Academic literature on the topic 'Augustine, Bishop of Hippo'

Thesis advisor: Robert C. Bartlett<br>In my dissertation I seek to contribute to the revival of interest in Augustine’s political thought by attempting to uncover his doctrine of eternal law. While absent from his mature writings, including the City of God, this doctrine is central to the investigation of justice in Augustine’s early writings. After considering Augustine’s summary of this early investigation in the Confessions, the most surprising feature of which is Augustine’s insistence on the importance of specifically political questions to his mature understanding of justice, I take up the two treatments of eternal law. In the dialogue On Free Choice, the eternal law is contrasted with the temporal law and is understood in terms of the fundamental command to “order,” which means in the first place wisdom, but also “right and honorable” action. In the anti-Manichean polemic Contra Faustum, the eternal law is presented as the will of God that commands the preservation of the natural order, which means that actions are truly just insofar as they conduce to “mortal health.” I argue that these two discussions of eternal law indicate the limitations of any kind of “higher law” doctrine. On Free Choice demonstrates the difficulty of breaking free of the guidance of temporal law and its harmonization of the demands of eternal and temporal law depends on an understanding of moral virtue whose independence is rather assumed than proven. Contra Faustum shows that the natural ends of self-preservation, procreation, and civic peace are only the beginning points of moral reasoning, since the pursuit of those ends is governed by further moral criteria that cannot easily be understood in terms of nature. In the end, then, I argue that the doctrine of eternal law, while illuminating a great deal about the problems of politics and morality as Augustine encountered them, points to the crucial importance of the question of human virtue and of acquiring the prudence that provides for this virtue in light of the necessary limitations of political life. It is probably for this reason that Augustine does not return to the doctrine in his later writings and does not rely on it in his reconciliation of the two cities in the City of God<br>Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016<br>Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences<br>Discipline: Political Science

In his three major polemical campaigns, that is, against the Manichees, Donatists and Pelagians, Augustine used imagery derived from medicine and was, in tum influenced by the language he used. While much of the language of sickness and disease remained conventional, some usages came to bear significant theological weight, notably infirmitas and contagio. The former became a designation for the culpable weakness affecting each member of the human race since the Fall. The latter became a technical term for the transmission of original sin associated with concupiscentia. Sickness imagery assumes the analogy of the soul and body, advancing his project to integrate the two parts of the human person. It also enabled him to discuss humanity's fallen nature without slipping into Manichaean determinism or Pelagian autonomy. Finally, sickness imagery enabled Augustine to suspend the tension between the inherited guilt and free-will in readily accessible metaphor. Images of health and healing also helped Augustine sustain tensions in his thought. But even more significantly, the image of Christ the Physician proved critical throughout his polemical career. Against the Manichees it is the Divine Physician who lays out the stages of sacred history according to a great therapeutic strategy for the human race. Against the Donatists it is the wisdom of the Physician who prescribes painful means of cure which is urged against Donatist complaints of persecution. Finally, against the Pelagians, Christus Medicus becomes a technical soteriological term. This family of metaphors, drawn from the Scriptures, classical literature, pagan religion and common experience appear time and time again. While they may have become commonplace in the writings of other Christian authors, in Augustine's polemical theology they came to shape and inform key aspects of his thought.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2001.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Augusine's search for the nature of God's exisistence as well as the origin of evil, reaches a climax in Book 7 of his Confessions. This study assumes the position that Augustine strives to find answers to the above mentioned two questions in the first six books of the Confessions. The answers to both these questions were vitally important to Augustine, since it would then convince him to convert to the Christian faith. Augustine repeatedly thought he grasped the true answer to the existence of God and the origin and the nature of evil but he was disillusioned time and again. His quest for an answer started with his reading of Cicero's Hortentius (Conf. 3.4.7), a book that urged Augustine to search for Truth. Augustine then joined the Manicheans, a sect claiming that their doctrine was based on reason and contained the Truth (Conf. 3.6.10). Augustine believed that the Manicheans could resolve his quest for answers to the existence and nature of both God and evil. The Manichean intellectual and scientific exposition of the cosmos allowed Augustine to imagine God and evil as opposing substances. Eventually, promted by his own intellect, Augustine discovered weaknesses in their theories (Conf. 5.3.3-5.6.10). Augustine's final break with the Manicheans, after nine years as an adherent, came when he heard the sermons of Ambrose of Milan. Not only was Augustine impressed by Ambrose's eloquence but his sermons also embodied an interpretation of Platonism in Christian terms. Augustine's reading of the Neoplatonic books in a Latin translation urged him to turn into himself (Conf. 7.10.16) and search for God there. Once Augustine could pronounce upon the intelligible existence of God, his inquiry into the origin of evil resolved itself (7.12.18).<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Augustinus se soeke na die bestaanswyse van God en die aard en onstaan van die kwaad bereik 'n klimaks in Boek 7 van die Confessiones. In hierdie studie word daar van die standpunt uitgegaan dat Augustinus onder andere in die eerste ses boeke van die Confessiones poog om antwoorde te kry op bogenoemde twee vraagstukke. Antwoorde op beide hierdie vrae was van kardinale belang, aangesien dit Augustinus sou oortuig om hom tot die Christelike geloof te bekeer. Augustinus het herhaaldelik gepoog om die ware antwoorde op die vraag na bestaanwyse van God sowel as die oorsprong en die aard van die kwaad te vind. Hy was egter telke male ontnugter. Augustinus se soeke het begin toe hy in aanraking gekom het met Cicero se Hortensius (Conf. 3.4.7), 'n boek wat Augustinus aangemoedig het om die Waarheid na te jaag. Gevolglik het Augustinus by die Manicheërs aangesluit, aangesien dié sekte geglo het dat hulle leerstellinge gebaseer is op die rede en sodoende die volle waarheid bevat (Cant. 3.6.10). Augustinus het geglo dat die Manicheërs sy soektog na antwoorde op die vraag van God en die kwaad se bestaanswyse kon oplos. Die Manicheërs se intellektuele en wetenskaplike uiteensetting van die kosmos het Augustinus toegelaat om God en die kwaad as teenstrydige entiteite te beskou. Ongeveer nege jaar na sy aansluiting by die Manicheërs, aangemoedig deur sy eie intellek, het Augustinus die swak punte in die Manichese leerstellinge ontdek (Cant. 5.3.3-5.6.10). Die finale breek met die Manicheërs het gekom toe Augustinus die preke van Ambrosius in Milaan gehoor het. Nie alleen was Augustinus ingenome met Ambrosius se welsprekendheid nie, maar sy preke het ook die interpretasie van Platonisme in Christelike terme beliggaam. Die Neoplatoniese leerstellinge het Augustinus aangemoedig om na homself, in homself te draai (Conf. 7.10.16) en vir God daar te gaan soek. Sodra Augustinus kon verklaar dat God in die vorm van 'n kenbare wese bestaan, het sy soeke na die oorsprong en die aard van die kwaad dit self opgelos (Cant. 7.12.18).

Thesis (DTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2003<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this research is neither to compare the theologies of Augustine and Calvin, nor to establish a theory that reveals Augustine's influence on Calvin's theology. This research, rather, endeavours to set up a bridge between two types of study on Calvin, namely studies on Calvin's use of Augustine and of Augustine's influence on Calvin's writings. In other words, our main purpose is to suggest a basic tool (or information) for further studies. Three related questions are asked: I. What comprises Augustine's uniqueness in Calvin's writings? 2. Who is Calvin's Augustine? 3. What is the relevance of this study to current research on Calvin? In Chapter 2, a brief history of earlier research regarding discussion on Calvin and Augustine from the beginning of the zo" century is presented. Then critical conversations follow. These conversations concerning our theme involve three important scholars, namely L Smits, R J Mooi and J M J Lange van Ravenswaay. Finally, a need for a converging method which has the possibility of overcoming some methodological problems that arise in studies on Calvin and Augustine is expressed. In the third chapter, the use that Calvin makes of Augustine in his own works from the first period of his writing career to the last, fifth, period is thoroughly studied (1532- 1565). Chapter 4 deals with data analyses. In between the analysis of static data and the analysis of dynamic data, Smits's study of Augustinian citations in Calvin's writings is dealt with critically to provide a basic understanding of Augustinian citations. Finally, the answers to the three related questions that are suggested in the introduction are pursued: What comprises Augustine's uniqueness in Calvin's writings? Who is Calvin's Augustine? And what is the relevance of this study to current research on Calvin. The answers will function as a bridge between the two related studies of Calvin's use of Augustine and Augustine's influence on Calvin.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie navorsing is nie om die teologie van Augustinus en die van Calvyn te vergelyk nie en ook nie om 'n teorie daar te stel wat die invloed wat Augustinus op Calvyn se teologie uitgeoefen het, sal ontbloot nie. Die navorsing poog eerder om 'n brug op te rig tussen twee soorte studies oor Calvyn, naamlik studies oor Calvyn se gebruik van Augustinus en oor Augustinus se invloed op die skryfwerk van Calvyn. Ons hoof doel is met ander woorde om 'n basiese werktuig (of inligting) vir verdere studie voor te stel. Drie fundamentele vrae word gevra: I. Waarin Ie die uniekheid van Augustinus in Calvin se geskrifte? 2. Wie is Calvyn se Augustinus? 3. Op hoe 'n manier is hierdie studie relevant ten opsigte van huidige navorsing oor Calvyn? In Hoofstuk 2 word 'n kort geskiedenis van vroeer navorsmg aangaande bespreking oor Calvyn en Augustinus, vanaf die begin van die 20ste eeu, aangebied. Dan volg kritiese gesprekke. Hierdie gesprekke ten opsigte van ons tema betrek drie belangrike geleerdes, naamlik L Smits, R J Mooi en J M J Lange van Ravenswaay. Aan die einde word 'n behoefte uitgespreek vir 'n samevloeiende metode wat moontlik sommige metodologiese probleme wat in die bestudering van Calvyn en Augustinus na yore kom, sal oorbrug. In die derde hoofstuk word Calvyn se gebruikmaking van Augustinus in sy eie werk vanaf die eerste tydperk van sy skryfloopbaan tot die laaste, vyfde, deeglik bestudeer (1532-1565). Hoofstuk 4 behandel data-analise. Tussen die analise van statiese data en die analise van dinamiese data word Smits se studie van Augustiniaanse aanhalings in Calvyn se geskrifte krities behandel om 'n basiese begrip van Augustiniaanse aanhalings te verskaf. Uiteindelik word die antwoorde op die drie verwante vrae wat in die inleiding voorgestel word, nagespeur: I. Waarin Ie die uniekheid van Augustinus in Calvin se geskrifte? 2. Wie is Calvyn se Augustinus? 3. Op hoe 'n manier is hierdie studie relevant ten opsigte van huidige navorsing oor Calvyn? Die antwoorde sal as 'n brug tussen die twee verwante studies oor Calvyn se gebruikmaking van Augustinus en Augustinus se invloed op Calvyn dien.

In the present study, through a close reading of the Confessions , the author explores the concept of love in Saint Augustine as it pertains to the two possibilities of man, being towards the creation and being towards the Creator. He distinguishes two kinds of love corresponding to each one of these possibilities, love of the world (cupiditas) and love of God (caritas), and proceeds to analyze these loves. The main argument of the thesis is that these loves disclose the world to man in two opposed manners. The author argues that cupiditas seeks to find satisfaction in the creation and discloses it as an end in itself, whereas caritas loves the world for the sake of God and discloses it as a means to attaining God.

St. Augustine believed that we are created to aspire to a perfection that aligns our relationships in such a way that we function out of a sense of respect for ourselves and the universe in which we live. In so doing we explore the possibilities of creativity and happiness. His thinking moved from the context of classical Greek thought into a Christian one. By living and recording the dilemma of being unable to act as his intellect mandated, he developed an innovative concept of will. He believed that we are motivated to act through our loves but we have a divided will that can only move towards integration if we love correctly. This necessitates an inward journey.<br>The thesis of this paper is that if one subscribes to Augustine's beliefs there are serious implications for education. The following authors are cited to develop these implications in a modern philosophical and educational setting: Charles Taylor, Iris Murdoch, Israel Scheffler and Bob Samples. Finally, a brief resume of relevant teaching approaches and materials is offered.