Augustine: Platonism and Christian Thought

Augustine of Hippo (354–430 CE), born in Roman North Africa, became one of the most influential Christian thinkers, and his path ran through Greek philosophy. At 19, reading Cicero's Hortensius inspired him to seek wisdom. Later, in Milan, he read 'books of the Platonists', probably works by Plotinus and Porphyry in Latin translation. In his Confessions he wrote that these helped him think of God as non-physical and of evil as a lack of good rather than a substance.

Augustine then converted to Christianity in 386 CE and became bishop of Hippo. He combined Platonist ideas, such as the priority of the eternal over the changing and the soul's inward search, with Christian teaching. Other Christian writers were more cautious; Tertullian had asked, 'What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? ' Augustine's synthesis shaped Western philosophy and theology for over a thousand years.