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February 6, 2012 |
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Why the Augustine Project?
Particularly, St. Augustine wrote a book called The City of God about the church’s relationship (or, more appropriately, the relationship of the kingdom of God, which is not connected to any particular church building or structure) with the surrounding culture, and why Christian influence was essential.
For those of you familiar with the history of the Roman Empire, Rome had just been sacked by the Visigoths and many Romans were blaming the Christians (who were popular scapegoats at the time because they refused to participate in many of the pagan practices). Pagan Romans claimed because they were being punished for straying from their old gods. Augustine’s City of God was a rebuke of this idea and asserted that the kingdom of God transcended earthly empires. It also asserted that even though Christianity had been designated as the official Roman religion, this was not the end goal of the church either, to prop up political structures. So Augustine firmly roots the place of the Christian on earth between the world and heaven. The Christian is one like Abraham, who, as the writer of Hebrews put it, by faith…made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country (Hebrews 11:9).
Augustine was exceptionally learned and a skilled speaker, yet he did not waver in his commitment to Christ and the kingdom of God. He was firmly rooted in the world of the church, but also well respected in the world-at-large for his God-given abilities. We have chosen to name this The Augustine Project because we admire Augustine’s example to Christians and also respect his contributions to society. He modeled, in many ways, what we wish to see this project become: a bridge from society on which seekers can cross into the kingdom of God. But not a one way bridge only! We also wish it to be a bridge for Christians to go back into society and help transform it for the larger good and ultimately, the glory of God.
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