Augustinian Studies

This paper offers a reading of the Confessions as exercitatio animae, in the ancient tradition that Augustine assimilates and redirects towards a Christian way of life. Augustine, using a method of inquiry and engagement, guides the reader of his narrative through some fundamental exercises:
remembering one’s story; moving from dispersion to interiority; learning to dialogue with God; ordering of human love; centering in Christ; participating in a community of faith; living as a pilgrim. Together, they constitute a didactic instrument, based on experience, for change and spiritual development. This paper reconstructs the central purpose of Confessions in a coherent and practical model.

The order of the Canons Regular of St Augustine followed the Rule of Augustine, which, however, contained very few specific regulations and thus could not be the only normative text that governed the everyday life of the community. It was necessary to supplement the text of the Rule with more detailed regulations for religious life, which led to the emergence of the so-called statutes.
The first house of the order of the Canons Regular of St Augustine in the Czech lands was founded in 1333 by the bishop of Prague, John IV of Dražice, in Roudnice nad Labem (Raudnitz). The new foundation also received its statutes, which are referred to as the statutes of Roudnice, although they were later used in many other religious houses as well. These statutes were created specifically for the Czech environment, but they are based on earlier normative texts. The statutes of Roudnice are divided into thirty-two chapters. In comparison with other statutes of the order of the Canons Regular of St Augustine, their text is very concise and their mode of expression is economical. There is a clear attempt at clarity and lucidity, but in some passages, the text is very condensed and somewhere too abbreviated. The statutes of Roudnice soon came into use in all the Bohemian, Moravian and Silesian houses of Augustinian canons. The statutes of Roudnice spread to neighbouring lands and were used in the houses in Poland, Austria and Germany that were populated from Bohemia.
This book presents the first modern edition of the text of the statutes of Roudnice. This critical edition is based on their earliest surviving record, available in the manuscript of the National Library of the Czech Republic XIX B 3, fols. 11va-36rb. The edition also takes into account ten other handwritten copies identified so far and text of these statutes preserved in two 18th-century printed books. The critical edition is accompanied by an introductory study and a detailed overview of the manuscript tradition of the text of the statutes of Roudnice. In addition, this book also contains a translation of the statutes of Roudnice into Czech, making the text accessible to a wider range of readers.

This book chapter offers a close examination of Augustine's like as a single man before and after his conversion to orthodox Christianity.  It focuses on the social expectations and implications of men choosing between the married and unmarried state.

En este estudio se presenta la fundamentación de la ética agustiniana en la Ciudad de Dios de san Agustín. Primeramente se explica qué es la ética para el santo de Hipona. Posteriormente se la relaciona con el Misterio de Dios; se la insiere en el misterio de la Iglesia, para terminar destacando su papel en la ciudad, en el mundo. La ciudad es el espacio privilegiado para que el ciudadano se realice moralmente como persona y colabore con la edificación de la ciudad de Dios, la Jerusalén celestial.

Traduction d'un article de Pier Franco Beatrice initialement publié en anglais dans A. D. Fitzgerald (ed.) Augustine through the Ages. An Encyclopedia, Grand Rapids, 1999, p. 429-431, dans Encyclopédie Saint Augustin. La Méditerranée et l’Europe IVe – XXIe siècle, édition française sous la direction de Marie-Anne Vannier, Paris, 2005, p. 695-697.

Abstract: The article discusses Augustine's teaching on suicide, especially in the way he exposed it when a Christian facing despair is tempted to take his own life. In the first part, the article examines some basic aspects of Augus-tine's teaching on suicide in some of his works outside the letter 244. In a second part, the article presents an analytic reading Augustine's Letter 244 to Chrisimus. The article also discusses some important remarks to show the relevance of Augustine's recommendations nowadays.

El artículo presenta las enseñanzas de Agustín sobre el suicidio, especial-mente cuando un cristiano que debe afrontar momentos de dificultad se ve tentado por el suicidio. En la primera parte del artículo se estudian algunos aspectos básicos de la enseñanza de Agustín sobre el suicidio fuera de la ep. 244. En la segunda parte, el artículo presenta una lectura analítica de la ep. 244 de Agustín a Crísimo. El artículo presenta finalmente algunas aplica-ciones del pensamiento de Agustín sobre el suicidio a nuestros días. Palabras clave: Suicidio, ep. 244 de Agustín, esperanza cristiana.

Traduction d'un article d'Eugene TeSelle initialement publié en anglais dans A. D. Fitzgerald (ed.),  Augustine through the Ages. An Encyclopedia, Grand Rapids, 1999, p. 633-640, dans Encyclopédie Saint Augustin. La Méditerranée et l’Europe IVe – XXIe siècle, édition française sous la direction de Marie-Anne Vannier, Paris, 2005, p. 1102-1113.

Interpretations of Augustine's purpose in writing Contra Academicos usually focus on either his epistemological argument or, more recently, his ethical concern. This paper argues that the three different literary layers or components of the work (the transcript of discussions between Augustine and his students in books 1-2; the epistles to Romanianus; and Augustine's extended discourse in book 3) reveal that Augustine has three distinct but complementary roles in relation to different audiences, and accordingly three different purposes in writing Contra Academicos. Interpreters should be careful to distinguish among Augustine's several audiences and roles and speak about his purpose with respect to one or the other of them rather than of a single overarching purpose for Contra Academicos.

On montre à Hippone une basilique censée depuis 1958 être la cathédrale de saint Augustin. L'examen de la bibliographie et des recherches récentes montre que tel n'est pas le cas. Le dépouillement des publications antérieures a permis de proposer un autre emplacement conforme aux données antiques idisponibles. Ce lieu a livré anciennement un ensemble de vestiges chrétiens. Plusieurs épitaphes byzantines, notamment épiscopales, suggèrent une continuité entre la basilique de saint Augustin et la cathédrale d'Hippone à l'époque byzantine.

The ‘puer aeternus’ (eternal youth) is an archetypal image of mythology. It also denotes a neurotic condition during which the maturational process is arrested. It depends on an incapability of taking root in life. In the present era the condition has reached epidemic proportions. In order to understand present-day societal and political changes, it is necessary to get a grasp of the “Peter Pan syndrome”, well-known to psychotherapists. Not only is it a tragedy to the individual who risks throwing away his life—psychological rootlessness poses a threat to our civilization. Christianity’s bearing on Western man’s ethos is analyzed.

Keywords: Peter Pan, The Little Prince, infantilism, cultural dissolution, Mel Faber, M-L von Franz, St Augustine, Christianity.

This paper aims to present the unifying force brought by a Marian devotion to two
towns located in two places with different circumstances in Philippine Church history. In
the spiritual geography of the religious orders in the Philippines, the parishes of Bataan were administered by the Dominicans since 1588 while the parishes of Bulacan were administered by majority by the Augustinians since 1572. La Virgen Milagrosa del Rosario del Pueblo de Orani grew as a Marian devotion that has gathered pilgrims in many years. The image was brought to Bataan and eventually completed the triumvirate of Dominican patrons with Abucay being devoted to St. Dominic de Guzman in 1588 and Samal being devoted to St. Catherine of Siena in 1596. When Orani was separated to be an independent parish in 1714, the devotion grew further. Then, between the 1700s to the 1800s, a brown-skinned image of the Virgin and the Child Jesus was discovered along the riverbanks of Hagonóy, Bulacan, under the Augustinians at the other side of the Manila Bay. This image was very similar to Orani's La Virgen Milagrosa, which in turn would be recognized as Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario de Hagonóy. Though a Dominican-propagated devotion, this local rosary devotion and the image grew in this town with various traditions such as Marian poetry and the promotion of the Block Rosary movement. Orani's image would later on be further venerated not only in Bataan but in the neighboring provinces. Though Hagonóy can be found farther East from Bataan and Pampanga, the rosary devotion in this town seemed a visage of the Bataan patroness. By 1942, the fall of Bataan caused Bataeños to travel to Hagonóy and settling in the western barrio of the town. This was eventually named Sto. Rosario in honor of the Virgin of the Rosary. There the Bataeños saw their patroness in the image of the discovered Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario de Hagonóy. The circumstances of the
relations between the people of the two towns resulted in the establishment of the parish of Sto. Rosario, Hagonóy in 1952. Further propagation of these two devotions allowed for the recognition of both Marian devotions by their dioceses and by the Holy See. Orani's image was granted a canonical coronation in 1958. Eventually, the church of Orani was granted the titles diocesan shrine in 2004, an affiliate of the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in 2012 and a minor basilica in 2019. The devotion to Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario de Hagonóy, on the other hand, was granted an episcopal coronation also in 2019. The impact of the local Marian devotion in these two towns became a way to unite the Catholic faithful, like a link of the beads of the rosary which identify the country as “Pueblo amante de Maria.

This paper is primarily an investigation into the unknown history of tension caused by Greek and Latin N. African doctrines of the sexual transmission of original sin in utero. This tension was felt first by Augustine in the 4th century in respect to Mary. The culmination of irreconcilable doctrines of sexually based original sin and Mary's all-holiness required explicit theological reflection and response by the invention of the feast of the Conception of St. Ann.

This paper attempts a tour de force of Greek harmarteology of original sin in play with Mary's all-holiness in the tradition of Gregory Nazianzen. I meticulously catalogue the use of prepurification and by Augustine of Hippo, Leo the Great, John Cassian, Ephraim the Syrian, Sophronius of Jerusalem, Maximus Confessor,  Theodore of Canterbury, Venerable Bede, Paschasius Radbertus and Ildephonse of Toledo.

The narrative tells the story of the tension between N. African concepts of original sin and Mary's all-holiness. the drama intensifies at Maximus' Lateran 649 and its dispersal into Latindom. At the onset of the feast of the conception of Mary in Anna's womb, both Greeks (Damascene) and Latins (Paschasius Radbertus) were forced to apply some kind of theory to justify Mary's all-holiness (prepurification) in the face of N. African theology´s sexually transmitted original sin.

Since the beginning of Christianity, the recruitment of the episcopal body has given rise to many taboos and has many obstacles; the restrictions are both religious and civil and the legislation of the laity complements the minimum expected by the bishops. The choice of the candidate is difficult to define because it is not always easy to link to the canonical theory a practical reality. Several factors are taken into account in the choice of the candidate: beyond the legal obligations, one expects of the moral virtues whose normative sources do not say anything. After studying the African texts addressing the issue of episcopal election, we will attempt to respect the theoretical scheme of the acts of recruitment to the episcopate: the choice of the candidate, his appointment and his consecration. In particular, one has to wonder about his previous career, which does not necessarily follow the ecclesiastical or monastic path. The study of the motivations of the candidates is impossible because they can not be evaluated by sources which limit them to a divine revelation.

Novamente, agradeço aos Profs. Drs. Carlos Arthur Ribeiro do Nascimento e Luis Alberto De Boni, pela generosidade sempre presente em nossos contatos, pelas indicações e sugestões críticas, leituras, partilha de textos e, não poderia deixar de fazer notar, pelas boas conversas com o Prof. De Boni, altas horas em rede social, no fuso anterior e trocado de Padova...rs À Profa. Dra. Paula Oliveira e Silva e ao Prof. Dr. Marcos Roberto Nunes Costa, pela acolhida de textos de minhas pesquisas junto à Ciuitas Augustiniana, bem como pelas observações sempre valiosas e instigantes. Ao Prof. Dr. Giovanni Catapano, pela receptividade em nossas tentativas de contato, bem como pelo interesse em nossas pesquisas e textos publicados, com preciosas informações e sugestões. Aos amigos Rogério Silva e Roney Andrade, respectivamente gerentes das Livrarias Loyola e Vozes, agradeço pelos anos todos de amizade, atenção, apoio, indicações e troca de informações, pelo esforço na publicação de nossos textos, e pelos descontos sempre atraentes nos livros, claro...rs Por fim, minha gratidão a familiares e pessoas amigas que, nesse período, estiveram comigo ombro a ombro: meu tio Antonio Vítor Petrucci dos Santos (a quem dedico esta pesquisa), meus primos Odorico Luis Petrucci dos Santos Neto, Rosana Petrucci dos Santos

The aristocratic family of the Stibors left significant traces of its intense construction and founding activities in various places. To the series of their foundating credits belong also the establishment of the Augustinian monastery in Nové Mesto nad Váhom. Duke Stibor wanted it to become an ancestral monastery and the final resting place for himself and members of his family. With the approval of king Sigismund and the archbishop of Esztergom Ján in 1414 in a place of the parish of Nové Mesto was established the provostship of regular canons of St. Augustine. Stibor summoned 13 canons, including provost, and donated part of his property: 2 villages Pobedim a Bašovce to the monastery. At the same time he began the reconstruction of the parish buildings. Stibor´s son Stibor in  1431 extended property of the monastery by donation of the village Andovce and many valuables. At that time the kingdom of Hungary was experiencing a tough period. The hussite troops and after them bands of robbers called „bratríci“ (brethren) threatened the security of northern areas of the country. That´s when the provostship of Nové Mesto was burned and plundered. Therefore in the year 1449 the local provost asked the pope for permission to move to a nearby town Beckov. The new landlord Paul Bánffy from Lindava promised the canons to build there a new monastery protected by the fortification of his castle. Although the pope agreed with the request, the intention failed to be realized. The written sources mentioned the canons in Nové Mesto even in 1454. Then about 60 years we haven´t any reports of them. Only in 1514, we record the initiative of two priests of the archdiocese of Esztergom, who had taken steps to restore the provostship, which in the past turbulent times had been ravaged and its staff forced to leave. With this restoration helped the abbot of the monastery of Roudnice nad Labem, from where probably part of new canons came. The succesful restoration of the monastery starts the new period of the history of the provosthip.

Abstract: In this article, we have confronted the question of Augustinian preaching as a theological locus and a crucible of expression and transmission of a certain spirituality that he draws from its source, which is Christ, the only Master who teaches both the preacher and the faithful. Our study allowed us to show the source of inspiration of the preacher of Hippo, which is precisely the study and meditation of the Holy Scriptures. We also highlighted the humility, the love and the ardent desire to be useful to the salvation of the faithful for which he was responsible. And this characterizes the ministry of Saint Augustine. His prayer, his confessions, and his kindness in preaching, are elements that could always inspire preachers of all times.

This review article explores a new indispensable reference work on the reception of
Augustine. It offers an overview of its content, structure, and methodology, as well as
a critical assessment of its overall contribution to the study of Augustine. Goethe once
remarked that, in the world, there are just a few voices, yet so many echoes. Augustine
is definitely among the ‘few voices’, which have provoked all manner of friendly and
unfriendly echoes. It is particularly important to realize that, apart from explicit
citations and references in western literature, Augustine has also profoundly shaped
medieval and modern culture through the subtle dissemination of his ideas into various
spheres of life. This reference work not only provides a description of the current state
of the reception of Augustine, but also adds the new results of the diligent work of the
contributing researchers and identifies several topics that still need to be investigated.

Dan hu t-tielet u l-aħħar artiklu mis-sensiela dwar ix-xogħlijiet Klassiċi bil-Malti. L-ewwel tnejn kienu dwar ix-xogħlijiet Griegi u Latini li nqalbu għall-Malti filwaqt li dan hu dwar il-kitbiet ta' Santu Wistin li nqalbu għall-Malti kważi kollha mil-Latin.

This article studies Augustine’s Eucharistic Spirituality as it emerges
primarily from his preaching, in his catechesis during the Easter
Season. It investigates how the bishop of Hippo explains to the neophytes the transformation that makes bread and wine into the Body
and Blood of Christ in order to ignite their awareness about what it
is that they receive at the Altar. It further considers what Augustine
indicates as the spiritual disposition necessary for the reception of the sacrament and its effects in the life of those who worthily share in it.
Finally, the article explores the link Augustine establishes between the
Eucharist and the Church to demonstrate the importance of Unity
among those who approach the Altar of the Lord and the need to
continuously become what we receive even today as we perpetuate the
memorial of the Lord in our Eucharistic celebrations.

Le présent ouvrage porte sur la doctrine trinitaire de Saint Augustin telle qu’il la présente dans ses sermones ad populum. L’enseignement de l’évêque d’Hippone sur la Trinité est généralement abordé du point de vue de son traité De Trinitate. Les études sur ce traité s’articulent, pour la plupart du temps, autour de la génération éternelle du Fils, de la procession de l’Esprit-Saint et des missions des personnes divines, des analogies psychologiques de la Trinité dans l’âme humaine, et de l’intersubjectivité humaine comme image de la Trinité. Un grand nombre de ces recherches aboutissent à des conclusions telles que Saint Augustin aurait ignoré l’aspect théologico-historico-salvifique de la Trinité, à cause de ses spéculations en marge du mystère qui ne contribuent pas au rapport du chrétien avec le Dieu-Trinité. Ce travail montre, à travers une étude des sermones, que l’évêque d’Hippone a suffisamment enseigné, dans le contexte pastoral, l’importance de la Trinité dans l’histoire du salut et dans la vie du chrétien.

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.

Schlagwörter: Literaturtopographie und topographical turn, historische Bibliotheken, Meister Eckhart, Devotio moderna, Augustinerchorherren, Rebdorf

This study aims to establish paths towards a historically-mediated approach to Eckhart, using the example of a specific convent. Those texts that we now associate with Eckhart can be taken as a starting-point. It is of vital methodological importance in this enterprise to define a framework of reference that enables us to isolate readings of Eckhart that were historically possible. This framework of reference can be constituted by the works transmitted alongside the Eckhart texts within a codex, as well as by those beyond it, namely in the library; for both functioned as spaces of reflection and interpretation. The commentary with which the anonymously-transmitted Eckhart sermon No. 52 (the ›Armutspredigt‹) was equipped in Rebdorf serves as the basis to sketch out just what an interpretative approach of this kind would look like, when undertaken at the level of the texts transmitted beyond the central codex in question. The primary focus of this study is not the kind of Eckhart reception that the commentary represents, but the explicit attribution of texts to Eckhart. The presence, frequency of use, and valency of the name ‘Eckhart’ in the Rebdorf library is investigated in order to reveal the contemporary perception – and/or perceptibility – of Eckhart in Rebdorf, without ignoring those cases that appear at first sight to signal a refusal to appropriate Eckhart.

Das Augustinerchorherrenkloster Rebdorf ist kein unbekannter Flecken auf der Landkarte der spätmittelalterlichen Mystik. Seine Erhebungen, zu denen etwa die signifikante Tauler-Überlieferung oder die hochdeutschen Übertragungen von Werken der niederländischen Mystik gehören, haben ‚Mystographen‘ vermessen; die Niederungen, für die die sonstigen Inhalte des weitestgehend erhaltenen Bibliotheksbestandes stehen, findet man in modernen Beschreibungskatalogen oder auch in Spezialuntersuchungen dokumentiert. Freilich gibt es auch weiße Flecken. Zu diesen weißen Flecken gehört etwa die Eckhart-Überlieferung. Die Präsenz eckhartischen Schrifttums in Rebdorf ist keineswegs selbstverständlich, wenn man sich vergegenwärtigt, dass Rebdorf zur Windesheimer Observanz gehörte, deren Frömmigkeitsprofil stark von der Devotio moderna geprägt war. Angesichts des selektiven, ja sogar (auch und gerade im Hinblick auf Eckhart) restriktiven Literaturprogramms der Gründungsväter der Devotio moderna verwundert es, auf Eckhartiana (ob echt oder unecht, spielt keine Rolle) in Rebdorf zu stoßen. Freilich stellt sich dabei die Frage, ob die in Rebdorf anzutreffende Eckhart-Überlieferung solcher Art ist, dass man sie auch Eckhart-Rezeption nennen darf. Es gibt zwei Möglichkeiten, wie man sich dieser Frage nähern kann. Zu Einen kann man nach Präsenz, Frequenz und Valenz des Namens Eckhart in Rebdorf fragen. Damit rückt die zeitgenössische Wahrnehmung bzw. Wahrnehmbarkeit von Eckhart in Rebdorf in den Mittelpunkt der Betrachtungen. Zum Anderen besteht die Möglichkeit, von jenen Texten auszugehen, die wir mit Eckhart in Verbindung bringen. Methodisch unerlässlich ist dabei, einen Bezugsrahmen zu definieren, der uns in die Lage versetzt, historisch mögliche Eckhart-Lektüren zu eruieren, Trampelpfade historischer Textdeutungen aufzudecken. Dieser Bezugsrahmen kann sowohl die kodexinterne, als auch die kodexübergreifende Mitüberlieferung, die Bibliothek – verstanden als eine „begehbare Sammelhandschrift“ (Johannes G. Mayer) – sein, bildet sie doch hier wie dort den Deutungs- und Resonanzraum eines bestimmten Textes. Wie man die kodexübergreifende Mitüberlieferung als Deutungs- und Resonanzraum vorzustellen hat, soll am Beispiel der in Rebdorf anonym überlieferten Armutspredigt (Nr. 52 in der kritischen Eckhart-Ausgabe), genauer: anhand des ihr beigegebenen Kommentars, skizziert werden. Mein Hauptaugenmerk gilt jedoch nicht dieser Art von Eckhart-Rezeption, sondern den expliziten Zuweisungen von Texten an Eckhart, ohne dabei jene Fälle zu unterschlagen, die eine verweigerte Eckhart-Rezeption nahe legen. Wie die kulturwissenschaftlich orientierte Raumforschung setzt die vorliegende Studie einen Topographie-Begriff voraus, der die in der handschriftlichen Überlieferung beobachtbaren epistemologischen Ordnungs- und Verortungsverfahren von geographisch definierbaren Orten und konkreten Institutionen zwar nicht entbindet, doch dabei (ganz im Sinne des "topographical turn") vor allem die Praktiken der Verortung, d. h. das Graphische am Topographischen, akzentuiert.

The Dream of the Red Chamber (Honglou meng or The Story of the Stone), composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the eighteenth century during the Qing dynasty, is celebrated as the greatest of all classical Chinese novels. However, little effort has been made to explore its theological dimension, as well as the theological interaction with Chinese classical philosophy in the field of Redology (the name for research around this text). This article aims to fill this gap to explore the theological influences upon the thematic ideas of this novel. Attending to the newly discovered theological materials in recent studies, I argue that the author of Honglou meng is not ignorant of Christianity, and in fact, used a triadic image to refer to the trinitarian persons.

This paper is about the contribution of Saint Augustine to the reform
of the Catholic Church in North Africa, through his ministry of preaching.
When he was still a priest at Hippo, Augustine waged a forceful
and successful war against some pagan practices which had gradually
crept into the Church. The common practice of celebrating the dead
in the Roman world was being applied to the Saints of the Church
and Christians were celebrating their memory by getting drunk. The
prohibition of such practices by the authority of the Church met with
the resistance of the faithful, so Augustine decided to act precisely
through the power of the Word he proclaimed to his flock. In his Letter
29 addressed to Alypius the Bishop of Thagaste, he narrates how he
convinced the faithful to stop the celebration of the feast called Laetitia
on the feast day of Saint Leontius. After sketching the background of
the devotion to the Saints in North Africa, our study examines the line
of Augustine’s argumentation that led to the success of this preaching,
and hence shows how he contributed to the reform of the Church of
his day.

American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 77, No. 2, pp. 151-169.
This paper examines Augustine's analysis of the possible causes of akrasia and suggests that an implicit two-phased consent process takes place in an akratic decision. This two-phased consent theory revolves around Augustine's theory of the two wills, one carnal and the other spiritual. Without the help of grace, the fallen will dominated by the carnal will can only choose to sin. After exploration of this two-phased consent theory, the paper turns to examine the accusation made by Julian of Eclanum, a fifth-century Pelagian, and J. Van Oort, a contemporary Augustinian scholar, that Augustine's doctrine of the two wills and concupiscence led the Church into a Manichaean position. The paper concludes that this accusation fails to hold up, especially when one considers the more nuanced view on the human body and concupiscence in Augustine's later works.

This book review article contains discussion of the following:
-problems with teleological historiographical approaches to the Middle Ages
-the problems caused by assuming a minimalist version of the Pelagian corpus
-the problems caused by of using Augustine's 'On the Deeds of Pelagius' as the key to his polemic against Pelagius
-Bonner's misreadings of Augustine's criticisms of Pelagius, with special reference to the meanings of 'gratia'
-Augustine's doctrine of prevenient grace
-the need to ground Augustine's doctrine of predestination in his doctrine of time and eternity, with reference to the subsequent thought of Boethius and Eriugena
-Augustine on philosophical arrogance
-cooperative models of the relationship between free will and providence
-the relationship of Pelagius to his predecessors
-the problems caused by using 'interactionist theory' to understand the polemic between Augustine and Pelagius
-the philosophical contradictions of Bonner's various characterisations of the Pelagian controversy

Francis Mayronis (d.1328) was the first theologian of the schools to employ systematically Roman law to exegete the Old and New Testaments (re, De verbo incarnato) by recourse to the Corpus iuris civilis and other sources. His exegesis, guided by patristic use of Roman law (e..g, Origen [through Bonaventure], Augustine) is surprisingly valid even vis-à-vis contemporary exegesis for uncovering Roman institutions absorbed into Paul of Tarsus's texts and in other parts of the New Testament. While Jerome's "legalization" of certain biblical passages led to an exaggeration of Roman-ness of certain Old and New Testament passages, this does not negate the intrinsic value of both contextualizing and interpreting Paul through Roman juristic science. Mayronis used this insight to sometimes -if not always- provide the best available readings of Paul even in comparison with contemporary attempts to understand the Pauline corpus.

The place of humility in Augustine’s theological vision has attracted significant interest during the last two decades. A common theme in these studies is recognition that the reality and example of Christ’s incarnation and the "via crucis" (the way of the cross) are central to Augustine’s conception of humility. The predominant focus of these studies, however, has been the intellectual, theological, and philosophical dimensions of Augustine’s understanding of, and progress towards, humility. A striking omission in this scholarship, however, is attention to what Jane Foulcher describes as the “nexus between traditions and practices.” This is an approach that can result in “a fuller understanding of humility,” in part because understandings of humility are “always embedded in contexts (traditions) and surrounded by practices.” Taking Foulcher’s cue, it is the contention of this article that there is value in putting on a similar lens with which to view Augustine’s conception of humility, principally through his Confessions.

Accordingly, I argue that Augustine’s narrative discloses the importance of traditions and practices that foster humility: exposure to the liturgy, catechesis, and to preaching; earnest personal prayer alongside the intercessory prayers of others; and the chanting of hymns and Psalms. The kindness, mentoring, and testimony of spiritual directors who embodied humility along with “much experience and learning”—in this case Ambrose and Simplicianus—was formative for Augustine. Likewise, the friendship of Alypius, Nebridius, and a wider circle of like-minded peers embodied and bore witness to the way of humility, encouraging one another in the making of space (“contemplative leisure”) for unhurried conversation, reading, testimony (both personal and that of spiritual biography), and a serious intellectual and spiritual pursuit of God. Augustine understood all of these traditions and practices as gracious, providential gifts that, like much in our lives due to our creaturely and epistemic limitations, had to be accepted with a dependent trust and a faith that seeks understanding. Indeed, this fundamental human condition of createdness, and the humility it should provoke, is a theme that Augustine takes up in the final three books of the Confessions. Here he
acknowledges the limitations of memory, language, and our time-bound material
natures, further observing that he, humanity, and all creation all were utterly
dependent upon God—for their very existence a well as for their ability to love
him, turn themselves toward him, and find their rest in him.

The ‘Collectaneum’ of Lupus of Ferrières cites a fragment of the ‘Expositum in Heptateuchum’
by John the Deacon. The latter is a precious source of rare excerpts from patristic works, among them
fragments of sermons by Augustine not known from other sources. The abbot cites one (229 S) in
support of his doctrine on the “gemina praedestinatio”. Philological scrutiny leads to restoration of the
correct reading in the text of Augustine thanks to the contribution of the ‘Collectaneum’, which
demonstrates the quality of the indirect tradition in Lupus as opposed to the direct tradition in MS
Paris. lat. 12309.