Au

Auerbach, Bertold (1812-1882)

German writer of novels about agrarian society. Later in life, an apologist for Bismarck.

Augustine, Saint (354-430)

Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, Christian theologian and mystic, held views close to Neo-Platonism.

St. Augustine was a proponent of fideism, i.e., the doctrine that only faith can attain the truth, and scientific enquiry can only be used to substantiate what is known by faith. Thus he represented a conservative authority during the Enlightenment as opposed to figures like St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) who preached the harmony of Faith and Reason. St. Augustine held that the course of history was predetermined by God; he counterposed the “city of God” to the “city of Earth,” the sinful secular state as a justification for the supremacy of the Church over the feudal nobility.

Augusti, Bertha (1827-1886)

German writer.