Augustine As Mentor

Lauded for his thoughts, Augustine of Hippo (354-430) has influenced virtually every philosopher of the last fifteen hundred years. But his personal character and ministry are even more remarkable, for in a time when most monastery dwellers sought solitude, Augustine was always in the company of friends, visiting disciples and writing mentoring letters to those he knew. Augustine as Mentor is written for modern day pastors and spiritual leaders who want to mentor and equip other evangelical Christians based on proven principles in matters of the heart like integrity, humility, faithfulness, personal holiness, spiritual hunger, and service to others. Author Ed Smither explains, “Augustine has something to offer modern ministers pursuing authenticity and longing to ‘preach what they practice.’ Through his thought, practice, success, and even failures, my hope is that today’s mentors will find hope, inspiration, and practical suggestions for how to mentor an emerging generation of spiritual leaders.”

The art of mentoring, like all great arts, is a grace to be received, a gift to be given, and a skill that can be learned and practiced. This book explores the practice and grace of that art. The pastors in these pages share their hard-won experience of mentoring and being mentored, their wobbles and successes, insights and wisdom harvested from years in the vineyard.

Unique in all of literature, the Confessions combines frank and profound psychological insight into Augustine's formative years along with sophisticated and beguiling reflections on some of the most important issues in philosophy and theology. The essays contained in this volume, by some of the most distinguished recent and contemporary thinkers in the field, insightfully explore Augustinian themes not only with an eye to historical accuracy but also to gauge the philosophical acumen of Augustine's reflections.

This lucid survey takes readers on a thought-provoking tour through the life and work of Augustine. Explores new insights into one of antiquity’s most important philosophers Topics Include: skepticism, language acquisition, mind-body dualism, philosophical dream problems, time and creation, faith and reason, foreknowledge and free will, and Augustine’s standing as a ‘Socratic philosopher’.

Hank Hoppin never fully appreciated it as it was happening, but he reaped the rewards of mentorship throughout his life. His father died when Hank was twelve years old, and his mother began mentoring him—reminding him that Dad would not be happy, if still alive, to witness the boy’s misbehavior. She also kept him busy with a paper route to teach him the value of hard work. Once he entered the professional ranks, he was mentored by others and enjoyed twenty-five years of success as district manager at one of America’s leading pharmaceutical companies. He traces what he learned about mentoring in this memoir. Learn how to: adapt mentoring practices to help people of all ages; create and develop a mentoring program; modify mentoring approaches to fit different leadership styles; incorporate storytelling into mentoring. Filled with case studies and inspirational quotes, you’ll also learn ten advantages to a casual mentoring relationship, the top ten key attributes of the most influential corporate mentors, five undeniable benefits of highly functional teams, and the top five advantages of informal partnerships. Get your team on the right track and enhance business operations with the revealing insights in The Casual Mentor.

This volume offers a comprehensive portrait--or rather, self-portrait, since its words are mostly Augustine's own--drawn from the breadth of his writings and from the long course of his career

Augustine is one of the giants of the Christian church. From his birth in North Africa and his days as a relatively permissive young man, through his midlife conversion to Christianity and career as bishop of Hippo, his story has intrigued and inspired every generation for over 1,600 years. It is as a thinker, teacher, writer and debater that Augustine has exerted the most influence. His greatness lay in his ability to relate the philosophies of ancient Greece and Rome to the precepts of the Christian faith. Augustine also saved the church itself from disintegrating into rival factions by forging sound doctrine in the fires of controversy.

An indispensable resource for those looking to understand Augustine’s place in religious and cultural heritage Augustine towers over Western life, literature, and culture—both sacred and secular. His ideas permeate conceptions of the self from birth to death and have cast a long shadow over subsequent Christian thought. But as much as tradition has sprung from Augustinian roots, so was Augustine a product of and interlocutor with traditions that preceded and ran contemporary to his life. This extensive volume examines and evaluates Augustine as both a receiver and a source of tradition. The contributors—all distinguished Augustinian scholars influenced by J. Patout Burns and interested in furthering his intellectual legacy—survey Augustine’s life and writings in the context of North African tradition, philosophical and literary traditions of antiquity, the Greek patristic tradition, and the tradition of Augustine’s Latin contemporaries. These various pieces, when assembled, tell a comprehensive story of Augustine’s significance, both then and now. Contributors: Alden Bass, Michael Cameron, John C. Cavadini, Thomas Clemmons, Stephen A. Cooper, Theodore de Bruyn, Mark DelCogliano, Geoffrey D. Dunn, John Peter Kenney, Brian Matz, Andrew McGowan, William Tabbernee, Joseph W. Trigg, Dennis Trout, and James R. Wetzel.