Augustine

Augustine is commonly interpreted as endorsing an extramission theory of perception in De quantitate animae. A close examination of the text shows, instead, that he is committed to its rejection. I end with some remarks about what it takes for an account of perception to be an extramission theory and with a review of the strength of evidence for attributing the extramission the- ory to Augustine on the basis of his other works.

In Book 2 of De Libero Arbitrio (Lib. Arb.), Augustine devises a proof of God’s existence and also seems to identify God with truth. In this paper, I reconstruct two distinct proofs: (1) Augustine’s proof of God’s existence and (2) his argument for the identification of God with truth. While scholars have long recognized that Augustine offers a proof of God’s existence in Lib. Arb. 2.14–39, the fact that he has two dialectical aims in this section of the dialogue has (...) been overlooked in the secondary literature. An upshot of disentangling these dialectical aims is that the two proofs turn out to be doctrinally neutral, resting not on any specifically Christian tenets, but rather on Augustine’s commitment to the existence of the intelligible Forms. (shrink)

This article focuses on the unresolved scholarly question of how Confessiones, book 10 should be interpreted, proposing a new explanation as to how and why the second half of book 10 is critically important to this text. Emphasizing important relations between the introductory chapters and the second half of book 10, the article revisits Augustine’s treatment of ambitio saeculi, interpreted as a state of will, with which author Augustine continues to struggle, even during his act of confessing publicly (i.e., in (...) composing the book 10 text for publication). As a corruption of the motive behind his act of public confession, ambitio saeculi threatens to undermine the moral integrity of this same act. After Augustine recognizes that he cannot solve this moral flaw, he despairs and considers abandoning his human audience, and so, the very publication of his text. However, he is made newly capable of remaining, as confessant, before his readership, through a new, deeper conversion. This conversion to a new humility is given in and through the confessant’s participation in the eucharistic sacrament, which provides a hopeful resolution to his ambitio saeculi. (shrink)

Augustine believed that humans are called to be both slaves and friends of God. John 15:15, Jesus tells his disciples that they are no longer his slaves, but are instead his friends, thus posed a significant interpretive problem for him. This paper surveys Augustine’s thirteen discussions of the passage, presenting several themes Augustine developed and interpretive strategies he tried out over two decades of interpreting the passage. His favorite strategy was reading the passage proleptically. The disciples were not yet friends (...) of God at the time of Jesus’s speaking but could look forward to a certain future when they will be friends of God. But this strategy couldn’t solve the problem: Jesus treats slavery to and friendship with God as substitutes, not compossible. One theme was to associate slavery with fear. Augustine invoked this in his most extensive treatment of John 15:15, arguing that there are two species of slavery to God, each corresponding to a kind of fear. One fear, and thus one slavery, is compatible with friendship. The other is not. The paper concludes by identifying some further problems Augustine’s approach raised. (shrink)

In this article I call attention to a twofold pattern of ranking pagans that is epiphenomenal to the structure of books 1–10 of Augustine’s City of God, and evident when we attend to Augustine’s assessment of intellectual claims by certain pagans in combination with his moral evaluation of them. On the one hand, Augustine begins with those who have the most serious errors and progresses through representatives who come closer to the truth, arriving finally at the Platonists (and Porphyry in (...) particular), who have the most correct knowledge and are “closest to us [Christians].” On the other hand, as Augustine progresses through pagans who have increasing relevant knowledge, the heat of his criticisms also increases, such that Porphyry ends up as having the most relevant knowledge and as the worst pagan. This twofold structural pattern in books 1–10 itself has not been noticed and is of interest in its own right. It is also another way to notice and explore the classic tension within Augustine between his simultaneous appreciation for and rejection of a rival intellectual heritage. (shrink)

Confessions 13.11.12, which describes the Christian Trinity in terms of “to be, to know, and to will” and “being, mind, and life,” is a difficult passage to interpret. At the same time, it has important implications: for making sense of an assertion about Platonism in Book 7, for assessing Augustine’s originality or lack thereof in philosophical theology, and for correctly placing him in the wider history of metaphysics. As we will see, this rich passage is only fully intelligible as an (...) engagement with Plotinus (fl. 250) that is mediated by Marius Victorinus’ metaphysics. This fact about Confessions 13.11.12 has ramifications, both particular and general. It permits us to understand what this particular passage intends to say about the Trinity – an important implication because the meaning of some of the basic terms and the relation between Augustine’s paronymous trios are not what they appear to be. Equally crucially, this feature of Confessions 13 gives us access to the reasoning behind Augustine’s claims; for Victorinus provides arguments grounded in classical metaphysics to support his trinitarianism, whereas Augustine only repeats Victorinus’ conclusions. Furthermore, it reveals that Augustine’s highly influential writings about the Trinity are not as original as is typically assumed, and it illustrates a general truth: Augustine’s common designation as “Platonist” would be more precise if it were revised to “Victorine Neoplatonist.” Again, it indicates that Augustine was exposed to a wider range of philosophical concepts and distinctions than is often supposed. Victorinus wrote in Latin but was fluent in Greek; he was in touch with Greek philosophical texts and sprinkled his text with technical terms from Greek philosophy. For example, Victorinus utilizes Aristotelian concepts that are not contained in the Categories, the only text by Aristotle that Augustine knew. So Augustine, who was not bilingual, could access this content via Victorinus. Lastly, the presence of Marius Victorinus’ thought in Confessions 13.11.12 improves our knowledge of his role in the later history of western metaphysics. Victorinus is often assumed to have had no significant influence on medieval philosophy, because his Against Arius ceased to be copied in full by the time of Alcuin (fl. 780). (That was because Jerome rightly characterized the text as inaccessible except to those with advanced training in philosophy.) However, Augustine’s sway over subsequent western thought renders his direct source, Victorinus, influential as well. (shrink)

In “Salvator Mundi: Via Crucis,” Denise Levertov encounters Christ as he bears “Incarnation’s heaviest weight.” In these fleeting moments, she writes, Christ finds himself “out of his depth,” enduring the “sickened desire... to simply cease, to not be.” The poet’s meditation on these moments offers a useful lens for reconsidering Augustinian hope. In view of Christ’s suffering as the incarnated divine promise, how does Augustine interpret the meaning of St. Paul’s “one hope” (Eph. 4:4) and St. Peter’s “living hope” (1 (...) Pet. 1:3)? While other hopes unfold under the shadow of death, the life that is “hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3) draws its hope out of the depths to which Christ has descended. This results in a new way of keeping time in God’s promise: a way that for Augustine disrupts and exceeds, without abandoning, life in the saeculum. (shrink)

This paper—the text of a lecture given at Oxford in 2022—explores possible answers to a question frequently posed as I worked on the book Augustine the African: was Augustine Black? I begin by exploring the evidence for Augustine’s appearance in literal terms, through textual traces or visual images, and briefly discussing the Amazigh heritage of his mother. I then look at the examples and metaphors in his preaching for further hints. The question broadens out to become one about the founding (...) presumptions of the discipline of history, and the context of the early modern invention of the category of blackness. The epistemological claims of blackness and whiteness in this context are briefly explored, along with their convoluted equivalencies with the categories of African and Roman. Finally, I look to the Ghanaian philosopher Wiredu to provide an African take on Eurocentric “universals.”. (shrink)

Augustine’s theology of divine forgiveness has received surprisingly little sustained attention. This is unfortunate, not least because his approach offers a thought-provoking contrast to the way forgiveness is typically conceived in our own day. We commonly understand forgiveness in therapeutic terms, as overcoming resentment or anger. For Augustine, God’s forgiveness is “metaphysical”—an other-oriented action that changes the moral and spiritual status of those who are forgiven. God forgives preveniently, to free sinners from their sin, so that they can be who (...) they were meant to be. Forgiveness, therefore, is a divine attempt to restore sinners to the good. Yet although God acts out of love, Augustine did not consider forgiveness incompatible with paternalistic anger or punishment. This essay draws on Augustine’s theologies of baptism and the cross to explore these ideas, and their implications for the relationship between human and divine agency in giving and receiving forgiveness. It concludes by raising some questions about how Christians should think about human forgiveness in light of Augustine’s account of God’s transformative love. (shrink)

The extant manuscripts of Saint Augustine’s De beata uita contain a missing passage in 3.22. Using literary analysis, Augustine’s penchant for numerology, and modern codicology, this essay argues that we can for the first time reconstruct the size and content of the lacuna. Specifically, we conclude that the lacuna probably contained approximately 400 words that filled two pages, and that in these missing passages, Augustine and the group most likely wrestled with the statement that someone who seeks God, even though (...) God is well-disposed to him, is miserable. The conversation also probably shifted from the theme of wanting or wishing (uolo/uolere), which had hitherto framed the discussion on fulfillment, to that of needing (ego/egere). The group apparently agreed with the statement that every person in need is miserable while Monica concluded that misery is nothing other than need. (shrink)

In Saeculum, Robert Markus argues that Augustine’s theology of history underwent a notable change around 400 CE: while early Augustine embraced a triumphalist reading of the Roman empire’s Christianization, he eventually rejected the notion of tempora christiana. Instead, Augustine conceived of post-apostolic history as homogeneous and barred from prophetic interpretation. In contrast to Markus’ account, this article argues that throughout his life, Augustine narrated the empire’s Christianization as the inauguration of a distinct time in the sixth age and as the (...) fulfillment of particular scriptures. Augustine presents three groups of events—the persecution of martyrs, the global expansion of the church, and the coercive legislation of believing kings—as the fulfillment of Ps. 2 and 72, in addition to several other scriptures. First, the martyrs are like Joseph, persecuted before rising to power, and like Jerusalem, who incorporates Babylon into her body by consuming her members and gods. Second, the scriptures which prophesy Christ incarnate speak with the same clarity of the church present throughout the world. And third, Christian kings pass pro-Catholic legislation because they are the fulfillment of Nebuchadnezzar, who was transformed from disbelief to faith. Given his repeated application of prophecies to Christianizing events of the fourth century, particularly in his anti-Donatist writings, Augustine never rejected a tempora christiana theology. However, Augustine celebrates the triumphs of Christian kings in Christian times without embracing Eusebian apocalypticism. (shrink)

This article helps fill a gap in studies on Augustine’s thought, by focusing on forgiveness—an ethical theme important to the Bishop of Hippo—with particular attention to the role forgiveness plays, or can and should play, in political life. The City of God (De ciuitate dei; ciu.) opens wide vistas for such study. Augustine’s reflections throughout his long work cast light on the many facets of forgiveness and related themes as they enter and impact social and civic life, characterized by our (...) human condition in all its contingency, fallibility, and fallenness, while rooted deeply in divine creation and the goodness of nature, healed and elevated by grace even in this saeculum. The article’s first segment argues that the theme of forgiveness or pardon, pagan and Christian, frames the entire ciu. The second segment studies three exemplars of forgiveness in political life highlighted by Augustine: Julius Caesar, David, and Theodosius. The third section comprises a brief conclusion, observing a parallel Augustine discerns between Virgil’s and Jesus’s teaching. This surprising confluence offers a vision of friendship forged by generous “giving and forgiving” across religious and cultural divides, and thus perhaps a partial foundation for unitas in our “foundationless age.”. (shrink)

In one of his earliest dialogues, the Soliloquia, Augustine identifies the liberal arts (disciplinae) with truth (veritas), and employs this somewhat puzzling identification as a premise in his infamous proof of the immortality of the soul (Sol. 2.24). In this paper, I examine Augustine’s argument for this peculiar identification. Augustine maintains both (1) that the constituent propositions of the liberal arts are true, and (2) that the liberal art of dialectic (disciplina disputandi) is the “truth through which all disciplines are (...) true” (Sol. 2.21). I argue that Augustine identifies the liberal arts with truth because (1) the constituent propositions of the liberal arts are learned, and (2) dialectic’s structure is essential to the liberal arts. I further suggest that the subject matter of each liberal art reflects a distinct segment of intelligible reality, that is, the realm of the intelligible Forms. (shrink)

One of Augustine’s most controversial ideas is his “order of love,” which he explicates using a distinction between “use” (usus) and “enjoyment” (fruitio). Critics complain that, by encouraging us to “use” each other and the world to “enjoy” God, Augustine instrumentalizes human beings and temporal goods in ways that deny their intrinsic value. In recent years, influential scholars have challenged this critique by offering alternative accounts of Augustine’s order of love and his distinction between use and enjoyment. Often overlooked is (...) an essential aspect of this distinction, namely, its Roman legal context, where rights of “usufruct” and “use” not only authorize others to “use” property owned by others but also prescribe duties of stewardship and sustainability that govern such use. In what follows, I explain the Roman laws of usufruct and use and show how Augustine, as a bishop managing church property and adjudicating cases on the episcopal court, would have likely been familiar with such laws. I then show how recovering these Roman legal concepts supports alternative accounts of Augustine’s order of love. In particular, when properly situated in their Roman legal and linguistic contexts, these concepts furnish a new interpretation of Augustine’s ethics of “use” and cast new light on what it means to “use” and “enjoy” the commonwealth and creation. In addition to offering a new interpretative lens, I show how elevating the concept of usufruct can supply constructive resources for contemporary accounts of political and ecological ethics. (shrink)

Augustine can appear to be a rigidly dogmatic writer and thinker—he is responsible for defining much of what becomes orthodox dogma against positions he vigorously labels heretical. But he is too honest and too poetic a thinker to be so simple. His reading of original sin, a concept whose importance is largely his doing, is often understood as not only unambiguous but strongly misogynistic. This paper suggests that it is neither. It draws especially on two sources. The first is a (...) letter to a young monk, in which Augustine urges that the monk—and perhaps implicitly all devout men—should avoid Eve in all women, but specifically in the figures of mother and wife. The second is the Confessions. Here three feminine figures—Augustine’s mother, Monica; his unnamed partner/wife; and the enticing Lady Continence—all complicate any negative imagery. A series of heartbreaks emerges. It begins, in a way, with Eve’s creation out of Adam’s side; it extends to the exile consequent upon original sin; it goes on to Monica’s death and the unnamed woman’s banishment. But Continence, who turns Augustine to God, strongly echoes both these women, and arguably is not possible without them—not just as women, but specifically as mother and wife. Heartbreak and heart-mending, absence and God, turn out to be inextricably interwoven. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to present the views held by some Neoplatonists in the context of the problem of mental causation in contemporary philosophy of mind, and demonstrate that their position complements the currently accepted range of possible solutions. Section 1 provides an introduction to the topic under discussion. Section 2 considers the views of Plotinus and, to a lesser extent, his followers, St. Augustine of Hippo and Proclus. Each of them rejects the causal influence of bodies on (...) souls, while holding that the soul is capable of causing bodily states. Section 3 situates the discussed view in outline within the contemporary debate. (shrink)

This essay makes three points. First, in his work Augustine sought to craft something like what Theodor Adorno called a “late style”—a style achieved after maturity has been realized, when a thinker or artist finds their work frustrated by the received cultural expectations, and they seek to overcome those expectations. So understood, a “late style” expresses both frustration and hope. However, second, Augustine’s late style differs from Adorno’s Romantic aesthetics, in both content and form, and usefully illuminates his overall project: (...) It explains his repeated troubling of his own acts of writing and his culture’s practices of reading, and what reading was expected to produce in its practitioners. Across his whole career he struggled, increasingly self-consciously, against his culture’s formal expectations about authoritative teachings, and its material fantasy of a straightforwardly successful life. He attempted instead to communicate both his own flawed and ongoing path, and the inevitable difficulty and frustrations of post-lapsarian life, as he understood the Christian faith to depict it. The final manifestation of his late style is found in the City of God, where it produces a mode of writing, and a picture of the wayfaring Christian, capable of both skeptical critique, confessional affirmation, lively compassion, and humble gratitude. Third, recognizing and appreciating Augustine’s late style can provoke us to our benefit, in facing the challenges of religious life today, both as individuals and as people seeking to live together for the common good. (shrink)

In Confessiones 6.14.24, Augustine describes a dream for living in community with his male friends. Although this particular community never came to fruition, Augustine continued to promote the idea of gendered communities and lived his later years surrounded by men. His biographer and friend Possidius even makes a point of noting that as bishop Augustine was stringent about never being alone with a woman. In this paper I examine Augustine’s Confessiones alongside De Genesi ad litteram to consider why Augustine prefers (...) gendered communities, what he thinks necessitates them, and what potentially misogynistic thinking might be underlying his thought. I suggest that Augustine’s reasoning for gendered communities privileges men’s struggles with chastity over women’s opportunities and treats women as temptresses. I conclude by arguing we should listen to women as we reconsider the usefulness and desirability of creating communities along gendered lines. (shrink)

There is a growing consensus in Augustinian studies that Augustine’s two cities cannot be mapped neatly onto the distinction between Church and State. How, then, can he help illumine Church-State questions? In this essay, I examine how Henri de Lubac and Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) retrieve and build upon Augustine’s theological-political thought to develop a contemporary Augustinan approach to Church-State relations. I begin by discussing how their attention to the movement of Augustine’s thought leads them to recognize the importance of (...) mysterium in his vision and develop a Eucharistic ecclesiology focused on the Church as corpus mysticum. I then show how this ecclesiology helps them to critique ways of thinking about Church-State relations that operate solely within a political-juridical paradigm. Both thinkers, I argue, root their vision of spiritual authority in this Augustinian ecclesiology, and maintain that it must be understood in different terms than political authority. I conclude that this vision of spiritual authority illumines the Church’s perennial mission of elevating political life and its present mission of forming citizens capable of acting as leaven in their political communities. (shrink)