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Augustine and Paul Conversions
Paul and Augustine are the most notable examples of conversion to Christianity. Before they converted, both men lived sinful lives according to the teachings of Christianity. After their transformations, they both grew to become teachers of the Christian faith and were later canonized into sainthood. Their conversion stories are particularly striking as they were considered to be divine interventions from God himself. Both men lived a life seeking truth and happiness but were unable to find it until they found their faith. The stories of how Paul and Augustine converted to Christianity share many similarities and differences, documented in the ‘Acts of the Apostles’ and ‘Confessions’ of Augustine respectively.
Before Paul converted to Christianity, he was known by the name Saul. He was a Pharisee from the town of Tarsus whose main occupation was making tents. However, Saul was more famous for his persecution of Christians for their faith. One day, he was on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus to find Christians and arrest, question and even possibly execute them. His journey was, however, interrupted, “As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:3) after that, he became blind but recovered his sight three days later.
Augustine’s story began in the town of Tagaste around 354 A.D. His mother’s name was Monica who happened to be a pious Christian. On the other hand, his father was a Roman officer and a pagan by the name Patricius. Augustine was sent to Carthage to study rhetoric taught by the best Latin teachers such as Cicero. From his readings, Augustine considered Christianity a faith for the unsophisticated. All around him, sex and love were rampant leading him to comment in his ‘Confessions,’ “I came to Carthage, where a cauldron of unholy loves was sizzling and crackling around me.” (Augustine) While still a teenager, he bore a son by a mistress. For nine years, he lived by the principles of Manichaeism, a religion that taught life to be a struggle between the two forces of light and darkness. However, Augustine tired of the doctrine because it failed to answer his questions. He went to listen to Saint Ambrose in Milan who answered all of his objections to the Bible. Impressed, Augustine considered this his calling and converted to Christianity.
The two stories of conversion have several differences as well as similarities. The first difference is that they happened during different times in history. At the time of Paul around 33 A.D., the Christians faced a lot of persecution for their faith. Saul was one of the persecutors who took part in the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7: 57) when Augustine converted everyone was free to practice their faith. They were converted for different reasons; Augustine was in search of life’s truth which he found in Christianity while Paul was converted to stop persecuting Christians and also to spread the teachings of Christianity.
The similarities are that both of their conversions happened through divine intervention. Saul was on a journey to persecute Christians when he encountered a flash of light and the voice of Jesus speaking to him. Augustine heard the song of a child saying, “pick it up and read it” (Augustine) which he interpreted to be God directing him to begin reading the bible. Similarly, after their conversions, the two men lived very different lives compared to before they became Christians. Before they were sinful; Saul a murderer and Augustine a fornicator but they changed. In conclusion, Augustine and Paul give a remarkable example of how a person can transform from one way of life to another.
Works Cited
Augustine, Saint. The confessions. Clark, 1876.
Conzelmann, Hans, et al. Acts of the Apostles. Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 1988.
