument in The City of God?
Augustine used theology, philosophy, and history to hoist the cultured despisers of Christianity by their own petard.
These cultured despisers were Roman. On August 24, 410, Alaric and the Goths had sacked Rome. For the Romans this event was devastating and needed interpretation. What had weakened Rome and brought her to her knees? Why was she now being dominated after centuries of being the dominator?
Volusianus and other pagan intellectuals speculated that Christianity caused the downfall of … [Read More]
Augustine for the 21st Century (1): Why Should We Read Old Books?
I have never been trampled by a herd of evangelicals on their way to the Augustine section of the local bookstore. Perhaps one reason for this is chronological snobbery, our tendency to believe that the new books are better than the old ones. Another reason might be that the local bookstores don’t even have an Augustine section (True, Barnes & Noble and Borders carry books by Augustine, but Christian bookstores rarely do. The Christian stores … [Read More]
Worth Pondering
From Stephen Holmes, a Baptist theologian on the divinity faculty at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland:
Whilst humility is remembered as a theological virtue, conservatism will remain an appropriate theological stance, and historical theology, which is to say the patient, careful and respectful study of the writings of the doctors of the Church, will continue to be a central part of theological work.
Stephen R. Holmes, Listening to the Past: The Place of Tradition in … [Read More]
Christmas in August @ SEBTS
Dear SEBTS Family,
Words are not adequate to express my excitement as we look forward to the fall 2009 semester. I am so excited about so many things that will take place this semester, some of which we will experience as unexpected surprises from our great God! I want to remind you that in chapel on both August 25 and 27 we will be taking our “Christmas in August” offering for the International Mission Board. Amazingly, … [Read More]
