St. Augustine and the Lutheran Intellectual Tradition

The Augustine Institute is inspired by the living heritage of St. Augustine of Hippo. St. Augustine is the fourth-century North African spiritual patron of the later Augustinian monastic order within which Martin Luther began his own church ministry and university career.

Augustine's profound contribution to both orthodox Christianity and Western civilization was his dialectical correlation of faith and reason. He brought the Judeo-Christian beliefs of the ancient church into constant and productive engagement with the variety of competing cultures within Graeco-Roman civilization. He did so in fidelity to the mission of the church to witness to the power of the Trinitarian Lord to heal human sin and to fulfill classical virtues with both divine judgment and grace.

Augustine's resultant "Christian Realism" was deeply rooted spiritually in the apostolic teachings of St. Paul. This bold theology of engagement with the world bore fruit in both church and society via the Reformation witness of Martin Luther.

Martin Luther was both an Augustinian monk and a university professor. Had he not insisted on fidelity to both of these callings, the Protestant Reformation would not have unfolded as it did, and the modern world would not have taken the shape it did.

Lutheranism is a distinctive expression of the dialectical relationship between faith and learning articulated forcefully by St. Augustine. From its beginnings, Lutheranism at its best has energetically and distinctively affirmed the role of learning both as an expression of faith and as a corrective to potential misuses of faith both in the church and in society.

Lutheran intellectuals and Lutheran colleges and universities have played significant roles in the life and culture of the western world, including the United States, for hundreds of years — and they continue to do so. Part of the reason for this sustained record of faithful excellence is that it is undergirded by the vital heritage of Augustine of Hippo and Luther of Wittenberg.

As a college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Carthage College affirms the rich connections between faith and learning that have been part of the Christian intellectual tradition for two millennia. The Augustine Institute seeks to build on that tradition, especially on the dimension of it carried by Lutherans. Carthage College houses the Augustine Institute as a public service both to the church and to the world.

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Christian Realism: From Paul to Augustine to Luther