Students at Augustine College undergo a unique experience in being informed (even reformed, reshaped) by the substance of the Christian tradition TOGETHER.

They take the same courses, read the same books, hear the same lectures: that is the Augustine experience.

But then they talk with each other about the things they are learning and their implications. And in that many of the ideas the students encounter are – as they themselves put it – “life changing” their discussions are often deep and meaningful.

The Apostle Paul writes, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2). This process of renewal is an exhilarating experience when you undergo it alone (you, in your room, with a book), but to experience this in company with others who are awakening at the same time in the same way is a rare and precious gift, a heightened and unforgettable experience of being in the body of Christ.

Many years after his student days Augustine recalled “my nineteenth year, in which I had first fallen in love with wisdom.” He wrote of a friend who had come to join him “for no other reason than that he might live with me in a most ardent search after truth and wisdom,” a friend who was “an ardent seeker after the true life.” This experience of learning together about the deepest things – this unique kind of friendship – he never forgot.

It is an increasingly rare privilege in the world today. As Dietrich Bonheoffer wrote,

“Let him who … has had the privilege of living a common Christian life with other Christians praise God’s grace from the bottom of his heart. Let him thank God on his knees and declare: It is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community with Christian brethren.”