Augustine is considered by many scholars to be the third most influential leader in the history of the Christian Church. His role in shaping Christian teachings, they claim, is surpassed only by that of Jesus and Paul. His writings influenced the clergy and laity for more than a thousand years from the early Middle Ages until the Protestant Reformation. Some of his doctrine is still used in many Christian denominations today.
Healing ministries in the
early Christian Church
Augustine's life was as complex and diverse as his theology. He was born in North Africa in A.D. 342, and he did not become a Christian until his early thirties. His youth was marked by promiscuity and licentiousness, which influenced his views on original sin. He also embraced the idea of predestination, which envisioned a small ecclesiastical elite ruling over a corrupt and degenerate society destined to eternal damnation. God's love and grace, he wrote, are available only to a chosen few.
