Academic literature on the topic 'De civitate Dei (Augustine, of Hippo, Saint)'

The issue of time appears in the analysis that the Bishop of Hippo makes of the account of creation in Genesis, and offers better understanding the nature of created things and with them, created time. The way Augustine understands reality allows us to understand his interpretation of Genesis, which enriches the treatise’s view of time in Book XI of Confessiones, since in De Genesi ad litteram and De civitate Dei Augustine addresses time, not as experiences the soul, but as a creature made with other creatures, and linked to change and movement.

The article deals with the content and structure of the concept of divine law, its action in space and time, relationship with justice in one of the major works of the undivided Christian church of Father Augustine (354 — 430). The concept of divine law of Aurelius Augustine defines it as the will of the Christian God, the eternal unchanging truth which extends to the inhabitants of God and the earthly city, their community and regulatory relations, based on the criterion of justice. In the earthly city divine law takes the form of positive law, hierarchical structure, as well as time and historical performance.

This article presents the recent edition which the research team, direct-ed by Olivier Bertrand, undertook in order to give back to the schol-arly community concerned with Augustine of Hippo the translation, in Middle French, by Raoul de Presles (1371-1375) of De civitate Dei commissioned by Charles V, the Good, King of France, while he was involved in the recapture of Brittany after the Treaty of Bretigny dur-ing the Hundred Years’ War. This translation, which originally enjoyed an enormous market success, has finally appeared in a critical edition consisting of five volumes. Until now, only the first two volumes have been available, containing, respectively, books I-III and IV-V.

is article proposes some interpretative hypothesis regarding the prologue of the Livro de Linhagens do conde D. Pedro. A specific focus is granted to the comparison of some ideas contained in the prologue with patristic writings, especially a fundamentaltext (De Civitate Dei)of an author as important as Saint Augustine in shaping medieval conceptions and representations. Firstly, a proposal on how reading and interpreting the importance of patristic texts is established; to that purpose, considering thegeneral value of a concept such as ecclesia is of paramount importance. Grounded in these perspectives, some general ideas of Saint Augustine are highlighted, along with their importance in Pedro de Barcelos discourse. After that, a comparison is made between the main ideas underlined by Pedro de Barcelos, and other social practices essential to aristocracy cohesion and social reproduction. Overall, this article tries to emphasize the necessity of considering the Christian framework of medieval society to a precise comprehension of its traces, along with an indispensable dialectic between discourses and social practices to the analysis of historical reality.

Abstract. Apparently, until now, researchers have not paid attention to the fact that the “Declaration” of Met. Sergius Stragorodsky (1927) contains an almost direct quotation from Blessed Augustine's “De civitate Dei”, which speaks of the common joys and sorrows that in this life unite the citizens of the heavenly city and the citizens of the earthly city. As a consequence, the question arises as to what extent this borrowing could be, as well as whether this parallel legitimizes the ecclesiological (church-state) concept of Metropolitan Sergius. Evidently, Blessed Augustine was not among his favorite and even frequently quoted authors. This could result from the critical attitude towards the Bishop of Hippo, which was revealed even before 1917 by representatives of the “new theology”, whom Met. Sergius belonged to. However, since at the beginning of the 20th century “De civitate Dei” was too often the subject of church and public discussions, Met. Sergius, with his well-known erudition, could not be completely unfamiliar with it. At the same time, the conducted research shows that the position of Met. Sergius on the issue of church-state relations was changing throughout his life due to changing historical circumstances. Nevertheless, we can say for certain that his position was constant in the idea of the inviolability of the canonical structure of the local Church. This idea is formed against the background of the struggle for the restoration of the patriarchate. It considers the autocephalous local Church (not the diocese, as it was in ancient times) as a structural unit of the universal Church. Consequently, it implies the need to maintain a single church organization throughout the USSR. This, in turn, required the legal functioning of the Church, and, as a result, had a much greater dependence on the earthly city than blessed Augustine supposed.

In his De civitate Dei, Augustine stated that anyone who wants to lead a good and Christian life must necessarily have lived in sin in his life up to then. It is quite conceivable that Augustine had his own course of life in mind when writing these words; he never made a secret of his own sinful youth, as is clear from the Confessiones. None the less, his statement is expressed in the form of a general rule.Many medieval saints’ lives seem to accord with Augustine’s statement. The saint repents after a life of sin and henceforth leads a model Christian life until the day of his death. Thus the eventual victory of Christianity over the forces of evil was demonstrated.However, there are also many vitae that follow a different pattern. The saint is sometimes supposed to have been perfect in every respect from childhood onward. He was born a saint rather than becoming one through a process of ‘spiritual maturation’. Stories about such precocious saints have not escaped notice in modern scholarship. Following E. R. Curtius, the phrase puer senex is sometimes used to denote the topos; in hagiography, expressions such as as quasi senex and cor gerens senile are used.

The topic of this paper is the continuity of major religious, moral and ethical concepts of Roman culture in following periods. These are the virtues of the citizen, namely virtus, fides and pietas — which distinguish the Roman citizen as a brave warrior, honest magistrate and pious pater familias. The central one was the duty to the City. Some traces of this tradition can be observed in the most influental sources of the Christian Patristic period, although the very intention of morals has changed: res publica, a common/communal duty, was replaced by the adoration of God. With the view to a representative research, De Civitate Dei by Saint Augustine, the most famous Christian treatise dealing with the state, civic rights, state religion, authority etc. was analyzed. On the one hand, this great book provides multiple suitable illustrations for almost every feature of the continuity between the Ancient pagan culture and Christian intellectual one. On the other hand, it isn’t just a plain comparison of loci classici in pagan and Christian context, one can find the origins of a completely new approach to the world history, which had had an influence on minds of further generations of Christian theologians in Middle Ages and later periods.

The sex aetates mundi was the central framework of Early Christian, Late Antique, and early medieval Christian eschatology and historiography. This article is the second part of a study of the development and history of this motif. Part I (published in Augustinianum 61, 1 [2021]) summarised the emergence of this framework in biblical and patristic writings up to the late fourth-century, concluding with the work of the North African theologian, Tyconius. The second part of this study investigates the treatment of this subject in the writings of Augustine of Hippo, Dionysius Exiguus, Isidore of Seville, and the Venerable Bede. The majority of the examination is devoted to tracing Augustine’s understanding of the six ages – which was strongly influenced by Tyconius – since Augustine is frequently credited with being the main proponent of this conceptualisation of sacred history. This investigation of Augustine’s writings is mostly focused on De civitate Dei, the work that addresses the six ages framework most thoroughly, but analyses references to this historiography throughout his corpus. The conclusion of this examination argues that Augustine engaged with this commonplace view of history, but only insofar as it points mankind towards reflection of the world to come. This study argues that Isidore is the scholar who should be credited with popularising this notion in the early medieval Latin West. How the developments in calendrical reckoning put forward by Dionysius Exiguus and Bede intersect with and influence the six ages model is also charted. Overall, this study provides an in-depth examination of the six ages of history model in the thought of the fathers of Late Antique and early medieval Latin exegesis, pinpointing key moments in the evolution of the sex aetates model.

This paper expresses the principles of free will in the thought of the philosopher and bishop of Hippo, St. Augustine, in order to establish the understanding that there is about freedom and evil, since every human creature seeks to be free and good. In order to interpret the concepts of free will and the origin of evil, we will take into consideration these works of Saint Augustine: De libero arbitrio, Confessiones, and De ciuitate Dei; what is presented in the three books about whether sin comes from free will and whether the proof of God’s existence reveals him as the source of all good. In addition to the use of some commentators. In reviewing the texts one can affirm that God is not the author of evil, but the misuse of free will which in itself is a good, and praise God for the universal order, of which free will is a positive component, even if subject to sin. For Augustine, true happiness is found in accepting the Grace of God. The ability to choose, that is, free will, is not free until then. Freedom consists in having the will to return to the good. Free will conditions us to follow God’s will or not. However, only the one who chooses to carry out God’s will with God’s help will be free.

PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
Esta tese tem como tema: Os Fundamentos Ético-Morais da paz no De Civitate Dei de Santo Agostinho. Ela aborda a visão agostiniana da paz e a sua influência no Magistério da Igreja, em especial na Pacem in Terris, Gaudium et Spes e a Sollicitudo Rei Socialis. Segundo estes documentos, a ordem social é indispensável para a realização da paz. No entanto, sem menosprezar este aspecto, Agostinho afirma que esta ordem pressupõe a paz do indivíduo, a qual procede do equilíbrio entre o uti e o frui, princípios básicos da ética e da moral. Também a paz agostiniana pode ser analisada de acordo com a teologia moral, pois a paz, para ser alcançada, requer a valorização tanto da subjetividade como da intersubjetividade. Na realidade, os meios de se atingir a paz, defendida por Agostinho, continuam pertinentes, pois ele já intuía que a paz, para ser eficaz, envolve todos os aspectos relacionados ao homem, em si, e ao seu contexto social, não devendo ser confundida com o intimismo ou com uma espiritualidade desencarnada das estruturas sociais. Assim, a tranquilitas ordinis não significa conformismo ou resignação diante das estruturas injustas e desumanas deste mundo, pois quem vive de acordo com a ordem estabelecida por Deus sabe, perfeitamente, que deve colaborar com a cidade terrestre para que haja justiça e paz, sem perder de vista a Jerusalém do alto, meta e fim de todos que se empenham, sem desânimo, para implantar neste exílio as sementes do reino de Deus. Esta pesquisa pretende contribuir para a recuperação de uma visão integral do ser humano e do resgate da dimensão pluridimensional da paz.
Considering the title of this thesis, The Ethical-Moral Fundamentals of Peace on De Civitate Dei of Saint Augustine, we debate the Augustinian view of peace and its influence in the Church Magisterium, specially in the Pacem in Terris, Gaudium et Spes and Sollicitudo Rei Sociali documents. According to these documents the social order is indispensable to the realization of peace. Nevertheless, without despising this aspect, saint Augustine affirms that this order presupposes the peace of the individual, which arises from the balance between the uti and the frui, both the basic principles of ethics and moral. Saint Augustine s peace can also be analysed according to the moral theology, because the peace to be reached needs the valorization of both the subjectivity and the intersubjectivity. It is true that the means indorsed by saint Augustine to achieve peace are still pertinent, because he had already perceived by intuition that the peace is only effective when it involves all the aspects related to the human being and his social context, without confusing it with intimism or with a spirituality not incarnated within the social structures. Therefore, tranquilitas ordinis does not mean both the conformism or the resignation with the unjust and inhuman structures of this world. Because everybody who lives according to the order established by God knows perfectly that must cooperate, on the Earth, to have justice and peace, without loosing the sight of the Celestial Jerusalem, which is the aim of everyone that are commited, without discouragement, to establish the seeds of the Kingdom of God in this exile. This research plans to contribute to the restoration of the whole vision of the human being and to redeem the many dimensions of peace.
Cette Mémoire a comme Thème: Les Fondements Ethiques Morales de la paix, dans De Civitate Dei, de Saint Augustin. Elle aborde la vision augustinienne de la paix et son influence dans le Magistère de l’Eglise, en spécial dans les documents : Pacem et Terris, Gaudium et Spes, Sollicitudo Rei Sociales. Selon ces documents, l’ordre social est indispensable à la réalisation de la paix. Nonobstant, sans déprecier cet aspect, Augustin affirme que cet ordre présume la paix de l’individu, qui procède de l’équilibre entre le uti et le frui, les principes basiques de l’éthique et de la morale. La paix augustinienne aussi, peut être analysée en accord avec la théologie morale, car, la paix, pour être atteinte, éxige la valorisation tant de la subjectivité, comme de l’intersubjectivité. Vraiment, les moyens pour atteindre la paix, défendus par Augustin, continuent valables, car il pressentait que la paix pour être éfficace, englobe tous les aspects rélationnés à l’homme en soi-même et à son contexte social, ne pouvant pas être confondu avec l’intimisme ou avec une spiritualité pas incarnée des structures sociales. De cette façon, la tranquilitas ordinis ne signifie pas conformisme ou résignation devant des structures injustes et inhumaines de ce monde, car celui qui vit en accord avec l’ordre établie par Dieu, sait parfaitement qu’il doit collaborer avec la cité terrestre pour qu’il puisse avoir la justice et la paix, sans perdre de vue la Jérusalem Céleste , le terme et la fin de tous ceux qui s’engagent, sans défaillir, pour établir dans cet éxile, les sémences du Royaume de Dieu. Cette petite recherche veux contribuer à la récupération de cette vision intégrale du l’être humain et du rachat de la dimension pluridimensionale de la paix.

Thesis (MPhil (Ancient Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Although St Augustine of Hippo (354–430 C.E.) was raised as a Christian, he refuted Catholicism as a youth in his search for divine wisdom and truth. Like the biblical prodigal son, he first had to realise the error of his aversion (turning away from the Catholic Church) before he could experience conversion (returning to the Catholic faith). Augustine narrates certain central events of his life in the Confessiones as a series of conversions, leading him from his native Roman North Africa to his conversion to Catholic Christianity in the Imperial City of Milan. Philosophy, especially Neo-Platonic thought, played a crucial role in his conversion process, as did the influence of St Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, and other Neo-Platonic intellectuals in Milan. Neo- Platonism also influenced Augustine's conception of the imago Dei (image of God). Although Augustine’s teaching of the concept of the imago Dei is found in all his works (but mainly in De Trinitate), a survey of the literature has shown that the way in which this concept is used to inform, structure and advance his conversion narrative in the Confessions, has not yet been investigated in a structured manner. In order to address this gap in scholarly knowledge, the thesis attempts to answer the following research question: How did the concept of the imago Dei inform and structure Augustine's conversion narrative, as recounted in his Confessiones, taking into account the theological and philosophical influences of Ambrose and the Neo-Platonists of Milan on his spiritual development? The investigation was conducted by an in-depth study and analysis of the Confessiones and relevant secondary literature within the historical, philosophical and religious framework of the work. An empirical approach, by means of textual analysis and hermeneutics, was used to answer the research question. The analysis of the Confessions is limited to its autobiographical part (Books 1 to 9). In order to carry out the analysis, a theoretical and conceptual framework was posited in Chapters 1 to 4, discussing the key concepts of conversion and of the imago Dei, as well as explaining the influence of Neo-Platonism and Ambrose on Augustine. In Chapter 5, this conceptual framework of the nature of the imago Dei is complemented by a literary framework for the Confessions to form a metaframework. The textual analysis was done within the meta-framework with reference to certain endowments (attributes) imprinted in the image, namely personality, spirituality, rationality, morality, authority, and creativity. The main conclusion is that Augustine's personal relationship with God had been harmed by the negative impact of sin on these endowments of the divine image in him. His gradual realisation that God is Spirit, his growth in faith, and his eventual acceptance of the authority of Scripture and of the Catholic Church, brought about the healing of the broken image of God in Augustine and also the restoration of God’s likeness in him. This enabled Augustine to be reconciled to God through Christ, who is the perfect Image of God, and helped to convert him to the Catholic Church, which is the Body of Christ.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Alhoewel die Heilige Augustinus, Biskop van Hippo (354–430 n.C.), as Christen grootgemaak is, het hy as jong man die Katolisisme verwerp in sy soektog na goddelike wysheid en waarheid. Soos die verlore seun van die Bybel, moes hy eers die fout van sy afkerigheid (wegdraai van die Katolieke Kerk) insien voordat hy tot bekering (terugkeer tot die Katolieke geloof) kon kom. Augustine vertel sekere kerngebeure van sy lewe in die Confessiones (Belydenisse) as ‘n reeks van bekeringe, wat hom gelei het van sy geboorteplek in Romeins-Noord-Afrika tot sy bekering tot die Katolieke Christendom in die Keiserstad Milaan. Filosofie, veral Neo-Platoniese denke, het ‘n deurslaggewende rol gespeel in sy bekeringsproses, soos ook die invloed van die Heilige Ambrosius, Biskop van Milaan, en ander Neo- Platoniese intellektuele in Milaan. Neo-Platonisme het ook Augustine se begrip van die imago Dei (Godsbeeld) beïnvloed. Alhoewel Augustinus se leer oor die begrip imago Dei in al sy werke aangetref word (maar veral in De Trinitate), het ‘n literatuurstudie uitgewys dat die manier waarop hierdie begrip gebruik word om sy bekeringsverhaal in die Confessions toe te lig, vorm te gee en te bevorder, nog nie op gestruktureerde wyse ondersoek is nie. Om hierdie leemte in vakkundige kennis te vul, poog hierdie tesis om die volgende navorsingsvraag te beantwoord: Hoe het die begrip imago Dei Augustinus se bekeringsverhaal toegelig en vorm gegee, soos vertel in sy Confessiones, met inagneming van die teologiese en filosofiese invloede van Ambrosius en die Neo-Platoniste van Milaan op sy geestelike ontwikkeling? Die ondersoek is uitgevoer deur middel van ‘n grondige studie en ontleding van die Confessiones en toepaslike sekondêre literatuur binne die historiese, filosofiese en godsdienste raamwerk van die werk. ’n Empiriese benadering, by wyse van teksontleding en hermeneutika, is gebruik om die navorsingsvraag te beantwoord. Die ontleding van die Confessiones is beperk tot die outobiografiese deel (Boeke 1 tot 9). Om die ontleding uit te voer, is ’n teoretiese en konseptuele raamwerk vooropgestel in Hoofstukke 1 tot 4, waar die sleutelbegrippe bekering en imago Dei bespreek is, asook die invloed van Neo-Platonisme en Ambrosius op Augustinus. In Hoofstuk 5 word hierdie konseptuele raamwerk vir die aard van die imago Dei aangevul deur ’n literêre raamwerk vir die Confessions om sodoende ‘n metaraamwerk te vorm. Die teksontleding is gedoen binne die metaraamwerk met verwysing na sekere geestesgawes (eienskappe) wat in die beeld neerslag vind, naamlik persoonlikheid, spiritualiteit, rasionaliteit, moraliteit, outoriteit, en kreatiwiteit. Die hoofgevoltrekking is dat Augustinus se persoonlike verhouding met God geskaad is deur die negatiewe impak van sonde op hierdie geestesgawes van die Godsbeeld in hom. Sy geleidelike besef dat God Gees is, sy groei in sy geloof, asook sy uiteindelike aanvaarding van die gesag van die Bybel en van die Katolieke Kerk, het meegebring dat Augustinus se gebroke Godsbeeld en -gelykenis herstel is. Daardeur is Augustinus met God versoen deur Christus, wat die volmaakte Godsbeeld is, en sodoende is hy bekeer tot die Katolieke Kerk, wat die Liggaam van Christus is.

This thesis traces the development of Augustine's paradigm of the two cities (the City of God and the earthly city) in the cultural poetics of the English Renaissance. Although scholars have studied the impact of Augustine's model on theology, historical consciousness, and political theories in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, little attention has been paid to the genealogy of the more specifically "literary" aspects of the idea of the two cities. My line of inquiry is the relationship between Augustine's model of the two cities and the idea of drama. More specifically, this project explores the ways in which the idea o f the two cities spoke to various communities—of readers, of worshippers, and ultimately, of playgoers. Augustine's view of drama is divided; on the one hand, he speaks at length about the evil influence of Roman spectacles, but on the other hand, he acknowledges that the world itself is a theatre for God's cosmic drama. However, this employment of drama is limited in Augustine's writing, because his greater commitment is to the idea of Scripture. This interplay between drama and Scripture, I suggest, is an integral part of the two-cities model that is related to his theology of history. The tension between the idea of drama and the idea o f the book is evident in English Reformation appropriations of Augustine's model, such as those of John Bale and John Foxe, who changed the terminology to "the two churches." The second section of my thesis shows how these Reformers contained their own "dramatic" adaptations of the two cities within an even narrower theatre than Augustine's—a theatre constituted and contained by the Word. Shifting the focus to secular drama, the final section concerns Shakespeare's use of some facets of the two-cities model in his Jacobean plays, and examines the effects of removing this construct from its religious context. The result, I argue, is a theatre that celebrates its own aesthetic power and flaunts its sheer physicality, resisting the presumed stability of the written word.

Abstract Saint Augustine of Hippo (354–430) adapted classical thought to Christian doctrine and in various writings, including De civitate Dei, established the foundations for medieval and modern Christian theology. Born in north Africa, Augustine started out as a teacher, orator, and worldly man. He took a concubine for some years and had a son, Adeodatus. He fell in with the Manicheans, who believed that good and evil, light and darkness, were equal powers in conXict with each other. In 386, two years after taking the prestigious chair in rhetoric at Milan, Augustine experienced the conversion to Christ for which his mother Monica had long and fervently prayed. After giving up his post and his plans for marriage, Augustine became a priest and then bishop of Hippo (in Algeria today) until his death.