But good fortune came his way when Symmachus, prefect of the city, chose Augustine for a post in Milan as professor of rhetoric. Augustine moved to Milan and took up study of the Neoplatonists, especially Plotinus, who had taught that one is awakened to a sense of divine destiny through purification from carnal appetites. The basic Christian principles his mother had taught him remained intact. He became increasingly disillusioned with Manichaean materialism and with the New Academy skepticism about certitude that was fashionable at the time. Augustine eventually decided to become a catechumen in the Catholic Church of Milan after being impressed by the sermons of Bishop Ambrose, who showed him how to appreciate the Bible in spiritual terms, and whose discourses were mystical, with Neoplatonic concepts of the soul. Augustine recognized clearly now that his carnal activity weakened his efforts at introspective contemplation. Augustine was ordained coadjutor (assistant) bishop of Hippo. In less than two years he would be made bishop. During his episcopate, he drove out of Hippo the Donatists and other heretical Christian
But good fortune came his way when Symmachus, prefect of the city, chose Augustine for a post in Milan as professor of rhetoric. Augustine moved to Milan and took up study of the Neoplatonists, especially Plotinus, who had taught that one is awakened to a sense of divine destiny through purification from carnal appetites. The basic Christian principles his mother had taught him remained intact. He became increasingly disillusioned with Manichaean materialism and with the New Academy skepticism about certitude that was fashionable at the time. Augustine eventually decided to become a catechumen in the Catholic Church of Milan after being impressed by the sermons of Bishop Ambrose, who showed him how to appreciate the Bible in spiritual terms, and whose discourses were mystical, with Neoplatonic concepts of the soul. Augustine recognized clearly now that his carnal activity weakened his efforts at introspective contemplation. Augustine was ordained coadjutor (assistant) bishop of Hippo. In less than two years he would be made bishop. During his episcopate, he drove out of Hippo the Donatists and other heretical Christian