Augustine of Hippo: Life and Thought 4018-KON333-CLASS-OG

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) is undoubtedly one of the most important and influential figures in the history of the Christian tradition. Living in the tumultuous era of the decline of the Roman Empire, his systematic reflections on doctrine, ethics and politics decisively shaped the theology and identity of Latin Christendom as it emerged into the Middle Ages. It also contributed to the various currents of late medieval and early modern reform, even to the point where the Reformation itself can be characterised as a conflict between the Augustinian doctrine of grace and the Augustinian doctrine of the Church and its sacraments. Augustine’s theology continues to exercise a vital influence today, and he is commonly regarded as one of the most significant of all ancient and medieval philosophers. Indeed, his reflections on God and the human condition continue to fascinate – and even infuriate – while retaining their perennial relevance.
Taking the lead from major works such as the Confessions, City of God and On the Trinity, but at the same time without neglecting his controversial writings or his rich scriptural commentaries and moral and doctrinal treatises, this course will seek to give a thematic overview of Augustine’s thought in the context of his times. It will focus on the following areas: i) Conversion and the Christian Life, ii) Christ, Humanity and the Mystery of the Triune God, iii) Scripture, Church and Sacraments, iv) Sin, Grace and Salvation and v) the Earthly Pilgrimage. In doing so it will also offer an account of his thought in dialogue with the four major controversies which defined his career – that with the Academic Sceptics, with the Manichaeans, with the Donatists and with the Pelagians. It will focus on Augustine’s constructive role in the shaping of Christian orthodoxy, but will not neglect those aspects of his thought which successive generations have seen as problematic or even disturbing. Overall, however, it will reveal Augustine as a sensitive and self-reflective theologian whose thought reveals a profound and ongoing dialogue between the ineffable mysteries of the Triune God and the concrete existence and aspirations of fallible humans.

Type of course

general courses
elective courses

Prerequisites (description)

Good Knowledge of English (at least B2)

Learning outcomes

- Knowing the output of Augustine of Hippo as one of the most important Western theologians
- Knowing methods of interpreting theological texts in a philosophical context
- Selecting and interpreting information from a range of theological sources
- Presenting results analysing theological questions in an oral and written form
- Understanding the dynamics of theological development in the age of the Church Fathers
- Understanding and appreciating Catholic approaches to theological questions

Assessment criteria

1 essay (Times New Roman 12, 1.5 spacing, 7-10 pages), 1 class presentation

Bibliography

Primary Sources:

Works of Augustine of Hippo (available from www.ccel.org):

Philip Schaff (ed.), Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers I.I: The Confessions and Letters of Augustine
Philip Schaff (ed.), Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers I.II: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
Philip Schaff (ed.), Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers I.III: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Philip Schaff (ed.), Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers I.IV: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Philip Schaff (ed.), Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers I.V: The Anti-Pelagian Writings
Philip Schaff (ed.), Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers I.VI: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Philip Schaff (ed.), Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers I.VII: Expositions on the Psalms

Secondary Sources:

Lewis Ayres, Augustine and the Trinity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010)
Peter Brown, Augustyn z Hippony (Warszawa: Państ. Instytut Wydawniczy, 1993)
Peter Bathory, Political Theory as Public Confession: The Social and Political Thought of St Augustine of Hippo (London: Transaction Books, 1981)
Gerald Bonner, Freedom and Necessity: St Augustine’s Teaching on Divine Power and Human Freedom (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2007)
Gerald Bonner, St Augustine of Hippo: Life and Controversies (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1963)
Bruce Bubacz, St Augustine’s Theory of Knowledge: Contemporary Analysis (Toronto: E. Mellen, 1981)
Philip Burton, Language in the Confessions of Augustine (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)
Philip Cary, Augustine’s Invention of the Inner Self: The Legacy of a Christian Platonist (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000)
Henry Chadwick, Augustine: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001)
Henry Chadwick, Augustine of Hippo; A Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)
Henry Chadwick, Augustyn, tr. Tadeusz Szafrański (Warszawa : Prószyński i S-ka, 2000)
Chad Gerber, The Spirit of Augustine’s Early Theology: Contextualising Augustine’s Pneumatology (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2012)
Carol Harrison, Augustine: Christian Truth and Fractured Humanity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000)
Miles Hollingworth, Saint Augustine of Hippo: An Intellectual Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013)
Miles Hollingworth, The Pilgrim City: St Augustine of Hippo and his Innovation in Political Thought (London: Bloomsbury T. & T. Clark, 2010)
Kari Kloos, Christ, Creation and the Vision of God: Augustine’s Transformation of Early Christian Theophany Interpretation (Leiden: Brill, 2011)
George Lawless and Robert Dodaro (eds.), Augustine and his Critics: Essays in Honour of Gerald Bonner (London: Routledge, 2000)
Jairzinho Lopes Pereira, Augustine of Hippo and Martin Luther on Original Sin and Justification of the Sinner (Helsinki: Unigrafia, 2012)
Robert O’Connell, Soundings in St Augustine’s Imagination (New York: Fordham University Press, 1994)
Robert O’Connell, St Augustine’s Confessions: The Odyssey of Soul (New York: Fordham University Press, 1989)
Jaroslav Pelikan, The Mystery of Continuity: Time and History, Memory and Eternity in the Thought of Saint Augustine (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1986)
John Rist, Augustine: Ancient Thought Baptized (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994)
Ronnie Rombs (ed.), Saint Augustine and the Fall of the Soul: Beyond O’Connell and his Critics (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2006)
Horace Six-Means, Augustine and Catholic Christianization: The Catholicization of Roman Africa, 391-408 (New York: Peter Lang, 2011)
Eleonore Stump and Norman Kretzmann, The Cambridge Companion to Augustine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001)
Roland Teske (ed.), To Know God and the Soul: Essays on the Thought of St Augustine (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2008)
Carl Vaught, Access to God in Augustine’s Confessions: Books X-XIII (Albany, NY York: State University of New York Press, 2005)
Carl Vaught, Encounters with God in Augustine’s Confessions: Books VII-IX (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2004)
Carl Vaught, Journey towards God in Augustine’s Confessions: Books I-VI (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2003)
Mark Vessey and Karla Pollmann (eds.), Augustine and the Disciplines: From Cassiciacum to Confessions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005)
James Wetzel, Augustine and the Limits of Virtue (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992)

Additional information

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