ABSTRACT: Millions of modern secular people are finding meaning from a millennia-old philosophy: Stoicism. Thankfully, Christians wondering how to respond have an expert guide in Augustine, who engaged with the Stoics of his own day in his monumental work The City of God. Like other Christians of his day, Augustine found some common ground with the Stoics’ pursuit of virtue, but he also recognized a fatal flaw in their philosophy. His response reveals why virtue is not enough to achieve true happiness in this world of suffering and death.
For our ongoing series of feature articles for pastors and Christian leaders, we asked Zach Howard (PhD, Durham University), academic dean and assistant professor of theology and humanities at Bethlehem College and Seminary, to offer an Augustinian critique to the modern resurgence of Stoicism.
