to really take Augustine as a person,

and not just as some stray thoughts

you can cobble together into your own version

of a church father that never existed.

To really take Augustine requires a very Catholic podcast. I'm your host for today's episode Chloe Langer and

I'm joined here by Joe Hushmeyer of Holy Family School of Faith.

Thanks for joining the Shadow Joe.

Absolutely, Lord.

When you bring up Saints with your Protestant brothers and sisters,

Saints tend to be a point of contention,

something that we don't see eye to eye on.

But when you bring up Saint Augustine, the tone of the conversation can change.

How do Protestants and Catholic theologians talk about Saint Augustine of Hippo?

Well, you'll find obviously some variation within Protestantism as on any topic.

But in general, the more theologically inclined Protestants

are aware of the deep indebtedness we have both as Catholics and as Protestants

to the theology of Saint Augustine. He does a great job of harmonizing

what the scripture says, of drawing it out and really clearly presenting on a lot of doctrines,

including original sin and others that maybe wouldn't have been as immediately obvious on first glance.

So from the Catholic side side you've got people like

Pope Benedict the 16th, brilliant theologian and he refers to him as the

greatest father of the Latin Church. So in terms of the whole history of the West, this is the greatest church father.

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