The American Spectator

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As a sometime contributor to this fine enterprise, I'm not surprised that American Spectator readers know more about people like Max Weber and John Calvin than I do. But correspondent Steve Shaver's Dec. 15 claim that Augustine of Hippo would be "by definition" a Calvinist should not pass unchallenged.

Not for nothing is that great African bishop acclaimed as a doctor of the Roman Catholic Church. Luther had to admit that he did not find any Augustinian support for his doctrine of justification by faith alone. Similarly, old claims that hailed Augustine as the father of evangelical Protestantism have been downplayed and debunked for years.

Anyone interested in reviewing what Augustine actually taught might profit from a close reading of the online Catholic Encyclopedia, which explains how Augustine charted an orthodox course between the excesses of the Semi-Pelagians on the one hand and the Predestinationists (like Calvin) on the other.

p>In other words, Augustine was "catholic" in both the universal and particular senses of that word. He influenced the Reformers, but never himself rejected the papacy or any aspect of Catholic doctrine, as the Calvinists many centuries after him certainly did. br> -- Patrick O'Hannigan br> San Diego, California /p> p> SCREAMERS br> Re: George Neumayr's Dean of Abortion and

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