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Okay, a few points are in order here
1. this is an incredibly obscure figure that I think even many experts in Patristics have probably never heard of
2. Any influence the guy might have had on Augustine is no doubt absolutely dwarfed by the influence that men like Ambrose of Milan had on him
3. The quote provided is little more than a paraphrase of a famous passage from the Epistles of Paul in the New Testament, it is neither an original thought nor even an original wording of the thought
And finally, one last point. The time period in question is from an era that modern sociologists would refer to as a 'high context society', what this means is that it was a society in which all communication was IMPLICIT and to understand what was said, it is necessary to understand the full culture.
In a higher-context culture, the way words are said are more important than the words itself, for the most part, therefore, many things are left unsaid, relying on the context of the moment and the culture as a whole for full explication.
in a high context culture, words carry more information than would appear on the surface.
In a low context society, communication tends to be direct and explicit, and little comprehension of the surrounding culture is necessary to understand what is being said.
For evidence of the fact that we live in a low context culture in America today, I offer the following proof: American movies, which are filled with explicit references to American history and American pop culture, are wildly popular overseas. Indeed, often, American movies are even more popular overseas than they are here in the States. A movie like Transformers or the latest Marvel or DC Comics film may make as much as 2/3 to 3/4 of its box office overseas.
What this means is that American culture is easy to export to other countries. One doesn't have to understand all that much about American society to be able to enjoy a movie like The Force Awakens or Captain America Civil War. This is an indication that we live in a low context society.
On the other hand, something like Japanese Noh drama is not popular in the west at all, either in the United States or in Europe. This is not, I don't think because, they aren't 'good', but it is because, for those who don't live in Japan, the Noh dramas are difficult to relate to and hard to understand. They come from a high context society, and therefore, it is very difficult to export them to places outside of Japan.
What you are witnessing here with this and the other examples you have provided is an example of what happens when someone from our modern low context culture tries to read a document from a high context culture without any understanding of the cultural context that is necessary to fully understand the document.
The era of the Fathers, the era of the early Church, is a VERY high context culture. Unless one is very, very, very deeply knowledgeable about the culture and society of the Early Church, it is very difficult to understand what the Fathers were saying. It was difficult, even for non-Christians, of that time period to understand Christian writings, despite the fact that they all shared a common culture, let alone those of us living today 1,500-2,000 years later, who do not share a common culture with the Early Church.
So, I think the evangelicals you are reading are probably sincere and honest people. But they are digging deep into the writings of people who lived in a high context culture without any understanding of the cultural context of what they are reading. Therefore, they are completely missing the point of what they are reading, and are thus inadvertently reading their own beliefs into the text through ignorance.
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