42: Augustine the African: Life, Conversion, and Conflict Guest: Professor Catherine Conybeare Professor Catherine Conybeare discusses Augustine the African, born in Tagaste in North Africa, who spoke Latin but was not fluent in Punic. Augustine moved to Mila
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 1 November 2025
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The weather. Tomorrow, expect a biting cold front. Hmm, how naughty. I wonder what I'll be |
| 0:06.9 | wearing or taking off. The night will be wild and untamed. Expect heavy, lashing rain that'll soak you |
| 0:13.8 | to the skin. By Monday, temperatures will rise slowly but surely reaching their peak in the afternoon. |
| 0:21.2 | Not in the mood for miserable weather? |
| 0:23.5 | Fly cheaply to Turkey with Sun Express. |
| 0:26.3 | Sun Express, non-stop sunshine. |
| 0:34.5 | This is CBSI in the world. |
| 0:36.7 | I'm John Batchel. |
| 0:37.7 | Continuing with Professor Catherine Conibert of Brynmar College, her new book is Augustine the African. |
| 0:45.6 | These moments in the 380s are the only time he will not be in Africa, which is amazing |
| 0:52.7 | given that he's presumed to be a Catholic saint attached to Rome, |
| 0:58.8 | the Roman Catholic Church. Yes, he was, but he spent his life in Africa, not these years. He goes to |
| 1:05.0 | Milan, and Ambrose is the, as Catherine says, charismatic preacher, all of a sudden knock, knock on the door, Monica |
| 1:14.9 | shows up. Why? Why does mom chase after him and what does she want to do for him, |
| 1:20.7 | Catherine? Monica, beyond wanting to keep a motherly eye on him, once, as he portrays it, to secure his conversion to Christianity, Monica is utterly dismayed by Augustine's ongoing manicureism. |
| 1:43.3 | He's also become involved with astronomers, and she wants to |
| 1:51.2 | nudge him to embrace the Christian church. She is also professionally ambitious for him, and she |
| 1:58.4 | wants to make a good marriage for him. She comes under the spell of |
| 2:05.1 | dominant Bishop Ambrose, who tells Augustine he's lucky to have a mother like her. |
| 2:13.2 | And she wants him to marry properly, and what does she do about it? And this is, Catherine, |
| 2:18.8 | this is the coolest part of his life. Please explain. It's terrible. Monica sends away |
| 2:28.1 | the young woman with whom Augustine has been living for 14 years and with whom he has a son, Adéodatus, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from John Batchelor, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of John Batchelor and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

