Augustine: a Protestant Saint?

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Was St. Augustine a Protestant?

St. Augustine is one of the greatest of catholic saints. He is revered by Western christians both Roman Catholic and Protestant, and especially by Calvinists and Lutherans. Dr. R. C. Sproul, a leading Calvinist theologian and writer in the U.S. has written that he (Sproul) is an “Augustinian”. On a theological forum sponsored by Dr. Sproul’s ministry, a participant made the audacious statement that “Calvin and Luther did not teach anything that Augustine did not teach.” Such statements are severely misinformed. After listening to these Protestants make the “Augustinian” claim, I have come to realize that what they mean is that they accept Augustine’s ideas of absolute predestination and salvation by grace. Catholics affirm with Protestants that salvation is by God’s grace. However, in regards to predestination, the Catholic Church has not made a dogmatic statement on the matter. In his writings on predestination, St. Augustine gave his private opinions and not the catholic consensus of the church. It is noteworthy that St. Augustine is nearly alone in affirming absolute predestination. His contemporaries and those who followed him did not follow such a rigid system but allowed the freedom of the will.

In his writings outside of his speculations on predestination, St. Augustine was generally reflecting the catholic consensus of the time, and the beliefs which he held as the catholic bishop of Hippo in North Africa. Here are some of the catholic beliefs of Aurelius Augustine, catholic Bishop of Hippo:

  1. *]The canon of Scripture includes the Septuagint OT canon (deuterocanonicals, Apocrypha)
    *]Authoritative Tradition
    *]Baptismal regeneration and grace
    *]Necessity of baptism for salvation
    *]Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist (Lord’s Supper)
    *]The Mass is a sacrifice
    *]Necessity of the Lord’s Supper for salvation
    *]Purgatory and praying for the departed
    *]The communion of saints and saintly intercession
    *]Authority of the Catholic Church
    *]Apostolic Succession
    *]Possibility of falling from grace
    *]The sacrament of penance
    *]Mary was ever virgin

    After looking at these beliefs, if someone claimed to be Augustinian, I think it is rather obvious that they would not be a Calvinist or a Protestant, but Catholic. Although some Protestant denominations such as the Lutherans may accept some of these beliefs, no Protestant denomination will accept them all. Calvinists reject every single one of these beliefs of Augustine. If anyone was to preach all these beliefs in a Protestant church, he would immediately be branded an arch heretic–yet, Protestants quote Augustine and consider him a hero. A heretic is a hero? At one of his ministry conferences, Dr. Sproul made the statement that (paraphrased), “Anyone who believes in Purgatory knows nothing of the Gospel.” The implications of Dr. Sproul’s extreme statement is that St. Augustine was not even a Christian…

    Link to full article: willcoxson.net/faith/augprot.htm
 
This just sums it all up for me…

“I would not believe in the Gospels were it not for the authority of the Catholic Church.”
-St. Augustine (Against the Letter of Mani Called “The Foundation” 5:6).
 
This just sums it all up for me…

“I would not believe in the Gospels were it not for the authority of the Catholic Church.”
-St. Augustine (Against the Letter of Mani Called “The Foundation” 5:6).
 
Church Militant:
This just sums it all up for me…

“I would not believe in the Gospels were it not for the authority of the Catholic Church.”
-St. Augustine (Against the Letter of Mani Called “The Foundation” 5:6).
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Putting the nail on the coffin for those who want to say St. Augustine is Protestant…
 
Did you know that Augustine is not a Saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church? He is merely “Blessed” Augustine.

I think it has to do with his theology of original sin.
 
Church Militant:
This just sums it all up for me…

“I would not believe in the Gospels were it not for the authority of the Catholic Church.”
-St. Augustine (Against the Letter of Mani Called “The Foundation” 5:6).
Click to expand...
Is this the original translation of the quote? I didn’t think the early Christians had identified the original Chrisitian Church as “Catholic” - with a big “C,” yet.
 
I have come across the same accusaion many times. I am always amazed when Protestants make him out to be more protestant than Catholic. When I look at Protestant timelines of Church history it usually goes something like this: Jesus-Apostles-Augustine-Luther, they have no problem with the 400 year gap from Apostles to Augustine nor the 1100 year gap from Augustine to Luther. I find it amazing that Augustine was the “only” one who knew the “truth” in that big gap of history.

Anyway the dagger passage I have used in the past was the first one on that list- Augustine’s inclusion of the DC books. Protestants supposedly go by Sola Scriptura, yet Augustine included the Deuterocanonical books!
 
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mike182d:
Is this the original translation of the quote? I didn’t think the early Christians had identified the original Chrisitian Church as “Catholic” - with a big “C,” yet.
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Saint Ignatius of Antioch called the church Catholic in 110AD.
I don’t have the quote handy - please someone post the quote!!!
Thanks!
 
107AD

“Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be, even as wherever Christ
Jesus appears, there is the Catholic Church.”
 
If someone told me the definition of “Protestant” is
“to pick and choose” I would believe them. :whacky:

They pick a certain Catholic Saint and say–“obviously a Protestant in reality” ------ignoring anything else the person has written or believed that doesn’t mesh with their own opinion.

Better yet–when they cite the Early Church Fathers
to refute something the RCC teaches—then go back to completely ignoring that the ECFs even existed. If a Catholic brings them up—“well, they’re biased!” :rolleyes:

I also remember being told (basically) “Luther was a CATHOLIC madman! He’s not OUR (prot) problem–he’s yours!” I mean—I know he was Catholic, but… :whacky:
 
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DianJo:
Saint Ignatius of Antioch called the church Catholic in 110AD.
I don’t have the quote handy - please someone post the quote!!!
Thanks!
Click to expand...
I thought it was “catholic,” though, with a little “c.”

I’m not dissing the Catholic Church or anything - I’m one of the more conservative ones here. I just thought that “Catholic” with a capital “C” wasn’t in common usage until the need arose for Christians to identify themselves apart from the protestant reformers.

I could be wrong though.
 
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mike182d:
I thought it was “catholic,” though, with a little “c.”

I’m not dissing the Catholic Church or anything - I’m one of the more conservative ones here. I just thought that “Catholic” with a capital “C” wasn’t in common usage until the need arose for Christians to identify themselves apart from the protestant reformers.

I could be wrong though.
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What does it matter big “C” or little “c”? There is only one catholic church. The eastern schismatic churches call themselves “Orthodox.” I think you refer to the Nicene Creed to have the little “c.” Before the great schism the church was called “Catholic” because there were already little heretical churches. Then after the west took “Catholic” and the eastern schismatics took on "Orthodox."
 
To say that St. Augustine was protestant is like saying that Pope Pius XII was Seventh day Adventist (they believe the Pope is the anti-christ), lol. Or like saying that the local Archbishop is a Southern Baptist. They ignore all the writings of St. Augustine and misinterperet a few sentences to suit their beliefs.:whacky: Imagine what they do with scripture? They remove the deuterocanonicals. What’s next? Will they remove Matthew 16:18 and Revelations 12:1-5, etc?
 
Roman_Army said:
** Imagine what they do with scripture? They remove the deuterocanonicals. What’s next? Will they remove Matthew 16:18 and Revelations 12:1-5, etc?**
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Roman Army, don’t forget what the world tells us—
its *The Catholic Church * which hates the Bible. 😉

The ones who supposedly love it so much slice and dice all they can. Funny, huh?
 
A few things, if I may:

One – Not all Protestants love Augustine. Some of them really very much dislike him, saying he started the Catholic Church and things were all hunky-dorey before he showed up and ruined everything Christian.

Two – The Church didn’t have anything BUT Catholic in the years of Augustine. The E/W split hadn’t yet occured, nor did the protesters break away.
 
How can a Lutheran or Calvinist theologian honestly look at St. Augustine’s work and conclude that this Doctor of the Catholic Church is anything but Catholic? At least the further removed Protestant churches, such as Baptist, reject the early Church Fathers across the board. That makes more sense if you are going to reject the Church.

Here are some quotes from St. Augustine on the Real Presence. I don’t know how a Calvinist would explain these away:

The bread which you see on the altar is, sanctified by the word of God, the body of Christ; that chalice, or rather what is contained in the chalice, is, sanctified by the word of God, the blood of Christ.{Sermo* 227; on p.377}*

Christ bore Himself in His hands, when He offered His body saying: “this is my body.”* {Enarr. in Ps. 33 Sermo 1, 10; on p.377}*

Nobody eats this flesh without previously adoring it.* {Enarr. in Ps. 98, 9; on p.387}*

Not all bread, but only that which receives the blessing of Christ, becomes Christ’s body.* {Ibid., 234, 2; on p.31}*

What you see is the bread and the chalice . . . But what your faith obliges you to accept is that the bread is the Body of Christ and the chalice the Blood of Christ.* {Ibid., 272; on p.32}*

Eat Christ, then; though eaten He yet lives, for when slain He rose from the dead. Nor do we divide Him into parts when we eat Him: though indeed this is done in the Sacrament, as the faithful well know when they eat the Flesh of Christ, for each receives his part, hence are those parts called graces. Yet though thus eaten in parts He remains whole and entire; eaten in parts in the Sacrament, He remains whole and entire in Heaven. {Mai 129, 1; cf. Sermon 131; on p.65}

The very first heresy was formulated when men said: "this saying is hard and who can bear it [Jn 6:60]?"* {Enarr. 1, 23 on Ps. 54; on p.66}*

​
 
Has nobody asked the obvious question?

Martin Luther was an Augustinian Canon. What teachings of Augustine did he reject?
 
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