August 28, 2006
Gus
When it came to theology, Augustine of Hippo was a real horse. Some folk still think he was the greatest, others, that he pretty well mucked up even worse than Freud on certain matters that still en-gender controversy.
He led a pretty raunchy life up to a point until one day while gardening, he took up with St Paul [Rms 13.12ff], made a hasty, rather surprising turnaround, got himself baptised, and gave a serious boost to the current practice of publishing one’s confessions as a book. Actually, though, there was still some apparent reluctance left in him when he resisted being ordained priest, only five years later to be chosen bishop with even fewer years on his resumé than our new presiding bishop-elect. In his case, however, nobody seemed much to object and let it pass without asking for extra-primatial oversight.
For those who’ve not so closely followed his theology, and for those who couldn’t care less, there’s always been his name to keep his memory alive. Few can ever agree on whether it should be pronounced AWEgusteen or AweGUStin, thus leading to one of those charming polarized trivialities we Anglicans so much enjoy and, if only for distraction, could use a few more of in these times.
Whatever, today’s his day.