Monatsarchive: Dezember 2017

Sermons On Selected Lessons Of The New Testament – St. Augustine of Hippo

The Sermons of St. Augustine, besides their other excellencies, furnish a beautiful picture of perhaps the deepest and most powerful mind of the Western Church adapting itself to the little ones of Christ. In them, he who has furnished the mould for all the most thoughtful minds for fourteen hundred years, is seen forming with loving tenderness the babes in Christ. Very touching is the child-like simplicity, with which he gradually leads them through what to them were difficulties, watching all the while whether he made himself clear to them, keeping up their attention, pleased at their understanding, dreading their approbation, and leading them off from himself … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

The Homilies On John – St. Augustine of Hippo

St. Augustine was an indefatigable preacher. He considered regular preaching an indispensable part of the duty of a bishop. To his homilies we owe most of his exegetical labors. The homilies were delivered extempore, taken down by scribes and slightly revised by Augustin. They retain their colloquial form, devotional tone, frequent repetitions, and want of literary finish. He would rather be deficient in rhetoric than not be understood by the people. He was cheered by the eager attention and acclamations of his hearers, but never fully satisfied with his performance. “My preaching,” he says, “almost always displeases me. I eagerly long for something better, of which I often have an inward … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...