Perspective

The perspective of De Doctrina Christiana is that of St. Augustine of Hippo's. At this time in Augustine's life (around 397 AD, when Augustine is 43) he is in the process of becoming the Bishop of Milan and deepening his knowledge of the Christian faith. Augustine's writings are voluminous, contained in over one hundred volumes, and they evolve over time. This book comes about midpoint in Augustine's life, where he still sounds heavily Platonic. In the middle of the book, he actually becomes Bishop of Milan and stops writing the book briefly for this reason. Augustine's perspective is as an ardent convert to Christianity. Augustine was once a Manichean priest but later converted to Christianity in perhaps the most famous conversion tale in history other than that of Saul on the Road to Damascus. He is ardent believer that Christianity is true; however, he is also hostile to anti-intellectual approaches...