Escape from Augustinianism - an Exhortation
St. Augustine's influence on Western Christianity is second to none. However, his theology, primarily due to the Neoplatonic philosophy which influenced it, moved Christianity away from the primitive Church, and thus the Apostolic faith, in a number of ways. The Eastern Church wasn't as "infected" by Augustine's theology and never adopted some of his 'novel' theological ideas (double predestination, extreme notions of total depravity, unBiblical notions of God's love, a warped view of human sexuality, and an overall concept of God that is shaped more by Neoplatonism than the Bible). Thankfully there are a growing number of theologians and philosophers who are unraveling (and abandoning) these pagan influences upon Western Christianity and I believe we are seeing a resurrection of the most primitive, Apostolic understanding of God's nature, man's condition, and the very core of God's essence - His love. Largely due to Augustine's