St. Augustine of Hippos' writing on education offers a fresh lens through which the conceptual framework of religious education in the Catholic school can be understood. Recent teaching of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church on the distinctive nature of religious education and catechesis has challenged religious educators to find an alternative paradigm that retains fidelity to Church teaching while exploring how the Christian encounter with culture can be integrated into the religious education syllabus. In Augustine we see how wider learning is not at odds with Christianity and serves as the underpinning structure for the development of Christian thought. (Contains 1 footnote.)