Sublime

If Augustine spent half his life battling the heresy of Pelagianism—the pretension that the human will was sufficient to choose its good—it’s because he saw it as the great lie that left people enchained to their dissolute wills. And no one is more Pelagian than we moderns.

Augustine is our contemporary. He has directly and indirectly shaped the way we understand our pursuits, the call to authenticity.

You might think of Augustine as offering a hitchhiker’s guide to the cosmos for wandering hearts.

And in that moment Augustine’s counsels took on a new relevance for me as I realized that in this season of our marriage and in this stage on the road, the kind of detachment Augustine encouraged—the refusal to be dominated by the libido—was exactly the word I needed to hear.

First: his pure philosophy, particularly his theory of time; Second: his philosophy of history, as developed in The City of God; Third: his theory of salvation, as propounded against the Pelagians.

Joy, for Augustine, is characterized by a quietude that is the opposite of anxiety—the exhale of someone who has been holding her breath out of fear or worry or insecurity. It is the blissful rest of someone who realizes she no longer has to perform; she is loved. We find joy in the grace of God precisely because he is the one we don’t have to prov

Augustine is our contemporary. He has directly and indirectly shaped the way we understand our pursuits, the call to authenticity.

Be no wiser than is necessary, but be wise in moderation. Letter of Paul to the Romans, 12