A Day with St Augustine

Sr Kristina CRSS & Sr Emmy OSU travelled from Belgium to lead us in a day full of reflection and new insights into the writing of Augustine of Hippo on Saturday 24th May 2008 in Chelmsford

Sr Emmy set the scene  of Augustine’s place and time with maps and pictures illustrating the history and geography to emphasise what important influences these were on his work and life.

Sr Kristina focused particularly on book 10 of the Confessions reminding us that the first 9 books are history whereas book 10 gives us the reflections of the mature Augustine.

Both Sisters emphasised the fact that Augustine’s works are always open to reinterpretation in the light of contemporary faith and understanding rather than being definitive. 

The thirty three participants were able to enjoy the May sunshine with their picnic lunches and then spent the afternoon in reflection and sharing over a selection of texts from Book 10 before joining in the closing liturgy of Evening Prayer of the feast of Corpus Christi.

The book ‘Augustine for Armchair Theologians’ by Stephen A. Cooper was highly recommended - Westminster/John Knox Press, U.S. (1 Dec 2002) - ISBN-10: 0664223729/ ISBN-13: 978-0664223724  - priced £7.67 on amazon.co.uk