The article deals with the use of the term conscienta in S. Augustine’s early writings (388-395), namely the third book of De libero arbitrio, the first 32 enarrationes in Psalmos and De sermone Domini in monte, to trace the development of the idea of conscientia, and the shift from an anthropological concept of conscientia (coscientia mortalitatis/ conscientia itineribus) to a Theological and Moral dimension (conscientia bona/mala) in St. Augustine’s first works as a young Priest at Hippo, namely in De sermone Domini in monte, where the Moral aspects of conscientia are underlined.

In this essay I explore the implications of Augustine’s notion of moral conscience in the polemical treatises written during the late 300’s and the early 400’s. During this period Augustine found himself locked in controversy with both the Manichaeans and the Donatists over the fundamental truths of the Christian faith. Against this background I examine Augustine’s understanding of conscience with reference to Faustus of Milevis and Petilian of Constantine. With respect to Faustus of Milevis, I situate Augustine’s understanding of conscience in the context of his adaptation of the notion of conscience found in Paul’s Pastoral Epistles to his repudiation of the Manichaeans in three key passages: 1Tim. 1:5, 1Tim. 4:1-3, and Tit. 1:15. In the case of Petilian of Constantine I investigate the meaning of conscience in relation to three major themes found in Petilian’s letters: the subjective disposition of conscience, the hiddenness of conscience, and the responsibility for the subjective disposition of conscience. Finally, I conclude the essay by reflecting more generally on the meaning and use of the notion of conscience in polemical disputes. Not only does Augustine develop a notion of conscience that addresses personal and ecclesial concerns, but he also characterizes conscience as both stable and malleable.

Toward the end of his life, Augustine of Hippo wrote two letters (10* and 24*) to legal experts in which he reacted to recent attempts by slave-traders to sell 120 Roman North Africans «overseas» as slaves. Prompted by the fact that members of his clergy had offered them refuge in the episcopal compound at Hippo, Augustine sought to clarify the actual personal legal status of these men, women, and children. Were they slaves, coloni, or illegally captured free Roman citizens? What were their actual temporal, legal, personal conditions? Such concerns surrounding the condicio hominum temporalis, brought to light as a result of selling human beings, and their relevance and ramifications for Augustine’s thoughts and actions, especially with regard to the sin to which we are sold per originem of the First Man, are the focus of my remarks.

Augustine of Hippo was active in the period leading up to conciliar definitions of Christology, yet he displays remarkably distinct preferences in his treatment of Christ. Rather than repurposing his work to discover antecedent traces of the Chalcedonian definition –or the pervading influence of Nicene faith–one must remain open to Augustine’s own Christological method. For, in fact, as much as he held to a firm belief in the objective work of Christ and its proper role in the divine plan for human salvation, Augustine maintains a certain approach to biblical exegesis that reinvents our notions of Christology to include, primarily, exegetical praxis. A valuable example of this practice appears in the early ‘anti-Donatist’ homilies on John, in particular in the 9th and 15th where Augustine reads Christ into the whole of Scripture, beginning with Gen. 2:24-5. In so doing, the bishop of Hippo builds upon essentially Pauline interpretative strategies, even in his reading of the Fourth Gospel. The present contribution aims to identify those Pauline elements, chiefly among them the role of Eph. 5:31-2 and Rom. 5:14, the latter of which presents Adam as ‘forma futuri’ – that is, a prophet of Christ. In his reading of John 2 on the Wedding at Cana (homily 9) and John 4 (homily 15), Augustine develops a hermeneutic of recognising Christological prophecy in the ‘old testament’, and in so doing he develops the Pauline sentiment of Rom. 5:14 in new directions, applying it liberally to the successive Hebrew patriarchs. This new turn in studies of Romans, chapter 5, under the Christological programme of Augustine during his early anti-Donatist engagement, offers new light on possible early Christian interpretations of the Bible – especially welcome after so many reflections on Rom. 5:12 and its influence for the later Pelagian controversy.

This article examines the relation of Augustine’s appreciation of the human heart to his understanding of conscience both from a theological and a spiritual point of view by a study of the 43 sermons preached in Hippo from December 406 to mid-summer 407, that is, the fifteen enarrationes on the Psalms of Ascent (en. Ps. 119-133), enarrationes on psalms 95 and 21 (sermon 2), the first sixteen tractates on the Gospel of John (Io. eu. tr.), and the ten homilies on the First Letter of John (ep. Io. tr.)

In contributing to the debate on the transformation of late Roman world, some scholars have claimed that the boundaries between religious groups were fluid with external and internal factors. Christian identity was not characterised by clear indications of religious belief, observance, and practice. Some intriguing surveys have shown that the difference between Christians and pagans can be seen as part of a discursive binary. While the North African evidence of their identity allows us to consider the question of what it means to be a Christian, it is noteworthy that there is a comprehensive framework for the understanding of human behavior and thought: the ‘spiritual exercises’ in the Greco-Roman tradition. In the fourth and fifth centuries, Christian thinkers began to pursue the matter in question as being linked with the context of his concern for Christianness in late North Africa, the correlation still remains in question. In this article, therefore, first I examine how he referred to the Christian code of behavior in his letters. In particular, focusing my attention on epistolary correspondence of Augustine with two seemingly ‘pagans’, I show how he tried to impose the idea of ehe Christian norms of behavior on his correspondence –with Dioscorus (epp. 117 and 118) and with Volusianus (epp. 132, 135, and 137). Then I ask what Augustine understood by spiritual training. For the sake of clarity, I have divided the letters along he thematic line into three groups –the intellectual and therapeutic (ep. 26, 37, 56, 102, 162, 193, 202A, and 2*), the religious and eschatological (ep. 92, 130, 131, 137, and 157), and the exegetical aspect (ep. 28, 137, 149, 199, and 213). In each group I consider them chronologically as far as possible. Finally, I consider the principal feature of spiritual training, thereby coming to the enhancement of spiritual affinities, and mutual relationships of which he made use in speaking about Christian identity.

This article elucidates the main topic in the discussion between Augustine and Jerome about biblical translation, by focusing on their views about the language of the source text of translation. According to the historical study of translation, translators at the time of Cicero were allowed to show their creativity, since they presupposed the reader’s ability to compare the Greek text with the Latin translation. Cicero, accordingly, chose free translation as his own principle. Augustine expected the readers of the Bible to compare the source text with the translation, claiming that the source text should be the Greek Bible, namely, the LXX. However, Augustine preferred literal translation, for he estimated the reader’s comprehension of the source text to be low. Jerome, on the other hand, anticipated the readers at a high level, so that he basically adopted free translation as a translation method of any kind of literary work, including the Bible. Moreover, since Jerome accepted the Hebrew text as the original text, rejecting the authority of the LXX, he recommended the non-Hebrew readers ask the Hebrews to examine the accuracy of his translation. In addition, as Augustine and Jerome have different attitudes towards translation, they also have different views on the ideological state of the LXX: Augustine allowed the LXX to be a free translation, while Jerome strictly demanded it to be a literal translation, even though their own translation theories are opposite, respectively.

While ontological discourse is unfashionable in contemporary theology, it was prominent in the works of Augustine of Hippo. This article will concentrate on Augustine’s attribution of «esse» and related terms to God in his early works. Contrasting readings of Augustine’s ontological discourse will be reviewed, especially those of Émile Zum Brunn and Jean-Luc Marion. Texts under consideration will be drawn from Cassiciacum dialogues, the anti-Manichaean treatises, and Confessions. The article will conclude by clarifying the larger implications of Augustine’s commitment to ontological theology in the context of his account of contemplation.

The influence of the works of Seneca on Augustine, although often undervalued by scholars, appears decisive in the development of the concept of will in the first book of De libero arbitrio. In this paper, we analyze how the concept of bona uoluntas in the writings of Seneca may have influenced the Augustinian conception of the same concept.

The article deals with the foundations of Augustine’s Theology of History, as can be read in Book V of The City of God. A distinction among the pagan belief in destiny and Christian faith is made. The text which is analyzed is considered as the source of Augustine’s Theology of History, in Books XV-XVIII of the City of God, and also of his doctrine about Predestination. The article also deals with the relationship within the process of salvation, between divine grace and human deeds.

The article discusses St. Augustine’s idea about holiness, and how this idea develops itself through the years. The article focuses on St. Augutine’s Works written before the Confessions, namely mor., an. quant., Gen. adu. Man., uera rel., s. dom. m., c. Adim., exp.prop. Rom., doctr. chr. The article discusses that there is no discontinuity between the Works written before the Confessions and the Works written after.

The article briefly discusses what the Collegia Iuuenum were in Northern Africa, and which were their main characteristics. It also presents the relation­ship of the pagan Collegia Iuuenum with two Augustinian texts, namely ep. 185 and Contra Gaudentium, to search in them hints of the last pagan human sacrifices in North Africa.

The article deals with the topic of Christ’s Passion as it is presented in those enarrationes in Psalmos that form the «Core’s Cycle», that is those psalms which are attributed to Core. The article discusses the exegetical explanation that St. Augustine gives of Core’s name, and how this interpretation is linked to Christ’s Passion, underlining the spiritual and ecclesial aspects. It also deals with the linking of these enarrationes with Get’s name and the actual trials as a way of purification for the faithful and also as a mean of self-knowledge.

During the Pelagian controversy, the precise relation between grace and free will was an important issue. Augustine emphasized the priority of grace over human beings’ free will after the Fall. Pelagians such as Julian of Aeclanum were of the opinion that such view annihilated human beings’ free will. Throughout history, time and again, scholars belonging to different schools and denomina­tions have discussed this issue at length. In this article, we concentrate on Augustine’s view on love as grace during his debate with Julian. We argue that one should broaden the scope of this question and pay attention to the role of divine love as an important and decisive factor with regard to the proper activity of grace in the redemption and liberation of human beings. Thinking the relation between human beings and God in terms of love is a help in order to overcome the unfruitful grace-freewill antinomy. In fact, such approach does justice to both the Scriptural sources of Augustine’s position and the bishop’s spiritual view on the topic under consideration.

Augustine worked as an educator for most of his life, initially –in the world– as a teacher, ultimately –in the Church– as a preacher. Although he wrote no systematic work on education, it is possible to deduce his views on the subject from what he says about it in a number of important works (De magistro, De doctrina christiana, and De catechizandis rudibus). He thinks education consists of the activity of an external teacher, a human, who enthusiastically points us in the direction of the activity of an interior teacher, God. To a large extent, Augustine bases this theory on careful observation and creative reasoning. One instance of this is provided in Confessiones, where Augustine, as bishop of Hippo, looks back on the years of his youth, and thus on his experience of learning and teaching. The current article not only investigates and clarifies how Augustine developed his views on education, and explains what these views were, but also shows how he applied them to his own work. Contrary to what has long been assumed, Augustine went about this in a methodical way, both in his written and in his spoken work. This is demonstrated on the basis of a book, intended to be read (De consensu euangelistarum 1), and of a sermon (Sermo 273), intended to be heard. His methodical approach, which is evident from a clear structure and a lucid argument, reveals the practical application of Augustine’s vision. As theory served as a model for practice, thus practice confirmed the theory.

The article deals with the Spiritual Discernment in St. Augustine, taking as point of departure Book V of the Confessions. Allusion to other works of St. Augustine are made, to discuss the main characteristics of the Spiritual Discernment according to St. Augustine.

Although in St. Augustine’s time there was no ecological consciousness like the one we have today and the relationship with the environment was conditioned by other elements, the Augustinian thought about creation is extremely rich, and it helps us to discover different essential elements that can guide the ecological reflection in the present. The article presents some essential lines of the Augustinian ecological thought, such as the Augustinian thought about creation, the Trinity, the importance of Sacred Scripture, the doctrine of uti et frui, the universal destiny of the created things, the order, the Providence of God, the Trinity’s traces in all creatures as is presented in the text of Wis 11, 21, and it also stresses the linking of Protology with Eschatology in Augustine’s ecological thought.

The article discusses, from a study of Sermon 71 and other important texts of St. Augustine, that the human soul is the image and temple of the Trinity. On the other hand, the article focuses on the place that the Bishop of Hippo attri­butes to the Trinity in the life of the Christian as an individual, and within the Ecclesial reality. The article also discusses that the unity of Persons within the Trinity, according to St. Augustine is a model for constructing the unity among the Beleivers as members of the Church. The article shows the relationship that according to St. Augustine, exists between the Christian and each of the Persons of the Trinity.

The article presents some guidelines to read St. Augustine’s Works, and also the transmission of his thought through the Ages, since it is still a source of Theological and Ecclesiologial Research. The article focuses on four aspects: The Intercultural Context we have now a days, the Intercultural Context of the Late Antiquity; the hints left by the same St. Augustine to read his Work, and the main Ideas that conform his legacy.