CH15 Augustine and Fall of Empire-Part 1

Church History: Chapter 15– Augustine and the Fall of the Roman Empire This is a study of Augustine and the fall of the Roman Empire but it also serves as a reminder that the Kingdom of God is the only enduring kingdom. As the Empire fell the Christian church was affected tremendously. Augustine was born in 354 A.D. in Northern Africa. Most of his early years he claimed to be a Christian, but he was part of a cult. But after his conversion in 387 (by St. Ambrose, no less), he became one of the most influential Christians of that time. In that same time period the Roman Empire was crumbling and was sacked in 410 A.D. by the Goth’s who were invading from the North because Attila from the East was displacing them. Augustine wrote strongly in defense of the Christian influence on society and how the Church strengthened the Empire. Key Words Kingdom, basileia, philosophy, Saint Augustine, Confessions, Thagaste, Souk Ahras, Algeria, Carthage, Adeodatus, rhetoric, Constantine, Cicero, “Manichees”, Monica, Rome, Milan, St. Ambrose, Simplicianus, Ponticianus, Edward Gibbon, “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, earthquake, Germanic Lands, “Goths”, “Visigoths”, “Ostrogoths”, Attila, Adrianople, Edirne, Turkey, Theodosius, Arian,