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Augustine’s Primer on Providence: God’s Will, Free Will, and Why We Suffer, by Russell M. Lawson – Brown Pelican Society of Lousiana

Augustine’s Primer on Providence: God’s Will, Free Will, and Why We Suffer, by Russell M. Lawson

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Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510). Depicted people Augustine of Hippo Edit this at Wikidata. Circa 1495. Image from Wikimedia Commons

By Russell M. Lawson, Catholic Exchange, July 28, 2025

Russell M. Lawson is the author of almost two dozen books and many more articles and essays. He has taught at schools in New England, Oklahoma, and Ontario. Dr. Lawson teaches and writes on scientists, explorers, and missionaries; the history of America, Europe, and the world; and the history of ideas, particularly Christian ideas. …

Avatar photoAugustine, a convert to Christianity—who had experienced four seconds of providence in 386 AD, who lived during the Fall of Rome in 410, who watched Germanic tribes overrun the western empire and Vandals sweep through Spain into North Africa towards his own diocese of Hippo, who was approaching death in the 420s—was at peace. He knew that the will of God is behind all things, despite disasters, sufferings, and the threat of death.

Who has peace today? Our world loves disasters. The news, social media, and movies feed on fear. Fear of an F-5 tornado, a category-5 hurricane, a tsunami, a terrorist attack, a random shooting, a nuclear war . . . the end of time. Few of us actually experience such disasters, but the people of the Roman Empire during Augustine’s time did. ….

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