Simon Harrison
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198269847
- eISBN:
- 9780191713385
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198269847.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Augustine is a pivotal figure in the history of the concept of will, but what is his ‘theory of will’? This book investigates Augustine’s use of ‘will’ in one particular context, his dialogue On Free ...
More
Augustine is a pivotal figure in the history of the concept of will, but what is his ‘theory of will’? This book investigates Augustine’s use of ‘will’ in one particular context, his dialogue On Free Choice of the Will, taking seriously its historical and philosophical form. First, it finds that the dialogical nature of On Free Choice of the Will has been missed, as exemplified by the unhistorical and misleading modern attributions of names to the speakers. Secondly, the commonplace that Augustine changed his mind in the course of its composition is shown to be unfounded, and a case is made for its argumentative coherence. Thirdly, it is shown that it is the form and structure of On Free Choice of the Will that give philosophical content to Augustine’s theory of will. The dialogue constitutes a ‘way in to the will’ that itself instantiates a concept of will. At the heart of this structure is a particular argument that depends on an appeal to a first-person perspective, which ties the vocabulary of will to a concept of freedom and responsibility. This appeal is significantly similar to other arguments deployed by Augustine which are significantly similar to Descartes’ ‘cogito ergo sum’, ‘I think therefore I am’. The book goes on to investigate how Augustine’s ‘way in’ relates to these cogito-like arguments as they occur in Augustine’s major and most read works, the Confessions, the City of God, and On the Trinity. The relationship of Augustine’s to Descartes’ ‘cogito’ is also discussed. Augustine elucidates, within a particular Platonic theory of knowledge, a ‘theory of will’ that is grounded in a ‘way in’, which takes the conditions and limits of knowledge seriously.Less
Augustine is a pivotal figure in the history of the concept of will, but what is his ‘theory of will’? This book investigates Augustine’s use of ‘will’ in one particular context, his dialogue On Free Choice of the Will, taking seriously its historical and philosophical form. First, it finds that the dialogical nature of On Free Choice of the Will has been missed, as exemplified by the unhistorical and misleading modern attributions of names to the speakers. Secondly, the commonplace that Augustine changed his mind in the course of its composition is shown to be unfounded, and a case is made for its argumentative coherence. Thirdly, it is shown that it is the form and structure of On Free Choice of the Will that give philosophical content to Augustine’s theory of will. The dialogue constitutes a ‘way in to the will’ that itself instantiates a concept of will. At the heart of this structure is a particular argument that depends on an appeal to a first-person perspective, which ties the vocabulary of will to a concept of freedom and responsibility. This appeal is significantly similar to other arguments deployed by Augustine which are significantly similar to Descartes’ ‘cogito ergo sum’, ‘I think therefore I am’. The book goes on to investigate how Augustine’s ‘way in’ relates to these cogito-like arguments as they occur in Augustine’s major and most read works, the Confessions, the City of God, and On the Trinity. The relationship of Augustine’s to Descartes’ ‘cogito’ is also discussed. Augustine elucidates, within a particular Platonic theory of knowledge, a ‘theory of will’ that is grounded in a ‘way in’, which takes the conditions and limits of knowledge seriously.
Beth Felker Jones
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195309812
- eISBN:
- 9780199785353
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195309812.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Augustine provides theological perspective on the body in his understanding of the body as both good and, under the condition of sin, disordered. Augustine's City of God provides a vision of the ...
More
Augustine provides theological perspective on the body in his understanding of the body as both good and, under the condition of sin, disordered. Augustine's City of God provides a vision of the resurrection of the body as the psychosomatic ordering of the human being toward God. Augustine's vision offers an alternative to the disorder and brokenness of the body named in the first chapter.Less
Augustine provides theological perspective on the body in his understanding of the body as both good and, under the condition of sin, disordered. Augustine's City of God provides a vision of the resurrection of the body as the psychosomatic ordering of the human being toward God. Augustine's vision offers an alternative to the disorder and brokenness of the body named in the first chapter.
Jana Marguerite Bennett
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195315431
- eISBN:
- 9780199872022
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195315431.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter considers God's own reconfigured eschatological Household, the church, by examining the third dichotomy raised in chapter 1: the public/private distinction. Reflecting on Augustine's ...
More
This chapter considers God's own reconfigured eschatological Household, the church, by examining the third dichotomy raised in chapter 1: the public/private distinction. Reflecting on Augustine's City of God in conjunction with contemporary scholars John Milbank and Bernd Wannenwetsch, this chapter shows how the church is itself a politic that holds polis and oikos in tension. There can be no intelligible distinction made between the City of God and the Household of God given that the church is made to be Christ's body and is oriented to life in God. Christians are first members of this Household, and only secondarily members of smaller households, which are themselves formed in relation to the church.Less
This chapter considers God's own reconfigured eschatological Household, the church, by examining the third dichotomy raised in chapter 1: the public/private distinction. Reflecting on Augustine's City of God in conjunction with contemporary scholars John Milbank and Bernd Wannenwetsch, this chapter shows how the church is itself a politic that holds polis and oikos in tension. There can be no intelligible distinction made between the City of God and the Household of God given that the church is made to be Christ's body and is oriented to life in God. Christians are first members of this Household, and only secondarily members of smaller households, which are themselves formed in relation to the church.
PETER GARNSEY
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197262764
- eISBN:
- 9780191753947
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197262764.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter puts Lactantius and Augustine side by side, compares their interests and preoccupations, and attempts to confront their contributions in certain key areas of Christian thought, in ...
More
This chapter puts Lactantius and Augustine side by side, compares their interests and preoccupations, and attempts to confront their contributions in certain key areas of Christian thought, in particular, ethics. It suggests that Augustine knew the Divine Institutes, perhaps as early as his Ciceronian phase, for Lactantius's prose was as Ciceronian as one could get outside the master's own corpus. Already in On True Religion, Augustine shows that he had read Divine Institutes closely enough, and recently enough, to have taken up its main theme — that religion and philosophy belong together under the banner of Christianity, that Christianity is the true religion and the true wisdom. In ethics Lactantius emerges as a serious and inventive theorist. He identifies the Final End as eternal life, and, more originally, redefines the classical virtues in Christian terms. Piety and devoted worship of the Christian God become a necessary condition of justice and the other virtues. These are precisely Augustine's views in City of God. In political theory there is a large gap between the two thinkers, which reflects above all the different contexts in which they lived and wrote.Less
This chapter puts Lactantius and Augustine side by side, compares their interests and preoccupations, and attempts to confront their contributions in certain key areas of Christian thought, in particular, ethics. It suggests that Augustine knew the Divine Institutes, perhaps as early as his Ciceronian phase, for Lactantius's prose was as Ciceronian as one could get outside the master's own corpus. Already in On True Religion, Augustine shows that he had read Divine Institutes closely enough, and recently enough, to have taken up its main theme — that religion and philosophy belong together under the banner of Christianity, that Christianity is the true religion and the true wisdom. In ethics Lactantius emerges as a serious and inventive theorist. He identifies the Final End as eternal life, and, more originally, redefines the classical virtues in Christian terms. Piety and devoted worship of the Christian God become a necessary condition of justice and the other virtues. These are precisely Augustine's views in City of God. In political theory there is a large gap between the two thinkers, which reflects above all the different contexts in which they lived and wrote.
Simon Harrison
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198269847
- eISBN:
- 9780191713385
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198269847.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
When Descartes published his Meditations, the similarity of his arguments to some found in Augustine was immediately pointed out to him. The most frequently cited and most similar is Augustine’s ...
More
When Descartes published his Meditations, the similarity of his arguments to some found in Augustine was immediately pointed out to him. The most frequently cited and most similar is Augustine’s claim that ‘If I doubt, I am’ (City of God 11.26). This chapter discusses this text in detail, and suggests that the relationship with Descartes is illuminating. It identifies three cogito-like arguments in On Free Choice, all of which act as starting points, involve revealing the self-evidence of certain undeniable truths, include an analysis of what is to know something, and incorporate an idea of value.Less
When Descartes published his Meditations, the similarity of his arguments to some found in Augustine was immediately pointed out to him. The most frequently cited and most similar is Augustine’s claim that ‘If I doubt, I am’ (City of God 11.26). This chapter discusses this text in detail, and suggests that the relationship with Descartes is illuminating. It identifies three cogito-like arguments in On Free Choice, all of which act as starting points, involve revealing the self-evidence of certain undeniable truths, include an analysis of what is to know something, and incorporate an idea of value.
Dominic J. O’Meara
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199285532
- eISBN:
- 9780191717819
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199285532.003.0012
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
This chapter discusses the extent to which Eusebius’ Christian politics of theocracy and Augustine’s rejection both of pagan political theory and of Christian theocracy (in the City of God) may ...
More
This chapter discusses the extent to which Eusebius’ Christian politics of theocracy and Augustine’s rejection both of pagan political theory and of Christian theocracy (in the City of God) may relate as Christian reactions to the political philosophy reconstructed in Parts II and III of this book.Less
This chapter discusses the extent to which Eusebius’ Christian politics of theocracy and Augustine’s rejection both of pagan political theory and of Christian theocracy (in the City of God) may relate as Christian reactions to the political philosophy reconstructed in Parts II and III of this book.
Carol Harrison
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198752202
- eISBN:
- 9780191695070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198752202.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Religion and Society
In AD 410 when Rome fell to the Goths, a crisis understanding was brought about that took on various questions that have been buried in antique thought. Pagan civilization and tradition proliferated ...
More
In AD 410 when Rome fell to the Goths, a crisis understanding was brought about that took on various questions that have been buried in antique thought. Pagan civilization and tradition proliferated in Rome, and the life-source of the Empire remained in the ancient religions. However, the rise of Christianity may have caused a significant effect towards its demise, at least until Alaric and the Arian Goths took over. As this chapter looks into some of the aspects of the fall of Rome, it attempts to examine how Augustine was able to initiate the City of God in 413. It shows that the plan and structure for this work is rooted on Christian tradition and it presents two groups of men, cities, or societies. It attempts to provide a thorough examination of the content of the various books of this work particularly in the context of the refutation of paganism, the source of his ideas, and other such aspects.Less
In AD 410 when Rome fell to the Goths, a crisis understanding was brought about that took on various questions that have been buried in antique thought. Pagan civilization and tradition proliferated in Rome, and the life-source of the Empire remained in the ancient religions. However, the rise of Christianity may have caused a significant effect towards its demise, at least until Alaric and the Arian Goths took over. As this chapter looks into some of the aspects of the fall of Rome, it attempts to examine how Augustine was able to initiate the City of God in 413. It shows that the plan and structure for this work is rooted on Christian tradition and it presents two groups of men, cities, or societies. It attempts to provide a thorough examination of the content of the various books of this work particularly in the context of the refutation of paganism, the source of his ideas, and other such aspects.
John Marenbon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691142555
- eISBN:
- 9781400866359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691142555.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter investigates Augustine's role in addressing the Problem of Paganism. After the Sack of Rome in 410 CE, Augustine set out to produce his most ambitious work, a Christian rethinking, not ...
More
This chapter investigates Augustine's role in addressing the Problem of Paganism. After the Sack of Rome in 410 CE, Augustine set out to produce his most ambitious work, a Christian rethinking, not just of the history of Rome, but of the relationship between God and the course of human history. Written in the safety of North Africa, the City of God (CG), begun probably in 412 but not finished until about fourteen years later, is both an intellectual masterpiece and a foundational book for the Problem of Paganism. Although the problem has somewhat different contours for him from those it would take on in the Middle Ages, in the City of God and other works Augustine looks closely at three of the main strands of the problem — wisdom, salvation, and virtue — and takes positions which set the agenda for almost all subsequent discussion.Less
This chapter investigates Augustine's role in addressing the Problem of Paganism. After the Sack of Rome in 410 CE, Augustine set out to produce his most ambitious work, a Christian rethinking, not just of the history of Rome, but of the relationship between God and the course of human history. Written in the safety of North Africa, the City of God (CG), begun probably in 412 but not finished until about fourteen years later, is both an intellectual masterpiece and a foundational book for the Problem of Paganism. Although the problem has somewhat different contours for him from those it would take on in the Middle Ages, in the City of God and other works Augustine looks closely at three of the main strands of the problem — wisdom, salvation, and virtue — and takes positions which set the agenda for almost all subsequent discussion.
Terence Irwin
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198242673
- eISBN:
- 9780191680519
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198242673.003.0015
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, History of Philosophy
In the City of God, Augustine of Hippo claims that Christians and pagans form two societies identified by their different shared objects of love. The ...
More
In the City of God, Augustine of Hippo claims that Christians and pagans form two societies identified by their different shared objects of love. The Christian community distinguishes itself from the pagan world by its different aims and goals. One clear and important strand in Augustine's thought presents a sharp antagonism between the Christian and the Greek outlook. However, it would be one-sided to attend only to this strand and to ignore the views that place Augustine firmly in the Greek tradition. Augustine does not believe, then, that he undermines the practice of the virtues, as pagan moralists understand them; he seeks to remove the obstacles imposed by human sin, and especially by human arrogance, to the practice of the virtues. Augustine agrees with this conception of the virtues, and claims that we are in a better position to practise them if we recognize our dependence on God for our growth in virtue, and the insufficiency of the goods of this world for our complete happiness.Less
In the City of God, Augustine of Hippo claims that Christians and pagans form two societies identified by their different shared objects of love. The Christian community distinguishes itself from the pagan world by its different aims and goals. One clear and important strand in Augustine's thought presents a sharp antagonism between the Christian and the Greek outlook. However, it would be one-sided to attend only to this strand and to ignore the views that place Augustine firmly in the Greek tradition. Augustine does not believe, then, that he undermines the practice of the virtues, as pagan moralists understand them; he seeks to remove the obstacles imposed by human sin, and especially by human arrogance, to the practice of the virtues. Augustine agrees with this conception of the virtues, and claims that we are in a better position to practise them if we recognize our dependence on God for our growth in virtue, and the insufficiency of the goods of this world for our complete happiness.
Christopher Brooke
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691152080
- eISBN:
- 9781400842414
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691152080.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This introductory chapter analyses the fourteenth book of The City of God against the Pagans (c. fifth century CE) by Augustine of Hippo. Book 14 contains the analysis of Adam and Eve's life in the ...
More
This introductory chapter analyses the fourteenth book of The City of God against the Pagans (c. fifth century CE) by Augustine of Hippo. Book 14 contains the analysis of Adam and Eve's life in the Garden of Eden and their subsequent Fall. This is an episode central not only to his theological project, in that Augustine single-handedly created the doctrine of original sin that dominated the thinking of the Church for so long, but also to his political theory, because it provides the setting for the central categories of the work's overall argument. More importantly, the chapters in book 14 contain by far the most sustained rumination on Stoic philosophy to be found in the entire work.Less
This introductory chapter analyses the fourteenth book of The City of God against the Pagans (c. fifth century CE) by Augustine of Hippo. Book 14 contains the analysis of Adam and Eve's life in the Garden of Eden and their subsequent Fall. This is an episode central not only to his theological project, in that Augustine single-handedly created the doctrine of original sin that dominated the thinking of the Church for so long, but also to his political theory, because it provides the setting for the central categories of the work's overall argument. More importantly, the chapters in book 14 contain by far the most sustained rumination on Stoic philosophy to be found in the entire work.
Katrin Ettenhuber
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199609109
- eISBN:
- 9780191729553
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199609109.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This chapter investigates another neglected work by Donne: Biathanatos, his treatise on suicide (composed c. 1608; published 1647). Donne's engagement with Augustine focuses on the City of God; ...
More
This chapter investigates another neglected work by Donne: Biathanatos, his treatise on suicide (composed c. 1608; published 1647). Donne's engagement with Augustine focuses on the City of God; however, unlike the Essayes in Divinity, which closely emulate Augustinian models of interpretation, Biathanatos approaches Augustine's text in an openly hostile and oppositional manner. Donne's citations from the City of God deliberately misrepresent and distort Augustine's position on suicide, in an attempt to interrogate the rhetorical foundations which underpin Augustine's moral and theological thought. Augustine's ethics focuses not on the quality or outcome of an action, but on the motives of the agent; this emphasis on intent survives in the early modern discourse of casuistry (the art of case-based reasoning), of which Biathanatos is an example. Donne's treatise puts particular pressure on ‘charity’, the key concept of Augustine's intent-based ethics, and problematizes principles of discretion and good judgement which will come to define his preaching.Less
This chapter investigates another neglected work by Donne: Biathanatos, his treatise on suicide (composed c. 1608; published 1647). Donne's engagement with Augustine focuses on the City of God; however, unlike the Essayes in Divinity, which closely emulate Augustinian models of interpretation, Biathanatos approaches Augustine's text in an openly hostile and oppositional manner. Donne's citations from the City of God deliberately misrepresent and distort Augustine's position on suicide, in an attempt to interrogate the rhetorical foundations which underpin Augustine's moral and theological thought. Augustine's ethics focuses not on the quality or outcome of an action, but on the motives of the agent; this emphasis on intent survives in the early modern discourse of casuistry (the art of case-based reasoning), of which Biathanatos is an example. Donne's treatise puts particular pressure on ‘charity’, the key concept of Augustine's intent-based ethics, and problematizes principles of discretion and good judgement which will come to define his preaching.
Ellen Muehlberger
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199931934
- eISBN:
- 9780199332991
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199931934.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter compares the ideas Evagrius of Pontus held about angels to those of Augustine of Hippo. Evagrius cultivated a detailed program of Christian advancement during the end of the fourth ...
More
This chapter compares the ideas Evagrius of Pontus held about angels to those of Augustine of Hippo. Evagrius cultivated a detailed program of Christian advancement during the end of the fourth century, and in that program, angels were considered rational beings, who sought to help Christians advance by protecting and developing their intellectual faculties. Like the human beings they helped, angels were ultimately going to gain union with God. Augustine of Hippo created an understanding of Christian history that included a different portrait of angels, as beings whose status and moral nature were fixed at the beginning of creation. The purpose of the chapter is to show the significant difference in the way these two Christian thinkers incorporated angels into their conceptions of the Christian world and the lives of Christians.Less
This chapter compares the ideas Evagrius of Pontus held about angels to those of Augustine of Hippo. Evagrius cultivated a detailed program of Christian advancement during the end of the fourth century, and in that program, angels were considered rational beings, who sought to help Christians advance by protecting and developing their intellectual faculties. Like the human beings they helped, angels were ultimately going to gain union with God. Augustine of Hippo created an understanding of Christian history that included a different portrait of angels, as beings whose status and moral nature were fixed at the beginning of creation. The purpose of the chapter is to show the significant difference in the way these two Christian thinkers incorporated angels into their conceptions of the Christian world and the lives of Christians.
Henry Mayr‐Harting
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199210718
- eISBN:
- 9780191705755
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199210718.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
In assessing the reading which went into Ruotger's creation of his image of Bruno, the Bible (including St Paul), the classics, the Rule of St Benedict, and the early Christian poets and ...
More
In assessing the reading which went into Ruotger's creation of his image of Bruno, the Bible (including St Paul), the classics, the Rule of St Benedict, and the early Christian poets and hagiographers have all been given full value by scholars; but the Christian Latin fathers, or more particularly Augustine and Pope Gregory the Great, have been underrated. This chapter explores the influence of Augustine and Gregory on Ruotger's work. Ruotger was significantly influenced at least by Augustine's Christian Doctrine and City of God, and even more by Gregory the Great's Letters and Pastoral Care.Less
In assessing the reading which went into Ruotger's creation of his image of Bruno, the Bible (including St Paul), the classics, the Rule of St Benedict, and the early Christian poets and hagiographers have all been given full value by scholars; but the Christian Latin fathers, or more particularly Augustine and Pope Gregory the Great, have been underrated. This chapter explores the influence of Augustine and Gregory on Ruotger's work. Ruotger was significantly influenced at least by Augustine's Christian Doctrine and City of God, and even more by Gregory the Great's Letters and Pastoral Care.
Virginia Burrus and Karmen Mackendrick
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823230815
- eISBN:
- 9780823235087
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823230815.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
In Saint Augustine's texts, bodies consistently evade wholeness, produce excess, affirm, and negate—and approach a God who likewise does all of these things. City of God ...
More
In Saint Augustine's texts, bodies consistently evade wholeness, produce excess, affirm, and negate—and approach a God who likewise does all of these things. City of God describes several modes of what we might call corporeal excess—and in so doing, not only tends to textual versions but also pushes into the conceptual excess of paradox. His is a queer apophasis, then—an apophasis of confession, not least. In confession, there is always more to say—and to unsay. One never gets to the bottom of it all, for no utterance is ever quite right. The self eludes language as surely as God does. The fragmentation, the break not only between intention and expression but also between human and divine in the fallen world, produces excess, not merely by adding on lies to the truth, but by keeping us talking (perhaps fictively) toward a God our words can never reach: there is always more to say.Less
In Saint Augustine's texts, bodies consistently evade wholeness, produce excess, affirm, and negate—and approach a God who likewise does all of these things. City of God describes several modes of what we might call corporeal excess—and in so doing, not only tends to textual versions but also pushes into the conceptual excess of paradox. His is a queer apophasis, then—an apophasis of confession, not least. In confession, there is always more to say—and to unsay. One never gets to the bottom of it all, for no utterance is ever quite right. The self eludes language as surely as God does. The fragmentation, the break not only between intention and expression but also between human and divine in the fallen world, produces excess, not merely by adding on lies to the truth, but by keeping us talking (perhaps fictively) toward a God our words can never reach: there is always more to say.
Kathryn Walls
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780719090370
- eISBN:
- 9781781706510
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719090370.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Henceforth Una represents Augustine’s City of God. As such, she stands for a Church that is distinct from the “visible” earthly institutions that co-exist with it. She is not (as most commentators ...
More
Henceforth Una represents Augustine’s City of God. As such, she stands for a Church that is distinct from the “visible” earthly institutions that co-exist with it. She is not (as most commentators have thought) the Church of England. Correctly interpreted, the Kirkrapine episode underlines Spenser’s preoccupation with the invisibility of the Church. The physical elusiveness of the House of Holiness also tends to distinguish the Church proper from church buildings and forms generally.Less
Henceforth Una represents Augustine’s City of God. As such, she stands for a Church that is distinct from the “visible” earthly institutions that co-exist with it. She is not (as most commentators have thought) the Church of England. Correctly interpreted, the Kirkrapine episode underlines Spenser’s preoccupation with the invisibility of the Church. The physical elusiveness of the House of Holiness also tends to distinguish the Church proper from church buildings and forms generally.
Mary M. Keys
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198805878
- eISBN:
- 9780191843778
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198805878.003.0004
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law, Legal History
This chapter analyses the early Salamanca theologian-jurists’ turn to Augustine of Hippo’s analysis of religion, empire, and laws amongst nations in his magnum opus The City of God (De civitate dei). ...
More
This chapter analyses the early Salamanca theologian-jurists’ turn to Augustine of Hippo’s analysis of religion, empire, and laws amongst nations in his magnum opus The City of God (De civitate dei). The first section surveys the import of and access to Augustine’s City of God in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. The second section interprets and assesses Augustine’s place in the early Salamanca School, according special attention to the writings of Francisco de Vitoria, Melchior Cano, and Domingo de Soto. The third section continues Soto’s fruitful project of relectio, rereading The City of God afresh with a focus on Augustine’s commentaries on right (ius) and law (lex) among nations under Rome’s imperial sway. The chapter’s conclusion argues that rereading The City of God in this way deepens our awareness of Augustine’s alliance with the Salamanca School, even as it highlights a certain tension between Augustine’s legal thought and Vitoria’s.Less
This chapter analyses the early Salamanca theologian-jurists’ turn to Augustine of Hippo’s analysis of religion, empire, and laws amongst nations in his magnum opus The City of God (De civitate dei). The first section surveys the import of and access to Augustine’s City of God in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. The second section interprets and assesses Augustine’s place in the early Salamanca School, according special attention to the writings of Francisco de Vitoria, Melchior Cano, and Domingo de Soto. The third section continues Soto’s fruitful project of relectio, rereading The City of God afresh with a focus on Augustine’s commentaries on right (ius) and law (lex) among nations under Rome’s imperial sway. The chapter’s conclusion argues that rereading The City of God in this way deepens our awareness of Augustine’s alliance with the Salamanca School, even as it highlights a certain tension between Augustine’s legal thought and Vitoria’s.
Virginia Burrus
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780823255405
- eISBN:
- 9780823261147
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823255405.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
This chapter examines Augustine's writings on miracle through the lens of Franz Rosenzweig's postmodern retrieval of a premodern theory of miracle in Star of Redemption. The reading of Rosenzweig's ...
More
This chapter examines Augustine's writings on miracle through the lens of Franz Rosenzweig's postmodern retrieval of a premodern theory of miracle in Star of Redemption. The reading of Rosenzweig's enigmatic references to Augustine leads to a new and surprising conception of the signifying power of the miraculous in the early saint's writings. Through the dialogic coupling of Rosenzweig and Augustine, the chapter notes a certain temporal excess in the latter's City of God. It considers Augustine's often surprising emphasis on the corporeal, which corresponds to an experience of time itself as excessive. This chapter examines Augustine's writings on miracle through the lens of Franz Rosenzweig's postmodern retrieval of a premodern theory of miracle in Star of Redemption. The reading of Rosenzweig's enigmatic references to Augustine leads to a new and surprising conception of the signifying power of the miraculous in the early saint's writings. Through the dialogic coupling of Rosenzweig and Augustine, the chapter notes a certain temporal excess in the latter's City of God. It considers Augustine's often surprising emphasis on the corporeal, which corresponds to an experience of time itself as excessive.Less
This chapter examines Augustine's writings on miracle through the lens of Franz Rosenzweig's postmodern retrieval of a premodern theory of miracle in Star of Redemption. The reading of Rosenzweig's enigmatic references to Augustine leads to a new and surprising conception of the signifying power of the miraculous in the early saint's writings. Through the dialogic coupling of Rosenzweig and Augustine, the chapter notes a certain temporal excess in the latter's City of God. It considers Augustine's often surprising emphasis on the corporeal, which corresponds to an experience of time itself as excessive. This chapter examines Augustine's writings on miracle through the lens of Franz Rosenzweig's postmodern retrieval of a premodern theory of miracle in Star of Redemption. The reading of Rosenzweig's enigmatic references to Augustine leads to a new and surprising conception of the signifying power of the miraculous in the early saint's writings. Through the dialogic coupling of Rosenzweig and Augustine, the chapter notes a certain temporal excess in the latter's City of God. It considers Augustine's often surprising emphasis on the corporeal, which corresponds to an experience of time itself as excessive.
Kathryn Walls
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780719090370
- eISBN:
- 9781781706510
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719090370.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
In cantos ii-iii Spenser allegorizes the history of the heavenly City’s relationship with the visible institutions that have failed to accommodate it: Abessa’s flight represents the rejection of the ...
More
In cantos ii-iii Spenser allegorizes the history of the heavenly City’s relationship with the visible institutions that have failed to accommodate it: Abessa’s flight represents the rejection of the gospel by the Synagogue; Una’s miserable night in the house of Corceca represents the fate of the redeemed in a superstitious pre-Reformation Church. Joined by Archimago, and attacked by Sans Loy, Una represents the abiding predicament of the redeemed. The allegory of Christ’s life (and death) on earth incorporates a quasi-prophetic allegory of the history of the Church under Henry VIII: the lion’s slaughter of Kirkrapine, for instance, alludes both to Christ’s expulsion of the money-changers from the Temple and to the dissolution of the monasteries.Less
In cantos ii-iii Spenser allegorizes the history of the heavenly City’s relationship with the visible institutions that have failed to accommodate it: Abessa’s flight represents the rejection of the gospel by the Synagogue; Una’s miserable night in the house of Corceca represents the fate of the redeemed in a superstitious pre-Reformation Church. Joined by Archimago, and attacked by Sans Loy, Una represents the abiding predicament of the redeemed. The allegory of Christ’s life (and death) on earth incorporates a quasi-prophetic allegory of the history of the Church under Henry VIII: the lion’s slaughter of Kirkrapine, for instance, alludes both to Christ’s expulsion of the money-changers from the Temple and to the dissolution of the monasteries.
R. Scott Hanson
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780823271597
- eISBN:
- 9780823271894
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823271597.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The Introduction orients the reader to the neighborhood of Flushing and presents the main themes and argument of the book in addition to relevant theoretical, historiographical, and methodological ...
More
The Introduction orients the reader to the neighborhood of Flushing and presents the main themes and argument of the book in addition to relevant theoretical, historiographical, and methodological questions and a chapter outline. St. Augustine’s City of God is recycled in the title and Introduction to draw attention to religious pluralism as a theological, political and social issue, and a question that theologian John Courtney Murray, S.J., asked in 1960 is revisited as the central question of the book: How much pluralism, and what kinds of pluralism, can a pluralist society stand? While the book traces the often overlooked colonial history of Flushing to frame it within a discussion of religious freedom, the focus is primarily on Flushing since World War II and the Immigration Act of 1965—when it would become perhaps the most religiously diverse neighborhood in the history of the world.Less
The Introduction orients the reader to the neighborhood of Flushing and presents the main themes and argument of the book in addition to relevant theoretical, historiographical, and methodological questions and a chapter outline. St. Augustine’s City of God is recycled in the title and Introduction to draw attention to religious pluralism as a theological, political and social issue, and a question that theologian John Courtney Murray, S.J., asked in 1960 is revisited as the central question of the book: How much pluralism, and what kinds of pluralism, can a pluralist society stand? While the book traces the often overlooked colonial history of Flushing to frame it within a discussion of religious freedom, the focus is primarily on Flushing since World War II and the Immigration Act of 1965—when it would become perhaps the most religiously diverse neighborhood in the history of the world.
Sarah Catherine Byers
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- June 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190490447
- eISBN:
- 9780190490478
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190490447.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
Augustine’s employment of some (ultimately) Aristotelian concepts and distinctions, such as from the work On the Soul, helped him to develop his own account of the human being as a single-substance ...
More
Augustine’s employment of some (ultimately) Aristotelian concepts and distinctions, such as from the work On the Soul, helped him to develop his own account of the human being as a single-substance body-soul compound, and a correlative theory of death. The recovery of his view involves some work, because he does not always explain how he thinks the core theses to which he is committed play out in detail. Nevertheless it is possible when we use his Literal Meaning of Genesis to illuminate the City of God, Book 13. The former text contains the most extended presentation of Augustine’s natural philosophy. It employs concepts from classical metaphysics—such as matter, body, form, and potentiality—which, along with some of the Aristotelian categories, are recognizable again in the City of God, a work that he commenced as he was completing the Genesis commentary.Less
Augustine’s employment of some (ultimately) Aristotelian concepts and distinctions, such as from the work On the Soul, helped him to develop his own account of the human being as a single-substance body-soul compound, and a correlative theory of death. The recovery of his view involves some work, because he does not always explain how he thinks the core theses to which he is committed play out in detail. Nevertheless it is possible when we use his Literal Meaning of Genesis to illuminate the City of God, Book 13. The former text contains the most extended presentation of Augustine’s natural philosophy. It employs concepts from classical metaphysics—such as matter, body, form, and potentiality—which, along with some of the Aristotelian categories, are recognizable again in the City of God, a work that he commenced as he was completing the Genesis commentary.
