Augustine's Confessions: Ten Studies

Series: 

This book presents new interpretations of essential and well-known passages from Augustine's Confessions. In ten chapters, Augustinian specialist Johannes van Oort analyzes and explains many essential passages in the work from the background of Augustine's thorough knowledge of Manichaeism. This 'Gnostic' variant of Christianity exerted a great influence on the North African Augustine, as evidenced in his most famous and (arguably) most influential work. In a new light appear such figures as Monnica, Ponticianus, Lady Continence, the rather obscure African bishop who speaks of Augustine as "a son of such tears"; events such as the 'illustrious' pear theft, the coming of "a glorious young man" to dreaming Monnica, Augustine's dramatic conversion; basic features such as his concept of 'God', deep sense of (sexual) sin, highly influential reflections on memory, fundamental view of Christ as God's Right Hand and, perhaps most importantly, his mystical spirituality.

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Johannes van Oort is an extra-ordinary professor of Patristics and Early Christianity at the University of Pretoria. He is an emeritus of Utrecht University and Radboud University Nijmegen. His most recent books include Mani and Augustine. Collected Essays on Mani, Manichaeism and Augustine (Brill 2020, reprint 2023) and the edited volume Manichaeism and Early Christianity. Selected Papers from the 2019 Pretoria Congress and Consultation (Brill 2021).
Introduction
Abbreviations

1 Gnostic-Christian and Catholic-Christian Spirituality in Augustine’s Confessions
 1 Introduction
 2 Augustine’s Confessions
 3 Augustine and the Gnostic-Manichaean Concept of God
 4 Augustine and the Gnostic-Manichaean Sacred Meal
 5 Augustine’s Confessions as an Offering (hostia, sacrificium)
 6 Augustine’s Confessions as a Spiritual Document
 7 Conclusion

2 Augustine and Mani’s Icon (Conf. 3,10–11)
 1 Rereading Conf. 3,10–11
 2 Conclusions from Conf. 3,10–11
 3 Did Augustine Really See Mani’s Icon?
 4 The Problem of Against Faustus 20,9
 5 Final Remarks

3 Monnica’s Bishop and the ‘filius istarum lacrimarum’ (Conf. 3,21)
 1 Introduction
 2 Where and Whence?
 3 Monnica’s Bishop
 4 ‘Vade (…) a me; ita uiuas, fieri non potest, ut filius istarum lacrimarum pereat
 5 Conclusion

4 A Note on ‘substomachans’ (Conf. 3,21)
 1 Introduction
 2 ‘Substomachans
 3 Taking Into Account the Manichaean Background
 4 Julian of Eclanum’s Remark
 5 Conclusion

5 Augustine’s De pulchro et apto (Conf. 4,20–27)
 1 Introduction
 2 The Manichaean Work’s Literary Form and Dedication to Hierius
 3 The Manichaean Work’s Speaking of ‘Beauty and ‘Harmony’ and Focus on the ‘Corporeal’
 4 ‘Not Able to See My Spirit’: Not Able to Attain the True Gnosis
 5 Virtue and Vice, Unity and Division
 6 Monad and Dyad
 7 Augustine’s Manichaean Dyad: Anger and Lust
 8 Anger, Lust and the Nourishment
 9 Once Again: a Fully Manichaean Treatise
 10 A Strikingly ‘Manichaean’ Finale?
 11 One Again: ‘Pulchrum’ and ‘Aptum’; ‘Decus’ and ‘Species’; ‘Monas’ and ‘Dyas
 12 Conclusions and Final Remarks

6 ‘God’ in Augustine’s Confessions (Conf. 1–7)
 1 Introduction: The Very First Sentences of Augustine’s Confessions
 2 Analysis of the First Sentences
 3 God Not ‘Material’ but ‘Triadic’/‘Trinitarian’
 4 Stages on Augustine’s Way to a Spiritual Concept of God (Conf. 3–6)
 5 The Essential Stage: Augustine’s Discovery of a Merely Spiritual Understanding of God (Conf. 7)
 6 Conclusions

7 Augustine’s Conversion (Conf. 8,13–30)
 1 Introduction
 2 A: Manichaeism Explicitly Mentioned in Augustine’s Conversion Story
 3 B: Manichaeism Implicitly Present in Augustine’s Conversion Story
 4 Final Remarks
 5 Conclusions

8 God, Memory, and Beauty (Conf. 10,1–38)
 1 Introduction
 2 Book 10 and Its Division
 3 Conclusions

9 Christ as God’s Hand (Conf. 1–13)
 1 An Overview of the Texts from Augustine’s Confessions, with Brief Interpretation
 2 Summary and Preliminary Conclusion
 3 Notes on God’s Hand in the Pre-Augustinian Tradition
 4 Conclusion

10 Sin and Concupiscence in Augustine’s Confessions (Conf. 1–13)
 1 Introduction
 2 Sin and Concupiscence in Augustine’s Early Years
 3 Sin and Concupiscence in Augustine’s Early Adolescence
 4 Sin and Concupiscence in Augustine’s Later Adolescence
 5 Sin and Concupiscence in Augustine’s Early Manhood and the Time of His Conversion in Milan
 6 Sin and Concupiscence in Augustine’s Present State
 7 Conclusions and Final Remarks

Index of Works of Augustine
Index of Manichaean Sources
Index of Biblical Texts
Index of Ancient and Modern Names
Index of Terms and Concepts
All interested in historical, cultural, theological and philosophical questions.
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