" Grace is God's unmerited love and
favor, prevenient and occurrent. It touches man's inmost heart
and will. It guides and impels the pilgrimage of those called to
be faithful. It draws and raises the soul to repentance, faith,
and praise. It transforms the human will so that it is capable of
doing good. It relieves man's religious anxiety by forgiveness
and the gift of hope. It establishes the ground of Christian
humility by abolishing the ground of human pride. God's grace
became incarnate in Jesus Christ, and it remains immanent in the
Holy Spirit in the Church.
Augustine had no system -- but he did have a stable and
coherent Christian outlook. Moreover, he had an unwearied, ardent
concern: man's salvation from his hopeless plight, through the
gracious action of God's redeeming love. To understand and
interpret this was his one endeavor, and to this task he devoted
his entire genius.
He was, of course, by conscious intent and profession, a
Christian theologian, a pastor and teacher in the Christian
community. And yet it has come about that his contributions to
the larger heritage of Western civilization are hardly less
important than his services to the Christian Church.
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