Paula Preston: St. Augustine of Hippo

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St Augustine of Hippo was a Christian theologian and philosopher from Roman Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosophy and Western Christianity and he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church in the Patristic Period. 

We will be looking at aspects of his life, AD 354-430, one of the four Latin Church Fathers.  Of his writings, 132 books survive, dealing with original sin, the Trinity, and other matters of Christian doctrine.  He wrote on heresies and was active in suppressing them.  His lengthy City of God addressed the question of why Rome had fallen to the Goths in AD 410.  In contrast to these focused works, he wrote his best-selling Confessions, a highly original autobiographical work which explains the background to his conversion to Christianity.  We could look at some of the hundreds of different images of Augustine.

If you would like to prepare for the talk, the following links are lively and interesting.  If you would like to watch a dramatized version and have three hours to spare, there is a two-part Italian TV series dubbed into English.  St. Augustine even has his own website: Augnet.org, listing much of what has been written about him.  Podcaster Peter Adamson includes episodes on him in his ambitious series of podcasts History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps. Melvyn Bragg, In Our Time presented an interesting discussion on Confessions.

YouTube, Restless Heart: The Confessions of St. Augustine, (2010), Italian TV Channel, 31st January 2010.  Directed by Christian Duguay and shot on location in Tunisia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1sybK-6o0M

BBC, In Our Time: ‘Augustine’s Confessions’, (2018).  Presented by Melvyn Bragg on 15th March 2018.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b09tyzvz

History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps: ‘110 – Life and Time: Augustine’s Confessions’. Posted 6th January 2013.
https://historyofphilosophy.net/augustine-confessions

History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps: ‘111 - Papa Don’t Teach: Augustine on Language’. Posted 13th January 2013.
https://historyofphilosophy.net/augustine-language

History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps: ‘112 – Help Wanted: Augustine on Freedom’. Posted 20th January 2013.
https://historyofphilosophy.net/augustine-freedom

History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps: ‘113 – Augustine’s City of God’.
https://historyofphilosophy.net/augustine-city-of-god

History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps: ‘114 – Sarah Byers on Augustine’s Ethics’.
https://historyofphilosophy.net/augustine-byers

History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps: ‘115 – Me, Myself and I: Augustine on Memory’.
https://historyofphilosophy.net/augustine-mind

History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps: ‘116 – Charles Brittain on Augustine’s On the Trinity.
https://historyofphilosophy.net/augustine-brittain