The first great schism in the church, and the first controversy in which Augustine dealt was what is known as the Donatist controversy. Simply stated, The Donatists believed they were the only church and that the Catholic, or universal church, could not be if they disagreed with the Donatist's teachings. The Donatists held that the Sacraments could not be administered if the Bishop of the congregation was unfit. They saw that the Sacraments' effect on the church member was based on the righteousness of the Bishop administering. Augustine responded by saying that "The Sacraments are the work of God, not of men. They do not, therefore, depend on the character of the administrator." It followed because of this belief of the Donatists, building upon the early church father Cyprian's statement: "You cannot have God as your Father, if you do not have the Church as your mother," that if they were the true Church, anyone outside their walls were not Christians. The Church was pure, and therefore no one that is "unrighteous" should be allowed entrance, and definitely not administered the Sacraments of God's grace.

Augustine responded, in his intellectual style and protective position as Bishop of his congregation, by arguing with the Donatists. He stated Christ used the parable of the wheat and tares to establish that the true Church would have "Many wolves within, and many sheep without." He also pointed out that it was not right judgment for any Christian to claim another is an unbeliever and a heretic if they are willing to state the creeds and agree with the basic biblical teaching (i.e. the Apostle's Creed and the catechesis). The famous quote: "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in everything, charity" came from the writings Against the Donatists and established the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church in their ecclesiology, or doctrine of the Church throughout the Medieval period. The debate between Augustine and the Donatists is officially ended at the Council of Carthage in 411 AD, when the Donatists and their teachings are condemned by the Church.

The second major controversy with which Augustine would have to deal as Bishop, was the problem of Pelagianism. Many scholars compare this dispute against Pelagian with Martin Luther and the 16^th c. Reformation, much because of the arguments that were used in the theological arguments such as Original Sin, Justification by Faith alone, and the depravity of man; not to mention that Luther was an Augustinian Monk before his reformation.

Pelagius was a British monk, a very zealous preacher who was castrated for the sake of the kingdom and given to rigorous asceticism. He desired to live a life of perfect holiness. In Christian history, he has come to be the archheretic of the church, but in his early writings he was very orthodox and sought to maintain and uphold the creeds of the early church. He came from Rome to Carthage in the year 411 AD, while Augustine was away during the Council of Carthage. He taught the people of North Africa a new emphasis on morals and the rigorous life of living the Gospel, because he was shocked by the low tone of Roman morals. He thought that the teachings of Augustine, which he had heard in Rome, cheapened grace and gave men the ability to live a life that they pleased, without much respect for the commands of God.

"Command what thy will; and grant what thou commandest."  Augustine

The problem with his reputation in history has been his doctrine of soteriology. According to orthodox theology, he makes fatal errors in this theology of salvation: "Self acquired virtue is the supreme good which is followed by reward," or as a basic thesis: "Justification by the person's own good works." The debate between Augustine and Pelagius began when Pelagius took issue with a quotation from Augustine's Confessions: "Command what thy will; and grant what thou commandest." This meant that we needed to ask God for ability to do what God commands (this implies that God gives us the desire to do this, thus preceding our actions). We will see this Augustinian teaching later in history during the reformation when Luther writes similarly in his Bondage of the Will to Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam. Luther says, "We cannot come to Christ, unless the Father gives us that ability," relying on the writings of Paul in Ephesians Chapter 1,2 and the Book of John Chapter 6.

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"In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in everything, charity" - Augustine