62: Augustine's Response to the Sack of Rome and Theological Battles. Professor Katherine Conybeare discusses Augustine, the African, and his response to the 410 AD sacking of Rome, which motivated him to write The City of God. The work defends Christianity b

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John Batchelor

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🗓️ 8 November 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

Augustine's Response to the Sack of Rome and Theological Battles. Professor Katherine Conybeare discusses Augustine, the African, and his response to the 410 AD sacking of Rome, which motivated him to write The City of God. The work defends Christianity by arguing Rome was always vulnerable. The source also covers the "rigged" Council of Carthage against the Donatists, Augustine's role in developing the just war theory, and his debate against Pelagianism, which led to the formulation of original sin, transmitted through sexual intercourse.

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0:00.0	This is CBS Eye on the World.
0:08.5	Here's John Batchelor.
0:10.4	Continuing with Professor Catherine Coney Bear,
0:14.5	Brynmark College, the author of the new book, Augustine the African.
0:19.2	Augustine has had his adventure in life, early life.
0:22.3	He's very ambitious.
0:23.2	He's very gifted.
0:24.8	He's been to Rome.
0:25.8	He's been to Milan.
0:27.0	He's now back in North Africa, his home.
0:30.5	And because he's so skilled and everybody knows about him, as a man of great rhetorical skills, He's invited to be the co-bishop of Hippo,
0:42.3	a Roman town on the North African coast, what is now Algeria. However, Carthage is the big
0:49.1	town in the area. Carthage rebuilt from the destruction by the Roman Empire hundreds of years before.
0:56.6	This is not about Carthage. This is about an event that takes place in Rome. The sacking of Rome,
1:04.3	it's called. It happens in August of 410 AD. Christianity is the religion of the empire at this point. The Roman gods have been set
1:14.9	aside. They no longer take care of the temples. However, Rome is still the sentimental favorite
1:21.6	of everybody, even though the emperor now lives in Ravenna. And the North African church is
1:27.2	not dependent upon what happens in Rome,
1:30.5	but it's inspirational and frightening to the Roman patrons of the temples and to the upper class.
1:39.7	Augustine is neither of those, but the sacking of Rome means everything to Roman upper class people
1:46.9	who are arriving in North Africa as a refuge after the sacking of their city by Alaric the
1:52.7	Goth, who was a Christian when he sacked the city. All of that is background for the next
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