Augustine, Aristotle, and the Confessions (original) (raw)

Review of The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's "Confessions"

Augustinian Studies, 2021

This Cambridge Companion serves as an authoritative guide to Augustine’s Confessions—a literary classic and one of the most important theological/philosophical works of Late Antiquity. Bringing together new essays by leading scholars, the volume first examines the composition of the text, including its structure, genre, and intended audience. Subsequent essays explore a range of themes and concepts, such as God, creation, sin, grace, happiness, and interiority, among others. The final section of the Companion deals with its historical relevance. It provides sample essays on the reception history of the Confessions. These essays demonstrate how each generation reads the Confessions in light of current questions and circumstances, and how the text continues to remain relevant and raise new questions.

Philosophy [in The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's Confessions, ed. by T. TOOM]

The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's Confessions, Edited by Tarmo Toom, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020

This chapter focuses on the metaphilosophy of Augustine's “Confessions.” All the places of this work in which Augustine speaks explicitly of philosophy, of the philosophers, and of their writings are taken into consideration. An analysis of these places reveals the way in which Augustine, at the time he wrote his “Confessions,” recalled and judged the role played by philosophy until his baptism at the age of thirty-two.

Essay on Augustine's Confessions

Augustine's Confessions is a passionate and intensely intimate baring of his soul as he shares his struggles with sin and exults in his grace-filled relationship with God. It is not a carefully crafted narrative presenting Augustine in the best light but rather in the rawness of his struggles, and the reader feels as though she is intruding into his private conversation with God. He opens a window into the worldview of that time when secular ambition to be a great orator and teacher was greatly prized and the religious arena was one of debate about concepts which competed with, and incorporated, the ideas of the Greek philosophers. Life for the individual held the same delights and temptations that we encounter today, although in different guises. As he shares his road to Christianity with us, Augustine discusses various issues which become themes of his work. This essay explores his complex thinking on women and sexuality, which create inner conflict and tension between his desire for the physical while wanting to attain to the spiritual, as they control him and obstruct his path to spiritual union with God.

How Does Aurelius Augustine Relate to Plato and Thomas Aquinas to Aristotle?

Как се съотнася Аврелий Августин към Платон и Тома Аквински към Аристотел? // In welcher Beziehung steht Aurelius Augustinus zu Platon und Thomas von Aquin zu Aristoteles? // ¿Cómo se relaciona Aurelius Augustine con Platón y Tomás de Aquino con Aristóteles?

"How does Aurelius Augustine relate to Plato and Thomas Aquinas to Aristotle?" At first glance, this short question seems to require such a short answer. But with a closer look at its content, the volume of our task increases significantly. It turns out that we need to compare the views of philosophers who lived in three different eras, but who have a strong influence on philosophy today. First of all, we must place our study in the correct chronological framework. Aurelius Augustine is considered to be the philosopher who marked the beginning of the Middle Ages, and Thomas Aquinas is the most significant medieval thinker, so to speak, in the heart of the late Middle Ages. Another important feature of our analysis is that Aurelius Augustine and Thomas Aquinas are also Christian theologians of the Western tradition, which of course brings their views very close, although they remain on both sides of the dialogue between Platonism and Aristotelianism. As theologians, Thomas and Augustine have much more in common than as philosophers. Here we will limit ourselves to the study of their philosophical systems, not to the theological aspect. // "In welcher Beziehung steht Aurelius Augustinus zu Platon und Thomas von Aquin zu Aristoteles?" Auf den ersten Blick scheint diese kurze Frage eine so kurze Antwort zu erfordern. Bei näherer Betrachtung des Inhalts nimmt das Volumen unserer Aufgabe jedoch erheblich zu. Es stellt sich heraus, dass wir die Ansichten von Philosophen vergleichen müssen, die in drei verschiedenen Epochen lebten, aber heute einen starken Einfluss auf die Philosophie haben. Zunächst müssen wir unsere Studie in den richtigen chronologischen Rahmen stellen. Aurelius Augustinus gilt als der Philosoph, der den Beginn des Mittelalters kennzeichnete, und Thomas von Aquin ist sozusagen der bedeutendste mittelalterliche Denker im Herzen des Spätmittelalters. Ein weiteres wichtiges Merkmal unserer Analyse ist, dass Aurelius Augustinus und Thomas von Aquin auch christliche Theologen der westlichen Tradition sind, was ihre Ansichten natürlich sehr nahe bringt, obwohl sie auf beiden Seiten des Dialogs zwischen Platonismus und Aristotelismus bleiben. Als Theologen haben Thomas und Augustinus viel mehr gemeinsam als als Philosophen. Hier beschränken wir uns auf das Studium ihrer philosophischen Systeme, nicht auf den theologischen Aspekt. // "¿Cómo se relaciona Aurelius Augustine con Platón y Tomás de Aquino con Aristóteles?" A primera vista, esta breve pregunta parece requerir una respuesta tan breve. Pero con una mirada más cercana a su contenido, el volumen de nuestra tarea aumenta significativamente. Resulta que necesitamos comparar las opiniones de los filósofos que vivieron en tres épocas diferentes, pero que tienen una fuerte influencia en la filosofía actual. En primer lugar, debemos colocar nuestro estudio en el marco cronológico correcto. Aurelius Augustine es considerado el filósofo que marcó el comienzo de la Edad Media, y Tomás de Aquino es el pensador medieval más significativo, por así decirlo, en el corazón de la Baja Edad Media. Otro rasgo importante de nuestro análisis es que Aurelius Augustine y Tomás de Aquino también son teólogos cristianos de tradición occidental, lo que por supuesto acerca mucho sus puntos de vista, aunque permanecen en ambos lados del diálogo entre platonismo y aristotelismo. Como teólogos, Tomás y Agustín tienen mucho más en común que como filósofos. Aquí nos limitaremos al estudio de sus sistemas filosóficos, no al aspecto teológico.

Sero te amaui: A Reading of Augustine’s Confessiones X.27.38 in the Context of the His Early Texts

Saint Augustine of Hippo influenced Western Christianity as a theologian and bishop throughout his long literary career. Central to the Christianization of his intellectual development was reading “quosdam Platonicorum libros”–“certain Platonic books.” This paper contributes to the discussion of Augustine’s Platonism by providing an analysis of Confessiones X.27.38 in light of the Enneads of Plotinus and Augustine’s De Ordine libri duo and Contra Academicos libri tres–both early Cassiciacum texts. We find such a methodology important on account of the warning of J. J. O’Donnell: the later reflections of Augustine on his conversion experience may create “a structure for the past that is not irrefutable.” Consequently, we will bracket Augustine’s works written after the Confessiones. Within this epoché, the analysis of Confessiones X.27.38 will follow an iterative approach. After delineating certain salient features, we will examine the Enneads and Augustine’s early Cassiciacum texts with these very features in mind. The fruit of this investigation will serve as the backdrop for a final reading of Confessiones X.27.38. We will show that Augustine in Confessiones X.27.38 adheres to a Neo-Platonic structure and that it has clear antecedents in Augustine’s early writings. The Neo-Platonic doctrines involved in the structure of Confessiones X.27.38 will have significance for questions regarding the Platonicorum libros by uncovering the doctrinal contents of these books. Our investigation will set the stage for further in depth analyses of Augustine’s Confessiones.

Augustine as an Apologist: Is Confessions Apologetic in Nature?

The American Journal of Biblical Theology, 2015

This paper explores the apologetic nature of Augustine's Confessions. It first takes a brief look at Augustine's intricate view between the relationship of faith and reason, in order to provide a background to his employment of apologetic elements throughout Confessions. Both positive and negative apologetic elements are examined throughout the paper. Some positive apologetic elements include Augustine's presentation of the implied ontological argument, the cosmological argument, the teleological argument, the argument from the experience of beauty, the demonstration of the coherence of the Christian conception of God (including his explorations with time and creation). His negative apologetic elements include dealing with detractors from the Christian faith such as the Manichees and their objections. Although studies in recent years have focused on the autobiographical and religious experiential dimensions of Confessions, this paper seeks to demonstrate that the apologetic dimension is also foundational to Augustine's text. It is important to realize that the apologetic nature of Confessions does not detract from its other natures (autobiographical and religious-experiential) since objects, ideas and persons can have more than one nature – as is true with case of Christ and a number line. It is my hope to revive a forgotten aspect of Confessions which is quite pertinent to the Church today.

Plundering Plato's Gold: Augustine's Critical Appropriation of Greek Philosophy

This essay will argue that Augustine’s approach to theology was self-consciously informed by a “critical Platonic” mold. This will be shown to be the case whether we are speaking of the exegetical, dogmatic, polemical, or practical realms of his thought. This will be true both about Platonic realism concerning universals, as well as about the more general metaphysical categories inherited, concerning being, becoming, participation, and privation. This is not to speak of some early appendage of his thought that faded away. On the contrary, it remained as a unifying concept throughout his writings.