Chose Augustine for my confirmation name. Learned about him when I was studying Latin in school. The bit where he goes, "Please don't use scripture to make nonsensical arguments about science. It just makes us look dumb and people won't listen to the actual wisdom we have to offer." Really resonated with my background.
Wow he championed that as well this guy must have been one of the most important church fathers….alwsy seems like the ones that start far away are led closest to the lord
@@Inucroft “Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and experience. “Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men. If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods and on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason? Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although “they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion [1 Timothy 1.7].” (The Literal Meaning of Genesis, Book 1 Chapter 19 Paragraph 39) The translation I read when I was studying Latin was a bit different, but the general idea is the same.
My favorite section of his "City of God" is when he discussed the issue of chastity, or the lack thereof. Many times girls or women during war were violated and then considered impure. He argued if it was done against their will they were still as chaste as before. You couldn't shame a woman for not being virgin. Ane she had no reason to do herself in for shame, as she had nothing to be ashamed of. Ahead of his time in that.
It's fascinating reading some of these comments and finding all the ways in which Augustine's teachings were incredibly valuable and then looking at others and seeing the real harm he did to the faith as well.
This is the modern Catholic Church's view on 🍇 victims. You have to want to sin to sin. 🍇 isn't an act of will but another's will is imposed on you instead. So if you get 🍇 you're not in sin.
Holy crap, I'm old enough to remember when Blue said "I'm totally NOT interested in the Warhammer 40,000 lore"...and then he goes and uses the Horus Heresy logo from WH40K because "Horus Heresy" is probably STILL the only lore term from WH40K he knows. METHINKS THOU DOTH PROTEST TOO MUCH, HERETIC! 😛 ...I think I'd still love the chance to play SM2 with Blue. All my classes and their main weapons are maxed, I just finished all the achievements (Defender of Humanity, y'all!) on Christmas Eve, and I got all the cosmetics including the new Dark Angel stuff. So now I'm just spinning my wheels until PVE prestige ranks become a thing and I have something else to work/play/grind for on SM2. Carrying Blue to max level on all his classes in the meantime might be fun. (Is he still having trouble with his Bulwark? 😁)
There was a book in my house growing up called "Saints Behaving Badly," that included a Cliff's Notes of Augustine's life along with many others. My personal favorite was Moses the Black, a mercenary or bandit who wanted to serve the most fearsome lord of all. Purportedly tried to sell his soul to the devil until he realized the devil fled from God, so he became a monk
😂😂😂 Salvation has many paths to it! I read “most fearsome Lord of all” and had an idea of where this is going, but I never would’ve imagined “trying to sell his soul to the devil only to realize that the devil himself runs from God” was part of the lead up!
Saint Moses is badass. Slave turned marauder turned monk. I heard he converted because he tried to raid a monastery but was so touched by the humility of the monks that he joined them instead of stealing from them. He even became the most merciful of the monks. When a brother was supposed to be punished, Moses walked in with a leaking jar. When questioned why he brought it, he said "my sins trail out behind me, yet I am supposed to condem another?" And the other monks relented on the punishment. It reminds me of when Jesus saved an adulteress from being stoned to death by saying to the mob, "Whoever is without sin can cast the first stone."
For context about the larger idea of the Pear controversy in The Confessions, Augustine tells a story about how as a wild and troublesome youth he once stole some pears from an orchard and he considers this the evilest and most vile thing he ever did, even more than all the times he had sex in churches. The reason being, according to Augustine, is that he did not steal the peaches because he was hungry nor because he wanted them (he ended up just chucking them at some pigs), but rather simply because he could and therefore he was acting in a manner that was (in his mind) imposing his will upon this peaches and therefore was playing at being God.
Yup. He considered it evil for evil's sake. The pleasure was just on destroying, taking away someone's property, and therefore, had no redeeming qualities in it
There’s another version I heard in college, but the lad in question is the Emperor - Constantine! Now, it’s probably not a real thing that ever happened, but it’s a pretty common component of Christian philosophy about the humanity’s nature.
And then several centuries later in the 1990's a Christian Rock band called Petra wrote a song about this story. (St. Augustine's Pears. It's actually pretty catchy imo 😂)
I saw “Saint got dragged into Sainthood” and thought you were going to talk about Martin of Tours, another 4th-century saint who tried to hide in a barn to avoid having to do a miracle but got called out by a goose honking at him and giving away his hiding spot. 😂 (I only know about that story because there’s a indie RPG where you play as an Archangel shapeshifted AS one of those geese.)
Augustine of Hippo is also probably one of the most important people in history as well, seen as though he's one of the earliest people we actually know a lot about, with him being tied with Cicero himself in terms of the amount of knowledge we know about their lives. The only difference is that Cicero didn't admit to everyone what his search history was like when he was a teen.
I think it's safe to say that Augustine is one of, if not the very first HUMAN that we find in history. Other accounts of people exist, obviously, even autobiographies, but those often focus more on what people did rather than who people were, and for philosophical treatises the opposite often goes: most things we know about Socrates are the alleged opinions he held, and little, for example, about how he got those opinions. Even if you do not subscribe to Augustine's view of the world, he lays it out so clearly, in all of its facets, and is such an open book about his life, that you can't help but understand where he's coming from.
Most important human in history? what utter nonsense. There dozens of people that i didn’t even have to spend 2 seconds thinking about more important and impactful than Augustine from Rulers, Generals, Scientists, Inventors, to Philosophers.
@@Andre-c6z I mean in the study of history. Yes someone like Cyrus the Great is more important, but he doesn't have nearly as much definitive information on him than Augustine. Augustine wrote nearly everything in his personal life, including what he did wrong, with no biases being given by him. That's something that a lot of other historical figures will sadly not have, with sources sometimes being too glorifying or spiteful to the figure.
@ Having more information ≠ importance. Proclaiming someone as one of the most important or the most important person in history is already a pretty stupid endeavor. There are dozens of people that could fit the bill each more worthy than Augustine in that regard. There no such person who is so important that they could be given such a grand title.
@@noukan42 the main problem would've been making sure the hippos didn't chow down on your own troops. Ain't no party like a hippo party because a hippo party don't stop with the enemy. Now I'm imagining all the enemy troops laughing their asses off as the hippos turn on the people who dragged them to the battlefield and are using whips/etc on them...
@@shadowldrago yeah, and despite being herbivores and the absolute unchallenged apex of the animal combat ranks, they STILL chase down other animals and kill them purely because they like doing it. It's not territorial, it's not defence, it's murder for fun. Terrifying.
I often think about that classic question, is it better to be born good or become good through great effort. I'd argue Christianity is all about that redemption, overcoming sins and becoming good through effort and the Word. Augustine is a great example of that idea.
@MatthiasPendragon Skyrim is quite old now, I think it's appropriate. Besides it's a great quote. Always resonated with me, and with Christianity in my opinion.
Christianity isn't really about either. Christianity denies that anybody other than Jesus (and, in some traditions, Mary) was born good. But it also denies that we can become good through our own efforts. All the major Christian traditions teach that we can only become good through the free gift of God's grace. Even traditions like Catholicism which teach justification through faith plus works believe that the works are a working out of the faith, rather than s "simple" matter of becoming good through effort.
Ah i lnow about this guy because in a flat earth "debate," i saw someone bring him up, and the flat earther laughed at him, saying hippo wasnt a place it was an animal, so he didnt exist lmao
99% of the time people bringing up Augustine just refer to him as Augustine. There is another St Augustine, but Augustine of Canterbury is only relevant to the history of England (specifically he was an important part of the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity). Whilst Augustine is a crucial figure in the development of Western Christianity and Western civilisation.
I heard of this guy literally just this morning from a tumblr post stolen and put onto pinterest. I looked him up randomly and skimmed his wikipedia article and now suddenly I see this video on it? man. it's crazy
as someone who's parish is dedicated to St. Augustine, THAT'S MY GOATTTT. I thank you for making this because i felt so guilty not knowing about this amazing man, who got baptized, ordained, and bishop'ed in a single week
What I know as a Catholic: Augustine is North African and his mother was apparently part of the Berber tribe. And yes, Saint Monica is my Confirmation saint.
Well, there wasn't just _one_ Berber tribe. Berbers (or Amazigh, as they prefer to be called) are not a monolith. It'd be like saying "His mother was of the Native American tribe." We all know there are literally thousands of Native American tribes, so you have to be a little more specific. We don't know from which Berber tribe Monica was, but we can be sure of her Berber heritage nonetheless because Berber is an ethnolinguistic umbrella term covering many different tribes, all of whom share in common similar cultural practices, related languages, and indigeneity to North Africa.
Saint Monica is the most Christian mother who ever christened, even the calvinists with their disapproval for Catholic sainthood respect her and her son.
If St Augustine is the Patron Saint of the Three Stages of Cradle Catholicism. St Monica is the patron saint for all the moms(including my mom) who had to deal with their stage two kids. May their patience and grace endure forevermore.
considering how little regard the loudest and most powerful self-described Christians have for the teachings of Rabbi Jesus, it's actually up for debate
St. Augustine was also a FIFA recognized official, famously serving as a linesman alongside St. Thomas Aquinas and under referee Confucius in the final between Germany and Greece (Greece controversially won 1-0).
@@screamingalgae9380 Funnily enough, all the match reports I can find on that match don't list a MOTM. They don't even have the Greek manager listed. Probably a recording error and their captain Socrates was player-manager.
@@JeremyBaconThe1st Actually, Demetrios wasn't even capped for the match. With Germany carving up England's midfield trio of Bentham, Locke, and Hobbes in the semis, Greece fielded a defensively minded 5-2-3 lineup that day (it was the 70's) with the back comprising of Epictetus, Aristotle, "Chopper" Sophocles, Empedocles of Akragas, and Heraclitus.
I really appreciate your historical takes on religion, you're always respectful and make it clear that you're not making any statememts on the validity of the religion itself. I'm an Orthodox Christian so not only is it a treat to actually hear people in America know we exist, but I also appreciate learning about Christianity from a purely acedemical perspective.
Fun fact: the hippos may not have a saint of their own, but the dogs do-St. Guinefort. Yes, probably legendary, cult discouraged, etc., but it’s there.
He is what is know as a "folk saint", they are non-official saints that weren't canonized or even de-canonized by the church, but people still treat them like saints. Guinefort can't be a saint because "dogs can't be saints", Santa Muerte was clearly integrated from pre-christian religions, and there are figures like Anastacia who mashs the "we don't have proof of their existance and they are too recent for we to simply claim that it was lost to time", "being a black slave with blue eyes isn't really realistic" and the "no real conection with christianity in life." I find this topic really interesting because it shows how people rally behind this symbols even if they are not official
@@luckluca8982, plus, Guinefort correlates with the folktale of the Faithful Hound. The legendary saints and almost-saints are by far the most entertaining.
Goodness, righteousness, grace, enlightenment. However you choose to call it, it’s a dynamic state. Not a static one that you achieve once and then never have to think about again. It’s a continuous effort, always trying to learn new ways to better yourself or improve the lives of those around you. And when you fail in your search (and you will, often) you allow yourself a breather, pick yourself back up and try again.
As much as I lolled at the joke and appreciate the ace highlight, it's more this production hack brought to you by temperance and self control (since Blue literally just went over the evidence of Augustine not being an asexual)
I've always appreciated the relatively pragmatic cope of City of God. I don't christianity myself, but I've read a lot of the texts to better understand my western society, and City of God is one of the most interestingly grounded ones imo.
Been waiting for you to take up this saint! I've been reading Hannah Arendt's dissertation with a friend (all about Augustine) and have been floored to find what he was saying and the Buddhist teacher Shantideva to be astoundingly close. And I think Augustine had a 400 year head start.
Asexual Overlord Blue can't hurt me, Asexual Overlord Blue can't hurt me.... *_[Dark Souls Boss music plays]_* 5:33 - *_[Health bar appears, "Asexual Overlord Blue". He raises his hand forward, summoning a hippo with a pope hat, second health bar appears below the first. "Bishop Hippo"]_*
I 100% agree, being Asexual has given me so much free time. Also for my Crusades class I used Augustine’s Just War theory to determine whether the Crusades were justified. Which to summarize briefly I said that they were according to Augustine’s just war theory but not according to Christian beliefs and rhetoric.
I think that's a fair assessment, especially when looking at the juridical basis for the Crusades as a way to prop up Eastern Rome/Byzantium against Seljuk invasions from the East. The main problem of course was that the kind of people attracted to the Crusades were mostly either opportunistic schemers looking to enrich themselves more than defend the faith, retinues of said lords who just followed their paycheck, peasants with zero training, discipline and self-preservation, or kings who actually had better things to do, like not have their crown be torn apart when they didn't show their face for 2 years. Ironically, the chivalrous knights traveling from home and heath to defend Christianity, the supposed face of the Crusades, while those definitely existed, were a huge minority to the not-chivalrous people making the same journey. And yet, the influence of the faith was so large, that even this rag-tag band of robber barons, peasants, actual somewhat chivalrous warriors and soon-to-be lackland kings could be united under the cross, at least long enough for not every crusade to fail miserably, and the first crusade even to be entirely successful. The fact they became such a threat to the islamic empires of the Middle East is mind-boggling if you think about it.
@ I mentioned that in my essay as well but forgot to mention it here. I talked about how the Fourth Crusade wasn’t justified because of how long the crusaders spent in Constantinople trying to get their money back for their assistance in placing Alexius on the throne.
Pope: "I have a cunning plan - why don't we get all these homicidically boisterous knights to go somewhere else? Like, Jerusalem? Get us and the peasantry some peace and quiet?"
For a channel that started with a college kid covering Shakespeare to a beloved channel full of history, literature, madness and tropes. OSP has come a long ways. Look forward to seeing what the new year holds.
"This production hack bought to you by: asexuality" Counterpoint: no artist works faster or better than the ones powered entirely by their own lustful sins.
Additional counterpoint: Asexuals _shouldn't_ claim Augustine as one of their own anyway. _Choosing_ not to have sex against your natural inclinations is not at all identical to and should never be mistaken for being naturally uninterested in or incapable of desiring sex.
@@FirebladesSong Blue is married (his wife pops up as "Cyan" on the channel) and in OSPs first Q&A, He described himself as straight. So no, he isn't.
I only know about Augustine cuz he was the source that told how women were beaten in his town. I kid you not that is literally the only thing which augustine was known for in class 11 cbse books.
Typically the greatest contributors to the long-term development of Christianity have been people who started so far away from the core goals of love, virtue, and forgiveness. I think that’s part of why, the faith has endured so much: the core of it is finding a way to move forward as faithful but flawed people in a flawed world and that requires forgiveness.
I love the enthusiasm you have for sharing history, it's wild stories, and it's far-reaching implications... It absolutely makes me enjoy a subject i always suffered through in school
So excited when I saw the notif for this one! Take a wild guess where the August in my username comes from, because MAN I relate to this guy. You did him justice! Great history makers episode 💙
I love blue so much. I used to be a Baptist preacher in my younger days. I left the church a long time ago but Blue seems like the kinda guy I could lose hours and hours debating history and theology with even though I don't believe it anymore
I live in Santa Monica, California, which is named in honor of Augustine's mother. There's a cool modernist statue of her in the park that runs along the top of the bluffs overlooking the beach. One nice thing about living here is that it gives me a great "Did you know..." conversational opening to launch into a discussion of Augustine's weird and wonderful life story. Needless to say, I'm wildly popular at parties.
I just wrote a research proposal on the commodification of ancient relics. St Augustine and st Ambrose of Milan were a big part of it. I still need to write the paper next semester so this video is perfectly timed! You should do a video on Thomas Becket. His assassination I’d absolutely wild.
I love the insersion of the osp version of Augustine in the old painting! The painting's hand over the image was what caused me to not initially notice lol
The confessions is one of my favorite books ever. Tying theology with a personal story they lays bare everything in the man was both touching and intellectually stimulating.
Had to read The Confessions for a philosophy class in college, and he was my prof’s favorite philosopher. He literally could not disagree with this guy if Jesus himself said he was crazy. A very entertaining class that one was.
I bought a translation of his On the Trinity for a philosophical presentation about the unified nature of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There are 15 chapters in it, and I did a presentation so long on bits and pieces of 3 of those chapters that I remember my professor cutting me off for time. I have not touched that book since. It scares me.
I love St. Augustine’s journey toward faith so much that I chose him as my confirmation saint. His story of overcoming a life of sin and hedonism to find faith was insanely moving
Hey Blue! I doubt you'll read this but I recently got back from a trip to Italy and your history videos made me so excited to finally see it!! (Don't worry I saw MANY Domes!)
Here's a request for a future video Blue: the history of Japan. What do we know about Japan's origins, how did the samurai come about, what caused Japan to fall into the Warring States period?
9:55 You did a fantastic job, Blue, on summing up all of the morally dubious, potentially heretical, and sincerely devout life of piety that is Augustine. If you haven’t read City of God, merely for the historic benefits, I’d recommend. Admittedly, there was concern as other videos had glaring historic or liberal scholastic (counter-historic) errors in past videos on Christendom’s beliefs/historic figures, so I put off watching this until I had time to respond. But, this was truly well done. Especially the hippo heresy and other sarcastic comments. Magnifico!
Also, another fun fact about Saint Augustine is that he wrote a little bit about a matter of linguistics, namely the way of speaking Latin in Africa. According to him, his compatriots could not distinguish between long and short vowels (though that distinction was beginning to give way, or already had given way, to a distinction between open and close ones), which means that there is a high possibility that his dialect of Vulgar Latin would have come from the same soup as Sardinian! Imagine then, if African Romance had survived, and today looked like the several sardinian varieties.
@@crusaderACR I couldn't find the exact text, but I saw that he talks about it in "De Ordine", where he writes that the Italians found mistakes in his accent, but so did he in theirs.
I hope that next year, you guys try branching out and do more history and mythology to do with places other than Europe again. I am still waiting on you to acknowledge Australia exists 🇦🇺
"Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are." - Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354 - 430 AD
My Sophomore year i had to do a project on a saint and was assigned Augustine. When i told my grandma she rolled her eyes and went "thank GOD for Monica."
One of my favorite videos you've done. Funny, important, and surprisingly relatable to the modern day. Also did you see Venice was a $2,000 clue on Jeopardy last night?
My favorite Augustine quote, 'Lord give me chastity and continence, but do not give it yet.'
Augustine bargaining with God for Just A Few More Sins before he gets his life on track.
-B
Oh my
Was looking for this quote, thanks hahahaha
could I have just a _little more_ peril?
Man, I haven’t thought of The Saint in a decade.
"Too Sinful to Function" ... there's an excuse to call out sick from work.
Naw, if that were an acceptable excuse, Miami would immediately shut down
😂@@paulcalixte2223
@@paulcalixte2223 Every city would. Every town too, pretty much.
Depending on how chummy you are with your coworkers and boss(es)... this could 100% work. They might just understand.
@@WalterWhiteFootballSharing Also every government
Chose Augustine for my confirmation name. Learned about him when I was studying Latin in school. The bit where he goes, "Please don't use scripture to make nonsensical arguments about science. It just makes us look dumb and people won't listen to the actual wisdom we have to offer." Really resonated with my background.
Wow he championed that as well this guy must have been one of the most important church fathers….alwsy seems like the ones that start far away are led closest to the lord
do you have a direct quote or reference for that passage?
@@Inucroft according to the Harvard Icthus, it's from The Literal Meaning of Genesis, Book 1 Chapter 19 Paragraph 39.
@@honeyjm8324 “He who has been forgiven much, loves much.” - Luke 7:47
@@Inucroft “Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and experience.
“Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men. If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods and on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason? Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although “they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion [1 Timothy 1.7].” (The Literal Meaning of Genesis, Book 1 Chapter 19 Paragraph 39)
The translation I read when I was studying Latin was a bit different, but the general idea is the same.
My favorite section of his "City of God" is when he discussed the issue of chastity, or the lack thereof. Many times girls or women during war were violated and then considered impure. He argued if it was done against their will they were still as chaste as before. You couldn't shame a woman for not being virgin. Ane she had no reason to do herself in for shame, as she had nothing to be ashamed of. Ahead of his time in that.
It's fascinating reading some of these comments and finding all the ways in which Augustine's teachings were incredibly valuable and then looking at others and seeing the real harm he did to the faith as well.
@@danwar2489 What do you mean by harm?
Augustine is literally the opposite of whoever wrote down Lucretia's story lmao
@@danwar2489such as?
This is the modern Catholic Church's view on 🍇 victims. You have to want to sin to sin. 🍇 isn't an act of will but another's will is imposed on you instead. So if you get 🍇 you're not in sin.
I never imagined blue ever saying the words the Hippo Heresy.
Still better than the Horse Hearsay. Men should not be defined by equine gossip
I just picture Horus from Warhammer 40k but his armor's been made up to look like a goofy hippo costume.
@@spartanhawk7637Better yet: a goofy horse costume
Holy crap, I'm old enough to remember when Blue said "I'm totally NOT interested in the Warhammer 40,000 lore"...and then he goes and uses the Horus Heresy logo from WH40K because "Horus Heresy" is probably STILL the only lore term from WH40K he knows. METHINKS THOU DOTH PROTEST TOO MUCH, HERETIC! 😛
...I think I'd still love the chance to play SM2 with Blue. All my classes and their main weapons are maxed, I just finished all the achievements (Defender of Humanity, y'all!) on Christmas Eve, and I got all the cosmetics including the new Dark Angel stuff. So now I'm just spinning my wheels until PVE prestige ranks become a thing and I have something else to work/play/grind for on SM2. Carrying Blue to max level on all his classes in the meantime might be fun. (Is he still having trouble with his Bulwark? 😁)
Augustine's 490,000 Holy Gavels
2:17 - genuinely love this editing choice of placing the bespoke Red-drawn face of the dude over the public-domain art of them from history
I don't think they've done this before, and this looks like it took a LOT of work! It looks brain-scramblingly real!
It definitely helps in identifying where Augustine is within the picture 😉
There was a book in my house growing up called "Saints Behaving Badly," that included a Cliff's Notes of Augustine's life along with many others. My personal favorite was Moses the Black, a mercenary or bandit who wanted to serve the most fearsome lord of all. Purportedly tried to sell his soul to the devil until he realized the devil fled from God, so he became a monk
😂😂😂 Salvation has many paths to it!
I read “most fearsome Lord of all” and had an idea of where this is going, but I never would’ve imagined “trying to sell his soul to the devil only to realize that the devil himself runs from God” was part of the lead up!
That sounds like St Christopher
Saint Moses is badass. Slave turned marauder turned monk. I heard he converted because he tried to raid a monastery but was so touched by the humility of the monks that he joined them instead of stealing from them.
He even became the most merciful of the monks. When a brother was supposed to be punished, Moses walked in with a leaking jar. When questioned why he brought it, he said "my sins trail out behind me, yet I am supposed to condem another?" And the other monks relented on the punishment. It reminds me of when Jesus saved an adulteress from being stoned to death by saying to the mob, "Whoever is without sin can cast the first stone."
For context about the larger idea of the Pear controversy in The Confessions, Augustine tells a story about how as a wild and troublesome youth he once stole some pears from an orchard and he considers this the evilest and most vile thing he ever did, even more than all the times he had sex in churches. The reason being, according to Augustine, is that he did not steal the peaches because he was hungry nor because he wanted them (he ended up just chucking them at some pigs), but rather simply because he could and therefore he was acting in a manner that was (in his mind) imposing his will upon this peaches and therefore was playing at being God.
Yup. He considered it evil for evil's sake. The pleasure was just on destroying, taking away someone's property, and therefore, had no redeeming qualities in it
There’s another version I heard in college, but the lad in question is the Emperor - Constantine!
Now, it’s probably not a real thing that ever happened, but it’s a pretty common component of Christian philosophy about the humanity’s nature.
And then several centuries later in the 1990's a Christian Rock band called Petra wrote a song about this story. (St. Augustine's Pears. It's actually pretty catchy imo 😂)
“Without God, what am I but a guide to my own destruction?”
- St. Augustine
That’s a great quote
I saw “Saint got dragged into Sainthood” and thought you were going to talk about Martin of Tours, another 4th-century saint who tried to hide in a barn to avoid having to do a miracle but got called out by a goose honking at him and giving away his hiding spot. 😂 (I only know about that story because there’s a indie RPG where you play as an Archangel shapeshifted AS one of those geese.)
I'm sorry but now I'm just imagining that as Untitled Goose Game DLC 😂
@MysteriumArcanum Untitled goose game is just what they did in their down time
You can't just say "archangel shapeshifted into goose" and not drop the game's title
@@aBlackMage It’s called “THERE BUT FOR THE GEESE OF GOD,” by Grant Howitt.
Of COURSE it's a Grant Howitt. Amazing
Blue: Knows full well that "hippo" means "horse."
Red: Sings "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" while drawing a hippopotamus
"Only a hippo saint will do."
There's a papal law that dogs don't have souls, and therefore cannot become pope.
HORSES on the other hand...
@@Healermain15 Was that because of the (folk) dog saint? They needed to clarify that Good Boy wasn't a valid path to canonization?
Augustine of Hippo is also probably one of the most important people in history as well, seen as though he's one of the earliest people we actually know a lot about, with him being tied with Cicero himself in terms of the amount of knowledge we know about their lives.
The only difference is that Cicero didn't admit to everyone what his search history was like when he was a teen.
I think it's safe to say that Augustine is one of, if not the very first HUMAN that we find in history. Other accounts of people exist, obviously, even autobiographies, but those often focus more on what people did rather than who people were, and for philosophical treatises the opposite often goes: most things we know about Socrates are the alleged opinions he held, and little, for example, about how he got those opinions. Even if you do not subscribe to Augustine's view of the world, he lays it out so clearly, in all of its facets, and is such an open book about his life, that you can't help but understand where he's coming from.
Most important human in history? what utter nonsense. There dozens of people that i didn’t even have to spend 2 seconds thinking about more important and impactful than Augustine from Rulers, Generals, Scientists, Inventors, to Philosophers.
@@Andre-c6z I mean in the study of history. Yes someone like Cyrus the Great is more important, but he doesn't have nearly as much definitive information on him than Augustine. Augustine wrote nearly everything in his personal life, including what he did wrong, with no biases being given by him. That's something that a lot of other historical figures will sadly not have, with sources sometimes being too glorifying or spiteful to the figure.
@ Having more information ≠ importance.
Proclaiming someone as one of the most important or the most important person in history is already a pretty stupid endeavor. There are dozens of people that could fit the bill each more worthy than Augustine in that regard. There no such person who is so important that they could be given such a grand title.
Like OP said, knowing more information on someone doesn't make them more important, history or historiography.
Augustine pretty much ended up being the guidepost for “keeping the faith, even when everything else is crumbling”
Blue, c'mon. You can't just say "Hippo Heresy" and not give us a 2-hour documentary on the uprising of the world's chubbiest murder machines
If horus employed Hippos in battle, he would have won. Change my mind
@@noukan42Why? You're right. For being herbivores, hippos are remarkably vicious.
@@noukan42 the main problem would've been making sure the hippos didn't chow down on your own troops. Ain't no party like a hippo party because a hippo party don't stop with the enemy.
Now I'm imagining all the enemy troops laughing their asses off as the hippos turn on the people who dragged them to the battlefield and are using whips/etc on them...
@@shadowldrago yeah, and despite being herbivores and the absolute unchallenged apex of the animal combat ranks, they STILL chase down other animals and kill them purely because they like doing it. It's not territorial, it's not defence, it's murder for fun.
Terrifying.
Me: Ha ha Destiny 2 Cabal.
You yourself are a great orator. It's like listening to a well researched teacher rather than someone who is simply teaching from a lesson plan.
I often think about that classic question, is it better to be born good or become good through great effort. I'd argue Christianity is all about that redemption, overcoming sins and becoming good through effort and the Word. Augustine is a great example of that idea.
I love that a Skyrim quote has gained the reputation of "classic question"
@MatthiasPendragon Skyrim is quite old now, I think it's appropriate.
Besides it's a great quote. Always resonated with me, and with Christianity in my opinion.
Christianity isn't really about either. Christianity denies that anybody other than Jesus (and, in some traditions, Mary) was born good. But it also denies that we can become good through our own efforts. All the major Christian traditions teach that we can only become good through the free gift of God's grace. Even traditions like Catholicism which teach justification through faith plus works believe that the works are a working out of the faith, rather than s "simple" matter of becoming good through effort.
@@christianholbrook2686Oh, absolutely on both counts
Why can't we become good on our efforts?
Is it because we can't become good based on nothing?
Ah i lnow about this guy because in a flat earth "debate," i saw someone bring him up, and the flat earther laughed at him, saying hippo wasnt a place it was an animal, so he didnt exist lmao
That's why there's they saying 'Never argue with an idiot. They'll drag you down their level and beat you with experience.'
tbh i would've expected flerfer to assert hippos don't exist either and all videos showning them are cgi
@haroldshea3282 he also claims that Saint Thomas Aquinas isn't an authority on the bible because he was Catholic, so that means he isn't Christian.
99% of the time people bringing up Augustine just refer to him as Augustine. There is another St Augustine, but Augustine of Canterbury is only relevant to the history of England (specifically he was an important part of the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity). Whilst Augustine is a crucial figure in the development of Western Christianity and Western civilisation.
Astounding logic right there
The Hippo Heresy was also a lesser-known and rejected plot by Guy Fawkes which included unleashing hippo crates within the chambers of Parliament.
I assume the hippo crates were so that Parliament would swear an oath to do no harm, yes?
As a lifelong church history nerd, allow me to say I am Extremely impressed with this video. Happy New Year, OSP! Thanks for all you do!
I love that the JoCat "Smite" soundbyte has just become apart of the OST soundboard. Puts a big grin on my face every time.
1:02 “I say the hippo should get a saint of their own”
Isn’t that just St Francis of Assisi?
I don't get it?
@@Valery0p5he loved animals and could talk to them allegedly, though he seems to be more of a saint for wolves than hippos.
@catholiccrusader123 not just that, I think he is the patron saint of animals.
@@essneyallen6777 you are correct! He is the patron saint of animals.
As a Catholic and huge Augustine fan, I must say, this was a very good synopsis of this great Saint. Thank you.
I heard of this guy literally just this morning from a tumblr post stolen and put onto pinterest. I looked him up randomly and skimmed his wikipedia article and now suddenly I see this video on it? man. it's crazy
God is trying to tell you to read one of his works.
And even if you're not Christian, his works are still pretty good to know for his effects on Western thought, philosophy and morality.
Blue is my favorite history teacher, I have learned more and been able to retain more dollars to these videos that I never could in school
The Castlevania quotes did not just pass me by, Blue
What, where? I must have missed it.
I missed them. What were they?
@@mattcoyle1620 8:00
@@_D_P_ 8:00
@@scarlett6015 AH yes.
Professional theologian here, and this is a *fantastic* introduction to Augustine. Thank you for doing all this work!
as someone who's parish is dedicated to St. Augustine, THAT'S MY GOATTTT.
I thank you for making this because i felt so guilty not knowing about this amazing man, who got baptized, ordained, and bishop'ed in a single week
Honestly kinda shocked how much of the philosophy i recognize from when i went to church.
Dude really did some major ripples
As someone who's friends name is August-ine and not Uh-Gust-Ten I wholeheartedly agree with the pronunciation beef
As someone who can read IPA, Received Pronunciation agrees (somewhat) with Blue too, even if his disposition doesn't agree with IPA 😅
What I know as a Catholic: Augustine is North African and his mother was apparently part of the Berber tribe.
And yes, Saint Monica is my Confirmation saint.
Well, there wasn't just _one_ Berber tribe. Berbers (or Amazigh, as they prefer to be called) are not a monolith. It'd be like saying "His mother was of the Native American tribe." We all know there are literally thousands of Native American tribes, so you have to be a little more specific. We don't know from which Berber tribe Monica was, but we can be sure of her Berber heritage nonetheless because Berber is an ethnolinguistic umbrella term covering many different tribes, all of whom share in common similar cultural practices, related languages, and indigeneity to North Africa.
Saint Monica is the most Christian mother who ever christened, even the calvinists with their disapproval for Catholic sainthood respect her and her son.
If St Augustine is the Patron Saint of the Three Stages of Cradle Catholicism. St Monica is the patron saint for all the moms(including my mom) who had to deal with their stage two kids. May their patience and grace endure forevermore.
Blue: Hot take here but Jesus was the most important thing to Christianity
It's like it's in the name or something.
Only the hottest takes here on OSP
Also became very important to the stock JRPG plot! Thanks FFT!
considering how little regard the loudest and most powerful self-described Christians have for the teachings of Rabbi Jesus, it's actually up for debate
@dwc1964 This assumes the loudmouths actually debate.
St. Augustine was also a FIFA recognized official, famously serving as a linesman alongside St. Thomas Aquinas and under referee Confucius in the final between Germany and Greece (Greece controversially won 1-0).
Archimedes was MVP.
@@screamingalgae9380 Funnily enough, all the match reports I can find on that match don't list a MOTM. They don't even have the Greek manager listed. Probably a recording error and their captain Socrates was player-manager.
Saint Demetrios was a great defender in that match
@@JeremyBaconThe1st Actually, Demetrios wasn't even capped for the match. With Germany carving up England's midfield trio of Bentham, Locke, and Hobbes in the semis, Greece fielded a defensively minded 5-2-3 lineup that day (it was the 70's) with the back comprising of Epictetus, Aristotle, "Chopper" Sophocles, Empedocles of Akragas, and Heraclitus.
@@qdHazen what was Plethon doing that day?
I really appreciate your historical takes on religion, you're always respectful and make it clear that you're not making any statememts on the validity of the religion itself. I'm an Orthodox Christian so not only is it a treat to actually hear people in America know we exist, but I also appreciate learning about Christianity from a purely acedemical perspective.
Recently reread Confessions and that was...frustrating, so maybe this will be more fun.
@@AK-tr6lohis rant on babies is about how everything is corrupted by original sin, not that babies are super evil.
@@AK-tr6lo Way to miss the point.
Really? I felt the exact opposite. It felt like I finally met someone who gets it.
@@hyreonk That’s how I felt too, I was surprised at how relatable some of the stuff he was saying was so many millennia later
Fun fact: the hippos may not have a saint of their own, but the dogs do-St. Guinefort. Yes, probably legendary, cult discouraged, etc., but it’s there.
He is what is know as a "folk saint", they are non-official saints that weren't canonized or even de-canonized by the church, but people still treat them like saints. Guinefort can't be a saint because "dogs can't be saints", Santa Muerte was clearly integrated from pre-christian religions, and there are figures like Anastacia who mashs the "we don't have proof of their existance and they are too recent for we to simply claim that it was lost to time", "being a black slave with blue eyes isn't really realistic" and the "no real conection with christianity in life." I find this topic really interesting because it shows how people rally behind this symbols even if they are not official
Hippos need a saint
@@luckluca8982, plus, Guinefort correlates with the folktale of the Faithful Hound. The legendary saints and almost-saints are by far the most entertaining.
The goodest boi
I love that you can hear the JoCat "SMITE!" at 6:48
Easily one of my favorite church fathers. Right up there with St. Athanasius, St. Patrick, and St. Nicklas
Goodness, righteousness, grace, enlightenment. However you choose to call it, it’s a dynamic state. Not a static one that you achieve once and then never have to think about again. It’s a continuous effort, always trying to learn new ways to better yourself or improve the lives of those around you. And when you fail in your search (and you will, often) you allow yourself a breather, pick yourself back up and try again.
10:15 Blue, if it's any consolation, the Eastern Church pronounces 'Augustin' exactly the way you want to pronounce it.
As much as I lolled at the joke and appreciate the ace highlight, it's more this production hack brought to you by temperance and self control (since Blue literally just went over the evidence of Augustine not being an asexual)
I vote for that joke to be used in a possible Voltaire video.
I mean, he still did realize that stuff was no good for him 😅
I've always appreciated the relatively pragmatic cope of City of God. I don't christianity myself, but I've read a lot of the texts to better understand my western society, and City of God is one of the most interestingly grounded ones imo.
Been waiting for you to take up this saint! I've been reading Hannah Arendt's dissertation with a friend (all about Augustine) and have been floored to find what he was saying and the Buddhist teacher Shantideva to be astoundingly close. And I think Augustine had a 400 year head start.
Asexual Overlord Blue can't hurt me, Asexual Overlord Blue can't hurt me....
*_[Dark Souls Boss music plays]_*
5:33 - *_[Health bar appears, "Asexual Overlord Blue". He raises his hand forward, summoning a hippo with a pope hat, second health bar appears below the first. "Bishop Hippo"]_*
I want fan art of a chibi hippo wearing a pope's garments right now.
So excited for this, just started reading Augustine's Confessions.
Please do more like this!
I 100% agree, being Asexual has given me so much free time.
Also for my Crusades class I used Augustine’s Just War theory to determine whether the Crusades were justified. Which to summarize briefly I said that they were according to Augustine’s just war theory but not according to Christian beliefs and rhetoric.
As an allosexual, I agree. I could be writing poetry and philosophy, but instead I'm being a useless yearning mess.
I think that's a fair assessment, especially when looking at the juridical basis for the Crusades as a way to prop up Eastern Rome/Byzantium against Seljuk invasions from the East. The main problem of course was that the kind of people attracted to the Crusades were mostly either opportunistic schemers looking to enrich themselves more than defend the faith, retinues of said lords who just followed their paycheck, peasants with zero training, discipline and self-preservation, or kings who actually had better things to do, like not have their crown be torn apart when they didn't show their face for 2 years. Ironically, the chivalrous knights traveling from home and heath to defend Christianity, the supposed face of the Crusades, while those definitely existed, were a huge minority to the not-chivalrous people making the same journey.
And yet, the influence of the faith was so large, that even this rag-tag band of robber barons, peasants, actual somewhat chivalrous warriors and soon-to-be lackland kings could be united under the cross, at least long enough for not every crusade to fail miserably, and the first crusade even to be entirely successful. The fact they became such a threat to the islamic empires of the Middle East is mind-boggling if you think about it.
@ I mentioned that in my essay as well but forgot to mention it here. I talked about how the Fourth Crusade wasn’t justified because of how long the crusaders spent in Constantinople trying to get their money back for their assistance in placing Alexius on the throne.
Asexuality gives me free time, yes.
Anxiety then takes it away 😓
Pope: "I have a cunning plan - why don't we get all these homicidically boisterous knights to go somewhere else? Like, Jerusalem? Get us and the peasantry some peace and quiet?"
I don't know what makes me laugh more; the plug for asexuality, or the fact that you can hear Blue *barely* keeping a straight face in the background.
S/o to Red
For a channel that started with a college kid covering Shakespeare to a beloved channel full of history, literature, madness and tropes. OSP has come a long ways. Look forward to seeing what the new year holds.
"This production hack bought to you by: asexuality"
Counterpoint: no artist works faster or better than the ones powered entirely by their own lustful sins.
Additional counterpoint: Asexuals _shouldn't_ claim Augustine as one of their own anyway. _Choosing_ not to have sex against your natural inclinations is not at all identical to and should never be mistaken for being naturally uninterested in or incapable of desiring sex.
I didn’t see it as claiming so much as Blue seeing the chance to make a joke involving his own identity.
@@fantasylover87 Not his own identity, Red's.
@@mehulpandya4761 Nope, Blue is also asexual.
@@FirebladesSong Blue is married (his wife pops up as "Cyan" on the channel) and in OSPs first Q&A, He described himself as straight. So no, he isn't.
I only know about Augustine cuz he was the source that told how women were beaten in his town. I kid you not that is literally the only thing which augustine was known for in class 11 cbse books.
Yeah, I remember this. I also read about how he called the Visigoths, "disorderly"
"Oh Bartholomew, I feel like St. Augustine of Hippo after his conversion by Ambrose of Milan" -Homer J. Simpson
Typically the greatest contributors to the long-term development of Christianity have been people who started so far away from the core goals of love, virtue, and forgiveness. I think that’s part of why, the faith has endured so much: the core of it is finding a way to move forward as faithful but flawed people in a flawed world and that requires forgiveness.
I love the enthusiasm you have for sharing history, it's wild stories, and it's far-reaching implications... It absolutely makes me enjoy a subject i always suffered through in school
Thanks For another year of amazing content! LOOK forward to another
So excited when I saw the notif for this one! Take a wild guess where the August in my username comes from, because MAN I relate to this guy. You did him justice! Great history makers episode 💙
As an orthodox Christian, I love saint augustine of hippo listening to his book on his confession. I won't lie it hit hard
I love blue so much. I used to be a Baptist preacher in my younger days. I left the church a long time ago but Blue seems like the kinda guy I could lose hours and hours debating history and theology with even though I don't believe it anymore
I live in Santa Monica, California, which is named in honor of Augustine's mother. There's a cool modernist statue of her in the park that runs along the top of the bluffs overlooking the beach.
One nice thing about living here is that it gives me a great "Did you know..." conversational opening to launch into a discussion of Augustine's weird and wonderful life story. Needless to say, I'm wildly popular at parties.
Thank for all the videos this year. Have a great 2025
I just wrote a research proposal on the commodification of ancient relics. St Augustine and st Ambrose of Milan were a big part of it. I still need to write the paper next semester so this video is perfectly timed!
You should do a video on Thomas Becket. His assassination I’d absolutely wild.
Its surprising how his attribute as a Saint are literally a blade going through his skull. Pretty metal if you ask me
I love the insersion of the osp version of Augustine in the old painting! The painting's hand over the image was what caused me to not initially notice lol
Ayyyy my Confirmation Saint! Didn’t expect to see him out here lol
The confessions is one of my favorite books ever. Tying theology with a personal story they lays bare everything in the man was both touching and intellectually stimulating.
Alright, now that you have done Augustine of Hippo, you should do Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Tycho Brahe.
Tycho Brahe. Who lost his nose in a duel about math. Seriously.
I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but I no longer need to slow the playback speed on Blue's awesome history vids hehe. Keep up the great work!
UNDER A MINUTE? i am blessed
Had to read The Confessions for a philosophy class in college, and he was my prof’s favorite philosopher. He literally could not disagree with this guy if Jesus himself said he was crazy. A very entertaining class that one was.
I bought a translation of his On the Trinity for a philosophical presentation about the unified nature of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There are 15 chapters in it, and I did a presentation so long on bits and pieces of 3 of those chapters that I remember my professor cutting me off for time. I have not touched that book since. It scares me.
My high pitched giggle at the art at 2:20 startled my dog.
I love St. Augustine’s journey toward faith so much that I chose him as my confirmation saint. His story of overcoming a life of sin and hedonism to find faith was insanely moving
Hey Blue! I doubt you'll read this but I recently got back from a trip to Italy and your history videos made me so excited to finally see it!! (Don't worry I saw MANY Domes!)
St Augustine of Hippo is one of most important of our Church Fathers. Most of Christianity today can trace their teachings to him.
Here's a request for a future video Blue: the history of Japan. What do we know about Japan's origins, how did the samurai come about, what caused Japan to fall into the Warring States period?
Not Blue but samurai come way, way later than "Japan's origins" FWIW!
@ What I hope for is a History of Japan series like we got for Rome, China and the Byzantine Empire.
Blue telling us tales of ancient heresy is exactly what I needed today
9:55 You did a fantastic job, Blue, on summing up all of the morally dubious, potentially heretical, and sincerely devout life of piety that is Augustine. If you haven’t read City of God, merely for the historic benefits, I’d recommend.
Admittedly, there was concern as other videos had glaring historic or liberal scholastic (counter-historic) errors in past videos on Christendom’s beliefs/historic figures, so I put off watching this until I had time to respond. But, this was truly well done. Especially the hippo heresy and other sarcastic comments. Magnifico!
Fun fact! In most Slavic languages it is pronounced Augustine with the emphasis on "tine"
New OSP vid dropped. Great way to start Friday.
that ace joke absolutely sent me. I was not expecting it
Also, another fun fact about Saint Augustine is that he wrote a little bit about a matter of linguistics, namely the way of speaking Latin in Africa. According to him, his compatriots could not distinguish between long and short vowels (though that distinction was beginning to give way, or already had given way, to a distinction between open and close ones), which means that there is a high possibility that his dialect of Vulgar Latin would have come from the same soup as Sardinian! Imagine then, if African Romance had survived, and today looked like the several sardinian varieties.
Didn't he also give some phrases in Punic? The language lingered on until the Arab conquest.
Where did he write about this? I want to read it straight from him
@@crusaderACR I couldn't find the exact text, but I saw that he talks about it in "De Ordine", where he writes that the Italians found mistakes in his accent, but so did he in theirs.
Augustine has some amazing quotes, my fave is ‘He who sings prays twice’
Love how you imposed the illustration of Augustine on the older depiction
I’m not Christian anymore but Augustine is one of my favorite guys ever.
love the lowkey "blue's been playing a lot of warhammer recently" influences in this one
the Who's That Pokemon? question mark over the silhouette is sending me 😂
Good video. St. Augustine is a reminder that none of us are too far gone. We can all submit to Christ.
Really enjoying this series on history-makers.
Plotinus' unequivocally cool sunglasses probably got him Enneads more than six times a day.
8:01 Good 👏 Reference 👏
Looks like someone beat me to it
Belmont and Alucard!!!!
10:06 Anecdotally, I always heard it pronounced august-een growing up in Texas.
As an asexual author, it is indeed a good combo.
Hope OSP had a nice Christmas and looking forward to the New Year 😉
I hope that next year, you guys try branching out and do more history and mythology to do with places other than Europe again. I am still waiting on you to acknowledge Australia exists 🇦🇺
"Sir, if I wanted Hot Air, I would've walked into the desert."
5:34 gave me such a great laugh, thank you for this bit
"Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are." - Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354 - 430 AD
My Sophomore year i had to do a project on a saint and was assigned Augustine. When i told my grandma she rolled her eyes and went "thank GOD for Monica."
people be commenting before even watching the video it just came out 😭🙏
One of my favorite videos you've done. Funny, important, and surprisingly relatable to the modern day.
Also did you see Venice was a $2,000 clue on Jeopardy last night?
I appreciate the Castlevania editing nod to Alucard/Trevor with the dialogue between Rome and Christianity
Augustine no bustin'!
Augustine no bustin'!
Augustine no bustin'!
I had to stop and laugh for a good minute at 5:29!! I need that as a sticker, shirt, everything!!!