AUGUSTINE
Augustine (AD 354-430) was “the greatest and most influential of all the Christian Fathers.”[1] His impact on church theology was monumental. As the church matured and expanded, his writings reveal the ongoing consideration and practice of spiritual warfare. In his message, On the Creed: a Sermon to the Catechumens, he references the ongoing process of exorcism, stating that “even little children undergo exsufflation, exorcism; to drive away from them the power of the devil their enemy, which deceived man that it might possess mankind.”[2]
In The City of God, Augustine describes demons as “false and deceitful mediators” who seek to turn Christians “aside and hinder our spiritual progress; they do not help us towards God, but rather prevent us from reaching Him.”[3] Augustine argues that spiritual warfare not only prevents salvation, but also prevents sanctification. These brief references represent a much wider collection of Augustine’s theological and practical consideration of spiritual warfare.
[1]Philip Schaff, “Preface to The Confessions and Letters of Saint Augustine” (NPNF1 1:5), accessed December 30, 2013, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf101.ii.html.
[2]Augustine, On the Creed: a Sermon to the Catechumens (NPNF1 3:370), accessed December 30, 2013, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf103.iv.vii.ii.html.
[3]Augustine, The City of God (NPNF1 2:176), accessed December 30, 2013, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102.iv.IX.18.html.