Saint Augustine I choose to write about Saint Augustine based on how much his early beginnings in life echoed parts of my life. This essay will tell a story of one man's tortuous and conflicted path to Christian faith. Early Years Augustine was born on the 13th of November, 354 ce. Augustine's family was middle class, where his dad was a minor Roman official. Augustine's father also observed and followed the traditional pagan religion of that time. Monica, Augustine's mother, was a Christian and did her best to raise Augustine as a Christian. Augustine's parents at an early age recognized the amazing gifts that he possessed. The gifts that Augustine possessed led both parents to want to seek out the finest education they could obtain for Augustine (González, 2010). Augustine would study at a school in a nearby town called Madaura until the finances to send him there ran out. Augustine speaks of his sexual escapades, how he and his friends wandered the streets, and other mischievous acts. In Augustine's book confessions, he states "Foul was the evil, and I loved it" (Ryken, 2015), this was written as he spoke about him and his group of friends robbed a pear tree of its fruit. They did this not for the fruit, but for the joy of doing something that was forbidden. Augustine's path to Christianity was soiled with several types of mischief and absolute disdain for Christianity (González, 2010). Conversion Augustine, while he was reading works of Cicero, an orator of classical Rome, he begins to feel the conviction. This conviction told him there was more to life and that he must seek out the truth. This search for truth would lead Augustine to a Persian religion known as Manichaeism, which has pagan elements, Gnostic elements, and some Christian elements. It was not long after that Augustine's conviction, and his draw to Manichaeism would begin to dissipate. Still searching, Augustine would travel to Milan, where his former tutor Simplicianus would introduce Augustine to Neoplatonism. Simplicianus' hope was that Neoplatonism would lead Augustine to Christianity and he was right. (González, 2010) Augustine jumped in headfirst into Christianity. Augustine much like myself was an all in or nothing type of person. So he decided to devote his entire life to Christianity. Augustine would complete the necessary steps in order to embark on this new life he had created. After Augustine was baptized into the church along with his son Adeodatus, he would go on to give up his concubine of many years as he became hungry to grow closer to God so in order "to grow closer to his newfound Savior, Augustine fled to the desert" (Jones, 2009). The trip to the desert would be a time of reflection and self-examination, but he soon visited a church and was ordained as an elder. In six years, Augustine would become the overseer of this city in North Africa, known as Hippo. Contribution Rome has fallen and pillaged, Christianity has become under attack again as Christians were criticized. Christianity was the majority religion at this point, mostly in the part of Saint Augustine's influence that would lead Christianity to become more dominant over paganism. Augustine made numerous contributions to Christianity in his philosophical and theological writings. Some of the concepts and doctrines that evolved from Augustine include the concept of original sin, the doctrine of predestination, and efficacious grace. Augustine would die at the age of 75 on the 28th of August 430 ce. He was killed during a siege on Hippo by German Vandals who would destroy the entire city with the exception of Augustine's cathedral and library. (St. Augustine of Hippo > By Individual Philosopher > Philosophy, n.d.) Summary As I stated in the introduction, that I choose this topic as I feel my path to faith is similar to that of Augustines. A Christian mom and pagan father, except my father was an atheist. Trying different religions until finally finding the one true religion. I had done the same, as I dabbled in a bit of everything searching for truth. Then all similarities between us end as Augustine becomes a great philosopher and theologian who would forever change the course of Christian history. The topic of Augustine is so rich, that to try to summarize everything would take much more than 2-3 pages. It is now my confession, that I am intrigued by Augustine and intend to seek and know more about him.     References Augustine | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (n.d.). Retrieved the 18th of April, 2020, from https://www.iep.utm.edu/augustin/#H2 González, J. L. (2010). The story of Christianity. Volume 1: The early church to the reformation (Rev. and updated [ed.], 2nd ed). HarperCollins. Jones, T. P. (2009). Christian history made easy (Rev. ed.). Rose Pub. Ryken, L. (2015). Augustine's confessions. Crossway. St. Augustine of Hippo > By Individual Philosopher > Philosophy. (n.d.). Retrieved the 18th of April, 2020, from https://www.philosophybasics.com/philosophers_augustine.html