Augustine of Hippo began a new era of autobiographical tradition with his work “Confessions” in which he described the detail from his life and preached about him in his own, individual way. The fact that in the time span of 100 years after “Confessions” was published more autobiographical works were written than in any other […]
Augustine of Hippo
Aurelius Augustinus was a significant writer who used latin in his works. He was born in 354 in Tagaste, Numidia. His father was a governments official and his mother Monica influenced his life deeply.
His parents provided a good education for him which helped him develop his successful career. He went to a school and became a spokesman. He started his studying in Madauros and ended it in Carthage. He also had a son and during his studies he despised his mother and her faith.
In 375 he opened a school in Tagaste and then went back to Carthage where he worked as a teacher until 383 when he went on a trip to Rome. Soon after he got a job in Milan and his family joined him.
He started caring for religion when he started listening to a bishop named Ambrosius who interpreted Bible in an allegorical way.
In 386 he converted to Christianity and became a bishop in 398. Augustine replaced literature and philosophy with theology.
After 30 years of work he died in 430 and his work “Retractiones” was never finished.
He described his life in the book “Confessions”. His other famous books are: “On Christian Doctrine”, “The City of God”, “On the Trinity”, “On free choice of will”…