According to Russell, it is possible to see how Augustine himself had evolved from his earlier Confessions to this teaching on coercion and the latter's strong patriarchal nature: "Intellectually, the burden has shifted imperceptibly from discovering the truth to disseminating the truth." The bishops had become the church's elite with their own rationale for acting as "stewards of the truth." Russell points out that Augustine's views are limited to time and place and his own community, but later, others took what he said and applied it outside those parameters in ways Augustine never imagined or intended.
According to Russell it is possible to see how Augustine himself had evolved from his earlier Confessions to this teaching on coercion and the latter's strong patriarchal nature "Intellectually the burden has shifted imperceptibly from discovering the truth to disseminating the truth" The bishops had become the church's elite with their own rationale for acting as "stewards of the truth" Russell points out that Augustine's views are limited to time and place and his own community but later others took what he said and applied it outside those parameters in ways Augustine never imagined or intended