Augustinian truths

Lord Reith must be turning in his grave. Not with shock and horror, but in amazement that there are still moments on his beloved airwaves when you can imagine yourself back to the beginnings of the BBC, to a world without gizmos and celebrity knockouts and a time when broadcasters were confident enough of their material (and respectful enough of their audience) not to feel that ‘entertainment’ must be added to everything to make their programmes palatable, like MSG or the emulsifier soya lecithin. True, the moments are often buried so deep in the schedules that you’re lucky to find them, or still be awake. But this week on The Essay at 11 o’clock Radio Three offered anyone just back from walking the dog and not addicted to Newsnight the chance to bone up on St Augustine.

Some might wish to argue that it’s a desecration to attempt to summarise the fourth-century Christian’s mammoth works, the City of God, say, or the Confessions, in short bursts of 15 minutes a session. But I find it harder and harder these days to concentrate for longer than that at a stretch, and these brief quarter-hours were wonderfully intense insights into the questing saint’s life and teaching. Not a second was wasted on unnecessary packaging; no music, no build-up, no gimmickry at all. Just four talking heads (a different scholar or writer each evening) explaining why we should still be heeding the thoughts and words of this ancient bishop from north Africa.

The point about Augustine is that he asks (and tries to answer) the big questions that we all find ourselves struggling with at some point in our lives. Why is there such evil in the world? How can a loving God allow good people to suffer so much? What do we mean by the just war? How can we reconcile our human desires with a faith in God? But, as Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, emphasised, Augustine also questioned what it is to be human, both boring and bad.