The Thought of Augustine of Hippo

Catalog description

St. Augustine (354-430) is certainly the most important writer in early Christianity and his influence, both literary and theological, has been varied, intense, and extensive. This African writer composed an immense oeuvre, including personal testimony, philosophical dialogues, scriptural commentary, thought about God, ecclesial controversy, letters, and sermons, while also, for much of his life, being Bishop of the town of Hippo (near modern Annaba, Algeria). His work marks much medieval literature, the theory of signs, our understanding of history, and rhetoric, as well as medieval and modern concepts of human selfhood and the nature of God. In this seminar we shall read a rich selection of Augustine's writings, paying special attention to how he interprets Scripture, what he thinks we are doing when reading texts, what he says about prayer and seeing God, about Christian love, and what he thinks about the human relationship with the divine.