Books by Matthew W . Knotts
Non Laborat Qui Amat, 2020
15 studies on St Augustine written by experts in various fields published in honour of the 70th b... more 15 studies on St Augustine written by experts in various fields published in honour of the 70th birthday of Rev. Prof. Salvino Caruana OSA. The preview contains the Contents, the contributors' biographies and what turned out to be the late H.E. Prosper Cardinal Grech's last writing.
Reading Augustine, 2020
For Augustine the world is replete with meaning; it represents not merely a collection of facts t... more For Augustine the world is replete with meaning; it represents not merely a collection of facts to be catalogued but a repository of truths to be discovered and discerned. What difference would it make to see the world as created? According to Augustine, our nature as God's creatures determines fundamental aspects of our identity and our knowledge. In a postmodern context informed by a renewed appreciation of the limitations of human nature and reason, Augustine once again emerges as an insightful and compelling source for further reflection.
General Introduction
Part I: Creation in Wisdom
Chapter 1: Aspects of (Re-)Creation
Chapter 2: The Problem of Pride
Part II: Divine Incorporeality: Two Dilemmas
Chapter 3: A Re-Descriptive Account of Time as Distentio
Chapter 4: Seeing Sapientia
Part III: An Interrogative Theory of Knowledge
Chapter 5: Reading the Universe
Chapter 6: Exploring Creation: Acknowledging and Transcending our Finitude
Conclusion
Papers by Matthew W . Knotts
Augustine's understanding of knowledge is grounded in Christ, the eternal wisdom incarnate. B... more Augustine's understanding of knowledge is grounded in Christ, the eternal wisdom incarnate. Because Christ is the source and summit of knowledge, one's approach to the fullness of truth must pass through prayer, not least of all its highest form, the divine liturgy. With this point established, we proceed to consider Augustine's exegesis of certain key scriptural passages, in particular Matthew 6 and John 17. in the former, Augustine draws from the Pater Noster in order to show how he understands the importance of living according to the true meaning of one's prayers, and this with respect to certain key controversies he faced during his episcopate. We conclude by looking at his discussion of Christ's high-Priestly Prayer (John 17), suggesting that Augustine sees here a unique self-disclosure of the inner life of the Trinity, which provides the template for transforming oneself in such a way that one does not simply pray but even becomes prayer.
espanolEste trabajo consta de tres partes, a lo largo de las cuales mostraremos progresivamente l... more espanolEste trabajo consta de tres partes, a lo largo de las cuales mostraremos progresivamente la logica interna que actua en la idea agustiniana de oracion, y como esta del todo conectada con otros aspectos de su doctrina teologica, en general, y con "sapientia", en particular, lo cual revelara la naturaleza intrinsecamente mistagogica de la oracion en la actitud de Agustin. Primero, aclararemos que la meta agustiniana de llegar a la "sapientia" se transformo en asunto de buscar a Cristo, la "Sapientia Dei" encarnada. Ahora bien, a Cristo se le halla mas plenamente en la oracion y mediante ella, sobre todo, la oracion de su cuerpo, la Iglesia, en sus Escrituras, en sus sacramentos y, principalmente, en su divina liturgia, mediante la cual uno es iniciado en el conocimiento de los misterios divinos, y progresivamente crece en el. De ahi que, para alcanzar sabiduria, uno ha de involucrarse en el culto autentico, punto que constituira nuestro segundo cen...
Scottish Journal of Theology
AUC THEOLOGICA, 2014
The practise of hermeneutics originates in a theological context, and indeed, the work of Hans-Ge... more The practise of hermeneutics originates in a theological context, and indeed, the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer has exerted an influence over theologians and religious persons for the last half century. What if any relevance does a text, for instance, a biblical one, have for us today? Is it severed from us due to its historical and temporal distance? Even if it has some message which can be relevant today, how is one to access and interpret it? Gadamer deals with such issues in his masterwork Truth and Method, offering resources through his understanding of the nature of texts and what he calls the fusion of horizons. For Gadamer, an horizon constitutes one's worldview. Yet this horizon is subject to expansion and revision, as well as contact with other horizons. In this process of fusing horizons, understanding occurs between minds, and one grows in one's awareness and pursuit of truth. Gadamer maintains that this can happen across both hermeneutical and historical boundaries, hence preserving the applicability of a text to a different context without compromising its unique historical origins.
Augustine contrasts the divine word, uttered eternally without any passage of time, with our muta... more Augustine contrasts the divine word, uttered eternally without any passage of time, with our mutable, human words. However, Augustine also envisions a certain likeness between the incarnation of God’s eternal word and our utterances from the inner language of thought.
This theological engagement would also influence later philosophers, most notably Gadamer, in their attempt to understand human language and its relationship to the world. Augustine’s understanding of the inner word provides the basis for understanding our own thought, which is itself suspended between time and timelessness.
Augustine understands the human person as both made in the image of God and yet as a form of noth... more Augustine understands the human person as both made in the image of God and yet as a form of nothingness. As J.-L. Marion observes, in Gn. litt. Augustine states that whereas the rest of creation has a particular form or type of its own, the human person has none whatsoever, save the very image of God himself. This insight radicalises Augustine's epistemic reflections in light of imago. The human person has nothing of its own, and it is modelled on nothing in the universe. This situation of the human person as grounded yet groundless frames the subsequent drama of the interior move in search of oneself and the divine. As the Incarnate Word, Christ provides a model for the proper appropriation of one's human identity. Finally, I explore how in certain gospel passages Peter reflects the ambivalence of the imago. Paradoxically, when we engage in a genuine confessio, acknowledging our nothingness before God, we can become most truly ourselves.
International Journal of Philosophy and Theology, 2013
ABSTRACT
Augustine's account of the conscience is often construed in legalistic and guilt-laden terms. A c... more Augustine's account of the conscience is often construed in legalistic and guilt-laden terms. A closer look at his corpus, especially certain works from the 390s, reveals a far more dynamic and positive aspect to conscience, especially as it pertains to the way in which conscience is related to our approach to sapientia, divine wisdom. This study also shows how conscience for Augustine, far from some static or reified entity, is actually highly dynamic, and is constituted by the 'call and response' between God and the human soul.
Church Fathers took Scripture as authoritative and normative; but what about when it apparently c... more Church Fathers took Scripture as authoritative and normative; but what about when it apparently contradicts itself, as in the case of seeing God? There is clear evidence for the assertion and the denial that God is (able to be) seen. Rather than see such issues as insuperable problems, figures such as Ambrose and Augustine looked to these as opportunities for deepening their understanding of scripture. I also think that it shows how they see the Bible in terms of a hierarchical and differentiated unity. In order to demonstrate these points, I focus on Augustine's ep. 147, aka De videndo Deo, in which he quotes at length from Ambrose's commentary on Luke. We can see how both of these fathers address the issue of how God can be seen, especially when scripture suggests a contradiction, and what this tells us about their theological and their biblical hermeneutics.
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Books by Matthew W . Knotts
General Introduction
Part I: Creation in Wisdom
Chapter 1: Aspects of (Re-)Creation
Chapter 2: The Problem of Pride
Part II: Divine Incorporeality: Two Dilemmas
Chapter 3: A Re-Descriptive Account of Time as Distentio
Chapter 4: Seeing Sapientia
Part III: An Interrogative Theory of Knowledge
Chapter 5: Reading the Universe
Chapter 6: Exploring Creation: Acknowledging and Transcending our Finitude
Conclusion
Papers by Matthew W . Knotts
This theological engagement would also influence later philosophers, most notably Gadamer, in their attempt to understand human language and its relationship to the world. Augustine’s understanding of the inner word provides the basis for understanding our own thought, which is itself suspended between time and timelessness.
General Introduction
Part I: Creation in Wisdom
Chapter 1: Aspects of (Re-)Creation
Chapter 2: The Problem of Pride
Part II: Divine Incorporeality: Two Dilemmas
Chapter 3: A Re-Descriptive Account of Time as Distentio
Chapter 4: Seeing Sapientia
Part III: An Interrogative Theory of Knowledge
Chapter 5: Reading the Universe
Chapter 6: Exploring Creation: Acknowledging and Transcending our Finitude
Conclusion
This theological engagement would also influence later philosophers, most notably Gadamer, in their attempt to understand human language and its relationship to the world. Augustine’s understanding of the inner word provides the basis for understanding our own thought, which is itself suspended between time and timelessness.
In Mt 6:6, Jesus enjoins one to enter into one’s room, shut the door, and pray to God. Augustine identifies the heart with the inner chamber (en. Ps. 4.6; 33.2.8) and employs this image to elaborate the epistemic and ethical dimensions of his own conception of cor. He distinguishes between praying to God for certain things and seeking God alone (Aliud est aliquid inquirere a Domino, aliud ipsum Dominum inquirere, en Ps. 33.2.9, PL 36). Those interested in the former leave the door to their hearts wide open, allowing fear of loss and desire for gain to become established. These unwelcome guests cause havoc within the soul, urging it constantly to flee from itself. One must clean one’s soul, which is only possible through prayer, confession, and divine help. God is always present, but from one’s cleansing, God can dwell within one more profoundly. Moreover, when one’s cubiculum is in order, one is able to perceive spiritual goods and to seek them above all other things (Chrétien 2014).
To shut the door of one’s inner chamber is to seek God alone (Chrétien 2014). However, progress in one’s relationship with God results in knowledge which causes one pain. Augustine distinguishes between two types of tribulation. One pertains to the misfortunes of human life. In en. Ps. 49, Augustine describes a second sense of tribulation as that which reveals one’s finite condition. One experiences pain as a result of recognising that in this world we are not yet with God, we must continue to suffer, and no temporal consolation will ever make us happy. Though difficult, this kind of tribulation must be actively sought, for its discovery is essential to one’s progress in wisdom (Favry 2019).
Augustine is struck with grief at the death of his friend, and his entire experience is transfigured, becoming a living torment (4.4.9). Now everything reminds him of his loss, intensifying his pain. How often have the sights of empty streets only irritated our own feeling of grief? Moreover, Augustine finds no refuge, for he carries his grief with(in) himself (4.7.12; cf. Coyne 2015). Our own experience of confinement, especially for those completely alone, is reflected in Augustine’s own struggle to be with himself.
Augustine locates the source of his misery in loving finite things as if they were infinite. Thus not only does their loss cause one grief, but even the fear of their potential loss (4.6.11). The suddenness with which the world changed little more than a year ago serves as a stark reminder of the finite and contingent nature of human existence.
Augustine’s reflections may also teach us something about religious practise. O’Donnell (1992) describes Augustine’s haunting psychological account of grief as ‘God-less’. Because he held a false conception of God (phantasma), not even prayer could provide Augustine with any relief. However, this traumatic loss serves to move Augustine to look for God, and so becomes a kind of contact with God, albeit oblique (Fischer 2013). To what extent is God ‘present’ in absence? Can God be found even in the most apparently negative experiences of life?