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dissertationes
1. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 2
Pierluigi Leone Gatti Le Faussaire et la Ville: la correspondance entre Sénèque et l’apôtre Paul mise à l’épreuve de l’archéologie
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In this article the author provides new external evidence demonstrating that the correspondence between the philosopher Seneca and the apostle Paul is a forgery. The author compares archaeological data offered by inscriptions, graffiti and regionarii with information conveyed by the apocryphal letters. The setting of the epistles, as well as information about the duration and damages of the Neronian fire, contrast with the archaeological data, indicating that the text should be considered a forgery. The contribution shows that the forger worked rather in a literary mode. Conversely, the only archaeological date (CIL XIV 566) that scholars have brought to support authenticity is probably not a Christian inscription and does not prove anything regarding a meeting between Seneca and Paul or Seneca’s conversion. The origin of the correspondence should instead be traced to the cult of the apostles Paul and Peter during the 3rd and 4th centuries.
2. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 2
Alessandro Capone “La verità vi farà liberi”: echi di Io. 8, 32 nei primi secoli del cristianesimo
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This contribution traces the interpretations of Jn 8: 32 in the first centuries up to Origen, who represents in this case, as in general for ancient patristic literature, a fundamental watershed. Each passage is illuminated by setting it in the context of exegesis and controversy. Passages which at first glance may seem unconnected are grouped together in this perspective to reveal interesting points of contact.
3. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 2
Fabio Ruggiero Osservazioni sul testo del Πρὸς Διόγνητον
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The author of this article discusses several passages from Πρὸς Διόγνητον and in particular he suggests a new reading of five problematical loci of the work. In 2, 3, the addition of καί before the words ἔτι καὶ νῦν makes the reading καὶ ἔτι καὶ νῦν more suitable for the style of the entire clause. In 3, 5, a very economical change – τὸ δὲ δοκεῖ[ν] τινά παρέχειν τῷ μηδενὸς προσδεομένῳ – gives the correct meaning to a widely discussed sentence. In 7, 4, the clause ὡς βασιλεὺς πέμπων υἱὸν βασιλέα ἔπεμψεν, ὡς ϑεὸς πέμπων <υἱὸν ϑεὸν> πρὸς ἀνϑρώπους ἔπεμψεν, ὡς σώζων ἔπεμψεν is probably the correct reading, taking into account both the author’s theology and the rhythm of the three anaphoric sentences (ὡς + present participle + ἔπεμψεν). In 8, 11, the words of the manuscript tradition ἰδεῖν καὶ ποιῆσαι are out of context; ; ἰδιοποιῆσαι, a conjectural emendation, plausibly restores to the revised clause καὶ μετασχεῖν τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἰδιοποιῆσαι its correct sense. In 10, 1, the very economical conjectural emendation καταλάβῃς for the καὶ λάβῃς of the manuscript tradition (which has been interpreted in a variety of ways) offers both a correct reading for the revised passage ταύτην καὶ σὺ τὴν πίστιν ἐὰν ποϑήσῃς, καταλάβῃς πρῶτον μὲν ἐπίγνωσιν πατρός and a good connection to the following clause (10, 2).
4. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 2
Angelo Casarano Una prospettiva estetica nell’antropologia di Gregorio di Nissa?: Analisi delle opere De Opificio Hominis e De Anima et Resurrectione
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This study offers an analytical reading of two anthropological works of Gregory of Nyssa, De opificio hominis and De anima et resurrectione, in order to investigate the hypothesis of an aesthetic perspective, based on the frequent use of terms like καλόν, κάλλοϛ, etc. This perspective is identified in Gregory’s protology, ethics and eschatology as they develop. The Greek word καλόν is ambiguous between ‘beautiful’ and ‘good’, but is interpreted here, according to context, in an aesthetic sense.
5. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 2
Paul Mattei À propos des relations entre Ambroise et Gratien: Questions chronologiques et historiques que pose le De fide. Enjeux et portée du concile d’Aquilée
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The basic idea of the present work is this one: supposing the it is not naive nor anachronistic to read the situation psychologically, Ambrose never was a ‘mentor’ who used his friendship to dominate totally Gratian who would have been a weak character. The investigation considers almost the whole reign, in two parts: (1) De fide ad Gratianum libri V. (2) The Council of Aquileia. It aims to develop a more subtle understanding of: (1) the image of each of the two protagonists, as they mirror one another; (2) the history of their links, shaped of course by the existence of powerful cliques at court and by the strict rules governing the relations between a bishop and an emperor; (3) the notion, more broadly, of the progressive establishing of the Christian Empire. This, then, is a work of synthesis. Such an undertaking is timely, given the number, size and importance, of the studies on the subject.
6. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 2
E. Margaret Atkins Sorting out Lies: The Eight Categories of St Augustine’s De Mendacio
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St Augustine himself recognised in Retractationes that De Mendacio is a difficult text to understand, because its argument is both complex and dialectical. Understanding the treatise has been further complicated by St Thomas Aquinas’ reading of it in the light of Aristotle, and under the influence of a possibly flawed textual tradition. This article clarifies Augustine’s well known eight categories of lies to resituate them in the social experience of Augustine and his contemporaries. It shows that Augustine’s argument and exegesis are strikingly exploratory and undogmatic. His hard-won conclusion is driven by a demanding understanding of sanctity. A synopsis of the argument of De Mendacio is appended.
7. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 2
Kolawole Chabi Saint Augustine as a Reforming Voice for the Catholic Church in Roman Africa: The Testimony of his Letter 29 to Alypius
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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.
8. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 2
Massimiliano Ghilardi La Collectio Avellana: una fonte per la topografia di Roma tardoantica?: Qualche breve osservazione
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The Collectio Avellana, a collection of late antique documents which has been thoroughly investigated, above all by ancient historians and historians of Roman law, provides a wealth of historical, political-religious and legal information for the period between the middle of the 4th and the middle of the 6th century AD. This contribution, limited to the years of the pontificate of Pope Damasus (366-384), seeks to understand whether these texts can also represent a source of topographical information for the city of Rome.
9. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 2
Luisa Covello Ipotesi ricostruttiva dei sistemi di accesso della Basilica Onoriana di Sant’Agnese fuori le mura
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The present paper aims at reviewing the complex of “Santa Agnese fuori le mura”, the most important architectural ensemble along the Via Nomentana, and one of the most renowned sanctuaries of the suburban landscape of Rome. This paper focuses, in particular, on today’s church, built right over the martyr’s burial by Pope Onorius between 628 and 635 A.D., and attempts to reconstruct its original appearance, taking into account both the status quaestionis and literary sources. Finally, research findings have been translated into a 3-D reconstruction of the church, in order to highlight the ancient close relationship between the building and the adjacent land, which was compromised following the renovation works carried out at the beginning of the 17th century.
10. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 2
Alessandro Orengo Canoni conciliari armeni: Šahapivan e Dowin
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The present article deals with the canon laws enacted at the councils of Šahapivan (444) and Dowin (645). The canons of Šahapivan have reached us as part of the Kanonagirkc Hayocc [‘Armenian Canons’], a collection of canonical texts assembled in the 7th century by Katc ołikos Yovhannēs Awjnecc i and based on heavily interpolated texts. The canons of Dowin, not included in Awjnecc i’s collection, have followed a different route. The article includes a translation of both sets of canons based on the Armenian texts edited by V. Hakobyan (Kanonagirkc Hayocc, Erevan 1964–1971), which are also reproduced here.
11. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 2
Carlo Dell’Osso Il modello cristiano di theophóros ánthropos: suggestioni teologiche e antropologiche
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This article discusses the concept of the theophóros ánthropos, which belongs to the Patristic tradition, especially to that of Antioch. This concept was widely used in Christology, while the adjective theophóros/deifer was also used for various purposes within the Patristic tradition, with reference to Christ, to the Virgin Mary, to the angels, to good Christians and to human beings inspired by God. The author presents the relevant Patristic texts, then suggests that this concept or model is used in two ways: in an ‘interdisciplinary’ sense, in that it appears in various theological contexts and fields; and in a ‘dialogical’ sense, insofar as the concept provides a bridge to philosophical as well as theological anthropology. In short, theophóros ánthropos is not only an anthropological model for believers, but also a useful concept in dialogue between theology and other disciplines.
12. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 2
Index Voluminis LVIII
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dissertationes
13. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 1
Matteo Monfrinotti Il Dio Creatore nelle testimonianze esamerali di Teofilo di Antiochia e Clemente di Alessandria
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Early Christian authors were challenged by the impenetrable question of the origin of the world, but persevered in tracing the creation of the universe back to the one and only God. Part of their response was to defend the truth of God, the Father and Creator by meditating and commenting on the biblical account of the six days of creation. The commentaries on the Hexameron which we have are by Theophilus of Antioch and Clement of Alexandria. Theophilus, author of the oldest commentary on Genesis 1:1-25, pursues a primarily apologetic aim in favour of Christian monotheism and of faith in God who, through his Logos, is the Creator of all things; Clement, through statements scattered throughout his works, confirms in opposition to Gnostic-Marcionite ditheism that God the Father, working through the Logos, created the universe according to a plan of salvation whose fulfillment will be redemption at the end of time. Exegesis is combined with theology and – on the basis of a philosophical substratum which also includes predominantly Judaic traditions – translates into principles which will later open the way to protological reflection.
14. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 1
Miklós Gyurkovics La santa prole. Il frutto del matrimonio cristiano nella teologia di Clemente di Alessandria
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The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that the teaching of Clement of Alexandria on marriage is closely related to the author’s soteriology and cosmology. The study focuses on the Third Book of Stromateis, which provides insight into the different Christian views on marriage at the end of the second century. Study of the Third Book of Stromateis also reveals Clement’s unique method of argument, by means of which he corrects the theological positions of his opponents. Last but not least, Clement’s discussions of family life provide a window onto the social life of the Late Empire from the point of view of a second-century Christian philosopher.
15. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 1
Fabrizio Vecoli Norme, malédiction et forme de vie dans les “règles” de Chenouté
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In 2014 the coptologist Bentley Layton published a corpus of texts with the title The Canons of our Fathers. Rules of Shenoute. Our article proposes an analysis of these “rules” of the Egyptian abbot Shenoute (348-466 AD). This collection is characterised by the explicit intention of disciplining the conscience of each member of the community. This intention can be discerned in the particular use of curses and in a series of precepts that regulate the monk’s interior life prohibiting certain inner conditions that only the monk himself can detect. This strategy of “internalisation” appears to be original to the rule of this community.
16. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 1
Jonathan Farrugia Gregory of Nyssa’s Teaching on Sin in the Homilies on the Beatitudes
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The Homilies on the Beatitudes are believed to be Gregory of Nyssa’s earliest existing homilies, dating most probably from the Lenten season of 378. In them we can clearly see, although still at an early stage, his thoughts on the problem of evil in the world and its effects on human nature. Reading the homilies from this angle, one can show his original ideas on the introduction of sin in human nature, on the state of the man enslaved by sin and on sin’s effects on him. Gregory also gives some useful and practical suggestions as to how sin can be overcome. Even though in later homilies he goes more deeply into these themes, and sometimes his thought develops and points to different conclusions, it is here in this first set of homilies that we start to see his ideas on sin and redemption taking shape.
17. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 1
Junghun Bae Almsgiving and the Therapy of the Soul in John Chrysostom’s Homilies on Matthew
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In recent years much scholarly work has explored the topic of John Chrysostom as an ancient “psychagogue”. In these recent studies, however, relatively little attention has been devoted to Chrysostom’s approach to almsgiving in relation to the cure of the soul. This article looks closely at Chrysostom’s view of almsgiving and soul therapy within the context of ancient philosophical therapy. Analyzing Chrysostom’s Homilies on Matthew, it demonstrates that for Chrysostom almsgiving is a crucial remedy for healing the sick soul.
18. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 1
Thomas Clemmons The Common, History, and the Whole: Guiding Themes in De vera religione
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Augustine’s important work De uera religione has been frequently read for its Neoplatonic resonances. However, there is much in the work that cannot be reduced to this reading. Themes such as the importance of the common and public dimension of uera religio, the significance of history, and the function of ‘true religion’ toward the training and renewal of the whole human, are topoi that reveal the dynamic structure of the work. A consideration of these themes in uera rel. brings into full relief Augustine’s answer to why God acted in time and through history for the whole human race and helps to explain Augustine’s complex articulation of Christianity in the work.
19. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 1
Ewa Wipszycka The Canons of the Council of Chalcedon concerning Monks
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The aim of the article is to propose new answers to four fundamental questions concerning those rulings of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 that aim to regulate the functioning of monastic communities: 1. Why did the authors of the canons in question (emperor Marcian and patriarch Anatolius) propose legal regulations for the key organizational aspects of the life of monastic communities? 2. Which monastic groups were to be subject to these regulations? 3. What were the chances of the regulations being implemented? 4. What role did the canons have in relations between monks and the Church after Chalcedon? In her conclusions, the author emphasizes the Constantinopolitan context of the canons. She sees them as an example of “declarative law”, important in the sphere of ideology but hardly usable in practice. She explains her disagreement with those scholars who hold that the canons’ impact on the life of the Churches in the Empire was significant.
20. Augustinianum: Volume > 58 > Issue: 1
Miryam De Gaetano La ricerca della Sapientia in De resurr. 278-292 (CPL 1463)
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The aim of this study is to analyse a passage of the pseudoepigraphic Carmen de resurrectione (vv. 278-292) which relates to insipientes, interpreted as those who do not accept that the rational observation of nature proves the existence of a unique creator God. Such a refusal is believed to make them worthy of eternal damnation. The resulting concept of sapientia involves both ratio and voluntas; it is also connected with gnoseology and soteriology. A similar concept can be found in the Aquitanian poetry of the fifth century and in the theology of the so-called Semipelagians. This similarity calls into question the traditional dating and the supposed area of origin of the Carmen.