His two masterpieces are De civitate Dei (City of God) and...

His two masterpieces are De civitate Dei (City of God) and De Trinitate (On the Trinity), and despite the prevalent dogmatic and apologetic character of these works, they are very rich in philosophical considerations. Augustine's style is human and provocative, thus rendering his books suitable for all times. II.

Doctrine: General Ideas Neo-Platonic philosophy was the field of exercise for the mind of Augustine previous to his conversion, and it was the same philosophy which prepared him for conversion. Even after his conversion, he remained a Platonist, and for the solution of major problems he appealed to the Platonic concept.

But such adherence does not signify merely simple acceptance; rather, it involves interpretation and a transformation of the very principles of Platonism within the limits of the needs of Christian thought. In this work of adapting ancient thought to Christianity, Augustine precedes Thomas Aquinas, for just as Aquinas undertook to lay down the thought of Aristotle as the rational basis of religion, so Augustine did the same with the teaching of Plato and Platonism.

The central point of Platonism was the participation of the soul in a supra-sensible world (Ideas, Nous). Through this participation the intellect acquired the notion of the intelligible and hence was made participant of wisdom. Augustine accepts this participation, but the one who grants or imparts these intelligible notions to the soul is God, the Truth of God, the Word of God, to whom are transferred all Platonic Ideas.

In the Word of God exist the eternal truths, the species, the formal principles of things, which are the models of created beings. In the intellectual light imparted to us by the Word of God we know both the eternal truths and the ideas of real beings. This the famous illumination to which Augustine makes appeal, as we shall see, in the solution of major problems.

Furthermore, we observe that philosophy is considered by Augustine as the science for the solution of the problem of life; hence his thought mainly revolves around God and the soul, and consequently also around the problem of evil, which must be solved in order that one may know the nature of the soul. In a word, the thought of Augustine is more concerned with the solution of religious, ethical and moral problems than with those of pure speculation. III.