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<p>This dissertation argues that the works of Augustine, especially the <em>City of God</em> and the <em>Confessions,</em> serve as a major source and influence upon Burton's <em>The Anatomy of Melancholy</em>. Burton's attitudes towards the world, humanity, and his sources can be seen to derive in part from Augustine's attitudes on these subjects. Especially, Burton shares with Augustine a form of scepticism this dissertation defines as 'Augustinian Scepticism', which is qualitatively different from the dawning scientific-rationalist scepticism of, for example, Descartes. Though this form of scepticism could be defined as dogmatism, as its rigorous negativity never extends to the grounds of faith, it is still the source of much of Burton's attitude towards the world, his reader and his material throughout the <em>Anatomy</em>. Burton's <em>elenctic</em> rhetorical strategies especially, wherein he collapses all sides of an argument to create seeming chaos in the sublunary world, can in large part be traced to his reading of, and use of, Augustine and avowedly Augustinian thinkers such as Melancthon, Nicholas Cusanus and Agrippa.</p> <p>Although critics such as Fish, Fox, Babb and Thompson deny an Augustinian influence in Burton's <em>Anatomy</em>, this dissertation argues against their positions. The argument presented employs a method of close, comparative readings, examining key passages of the <em>Anatomy</em> in the light of Augustine's <em>City of God</em>, the <em>Confessions</em>, and other works. Passages wherein Burton cuts closest to his submerged themes of redemption and salvation, abandoning the persona of Democritus Jr. in favour of his persona as Burton the Divine-Physician, (a symbolic persona drawn directly from Augustine), are especially examined. Through a focus on Burton's religious themes, a direct parallel with Augustine is discerned. and it is argued that Augustine has an influence on both style and substance in the <em>Anatomy</em>. Although Augustine is by no means the only, or even dominant influence on the <em>Anatomy</em>, Augustine would appear to play a much larger role in Burton's moral and spiritual thought, especially in Burton's scepticism towards the world, human knowledge and human endeavour, than has previously been acknowledged.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Sources from the late antique and Byzantine eras attest that some Christian spouses adopted marital celibacy, or married persons' abstention from sexual intimacy, as an ascetic practice. The prevalent scholarship on marital celibacy has all too often read later practices of marital celibacy into earlier texts, due to scholars' tendency to universalize ascetic practice. This study endeavors to dismantle such universalizing by demonstrating the differences among four church fathers' approaches and attitudes toward marital celibacy, assuming neither the popularity of the practice nor the immediate affirmation of its necessity for marital ascetic piety. The dissertation explores the theme of marital celibacy in the works of four of the most influential men of the late fourth and early fifth centuries --Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil of Caesarea, and Augustine of Hippo-- through a careful analysis of various sources, from funeral orations to hagiographies, to sermons to dogmatic treatises, to letters and to monastic rules. It questions whether the practice was widely embraced in both the eastern and western regions of the empire and distinguishes between theoretical and pragmatic acceptance of marital celibacy. Not only does the study place the men's beliefs regarding marital celibacy within their larger teachings on marriage and virginity, but it also emphasizes the way in which each man's social context and pastoral role contributed to his rhetoric on the topic. It considers the ways in which the rhetoric surrounding marital celibacy intersected with the men's agendas and perspectives concerning other matters, such as their promotion of their saintly family (Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa), their monastic program (Basil), and their apologetics (Augustine). The project highlights the nuances among each father as well as the divergences between the east (represented by the Cappadocians) and west (represented by Augustine). Although each man discusses the topic of marital celibacy in some way and endorses its practice, at least ideally, they also indicate that not everyone was embracing marital celibacy, nor was every ecclesial leader promoting its practice as necessary for marital piety. Their writings reveal that at least a few people had adopted marital celibacy, and that many people--bishops and laity alike--were attempting to understand its theoretic and pragmatic place and role in the Christian life, particularly in light of Paul's instructions in 1 Corinthians 7. Despite efforts to offer a conclusive analysis of marital celibacy in the works of these four church fathers, the limitations caused by the divergences in the fathers' rhetoric, due to the distinctive contexts and genres of their writings, hinders a straightforward conclusion. Thus this dissertation serves as a glimpse into the diversity of early Christian marital practices through the lens of marital celibacy, underscoring the complexity of both belief and behavior in the late antique Christian world. / Religion

This dissertation examines the theology of C.S. Lewis in light of the writings of Athanasius, Augustine, and Anselm. Specifically, it looks at the role that justice and mercy play in each of these theologian’s understanding of the atonement. It proceeds on the basis that Lewis does in fact have a specific, robust, and coherent understanding of the atonement, and that his theological anthropology and his understanding of sanctification are an outworking of his understanding of the atonement. Chapter 1 lays out Lewis’ theological orientation and his method. Chapter 2 engages with Athanasius, Augustine, and Anselm on the atonement, and it lays out the particular concepts that were crucial in their understanding of the atonement, namely the justice and mercy of God. It outlines the fundamental concepts that we find in seedling form in Athanasius and Augustine and that were brought to full fruition in Anselm. It also argues that Anselm’s satisfaction theory is best understood as grounded in the nature of God, rather than in Anselm’s feudal, Medieval context. Chapter 3 examines Lewis on the atonement, and it traces the concepts that Lewis uses to describe and explain Christ’s death and resurrection. While Lewis does not adhere to any one doctrine or understanding of the atonement, there is a common thread that unites the various pictures that he takes to be true representations of the atonement. Fundamentally, for Lewis, the atonement is about the restitution of proper order that was disrupted in the Fall. Chapter 3 examines which theories of the atonement Lewis accepts and which he rejects. It also traces his understanding of the atonement to his understanding of the nature of God, relying on the concept of justitia defined as proper order, which has its source in the nature of God himself. In so doing, it aims to show that Lewis’ later understanding of the atonement is fundamentally Anselmian. Chapter 4 engages with Lewis’ theological anthropology and his understanding of sanctification, focusing on the process of “good infection” and how Lewis envisions the spread of the new life made available after Christ’s act of atonement. Sanctification, for Lewis, like the atonement, is also fundamentally about proper order. This plays out in his theological anthropology largely in terms of humility and obedience to God. Finally, chapter 5 addresses Narnia specifically and traces the concepts of justitia and proper order throughout the series and aims to show that, by focusing on proper order, we can see how the series hangs together as a whole theologically as an outworking of Lewis’ understanding of the atonement. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

In the following essay, one of grief’s central problems, namely its relation to consolation, is examined. Ancient philosophers’ answers to the question are compared with contemporary ones. Interestingly, although these answers and their theoretical frameworks largely differ, they seem to have one essential point in common, which is the idea that afterlife, understood either as metaphysical or non-metaphysical concept, lies at the core of what makes consolation intelligible. What is put into question in this essay is therefore this rather daring thing: does really the idea of afterlife, when faced with death, console grief, and if not, is there anything left to offer any consolation?

Thesis advisor: Pheme Perkins / This study demonstrates how the Comma Johanneum (1 John 5:7b-8a), a Latin addition and “spurious” text of the New Testament, could proffer valuable meaning-making and intricate sociocultural realia to Christian history, although it has been long neglected in Johannine scholarship. Its first aim is to reconstruct the transmission and reception history of the CJ, starting with the Spanish Latin MSS (the direct evidence) and returning to patristic citations (the indirect evidence). Its second aim is to explore the theological and ecclesiological interpretations of 1 John 5:6-8 from the second through fourth centuries, in which the CJ could have been created. Chapter 1 reviews the history of scholarship on the CJ and the interpretations of 1 John 5 in contemporary Johannine scholarship. Chapter 2 discusses the methodological shift in contemporary text-critical scholarship that enabled the new perspective to appreciate the variant readings. Against the historical background, data, and evidence presented in Chapter 3, in Chapter 4, we reconstruct the transmission history of the CJ text from the seventh through the thirteenth centuries, mainly in the Spanish Latin Bible tradition. The Spanish Vulgate Bible is a mixture of the Old Latin biblical text, particularly in the Catholic Epistles, which also retain variant readings, including the CJ text. The earliest evidence—VL 64 and VL 67—exhibit the transition from North Africa to Visigothic Spain, preserving the seventh-century “Isidorian Renaissance.” The Spanish Latin Bible traditions—Codex Cavensis, Codex Toletanus, and Complutensis primus—all preserve the CJ text while formulating independent recensions. Outside Spain, Théodulf of Orleans, a Visigothic Spaniard, brought a Spanish Vulgate tradition to Charlemagne’s court; thus, Théodulf’s Mesmes Bible (ΘM) preserves the CJ in the textline, with a variant replacing uerbum with filius. Meanwhile, in Switzerland, St. Gall MSS—Cod. Sang 907 (Winithar) and Cod. Sang 83 (Hartmut)—also retain the CJ, along with some Spanish-type paratextual components. In ninth-century Spain and beyond, the Lesionensis group MSS (VL 91, 94, and 95) attest to another endpoint of the CJ’s journey. In addition, VL 95 affirms the date of the inversion of in terra and in caelo to the twelfth or thirteenth century (together with the second hand of VL 54). The CJ text, therefore, survived in the soil of Spanish cultural orbit, where the Vulgate text (mixed with the Old Latin readings) was received and survived. Simultaneously, the study reveals high levels of textual circulation and interregional cultural communication in North Africa, Spain, Gaul, and beyond. In Chapter 5, we examine the indirect evidence, focusing on Priscillian of Avila. While we rehabilitate Priscillian’s citation of the CJ, the earliest and most extended surviving indirect witness, as one recension in Spain, our examination of the indirect evidence also shows that there are at least three receptions of the CJ—(1) the terrestrial witness (in terra), a simple addition to the three witnesses in v.7a; (2) the celestial witness (in caelo), a further addition in v.8a, pointing to the trinitarian “heavenly witnesses,” and (3) a combination, which is the CJ properly so-called and eventually attested in the Vulgate. Finally, in Chapter 6, we explore the patristic interpretations of 1 John 5:6-8 (and John 19:34), which are laden with sacramental and ecclesiological connotations. In the second and third centuries, Tertullian, Cyprian, and Ps.-Cyprian expounded the baptismal interpretation with 1 John 5:6-8, and in the fourth century, Ambrose and Augustine crystalized trinitarian interpretations. Ambrose emphasized the divinity of the Spirit as the heavenly efficacy of the baptismal sacrament, which differentiated the invisible and visible realia of the sacraments. Augustine further developed his trinitarian interpretation of 1 John 5:6-8, grounded in incarnational theology of the Johannine turn; “the three” (tres) thus became the “signs” (signa) of the divine mystery of the Trinity. The CJ text could be another attempt to elucidate the crux interpretationis of 1 John 5:6-8. Exploring the patristic interpretations of these passages revealed the significance of the “lived life” of early Christian communities, which contemporary scholarship has somewhat devalued. This study thus reveals a forgotten sociocultural and religious history along with a journey of the CJ text. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

In 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called St. Augustine, Florida, the most racist city in America. The resulting demonstrations and violence in the summer of 1964 only confirmed King’s characterization of the city. Yet, St. Augustine’s black history has its origins with the Spanish who founded the city in 1565. With little racial disturbance until the modern civil rights movement, why did St. Augustine erupt in the way it did? With the beginnings of Jim Crow in Florida around the turn of the century in 1900, St. Augustine’s black community began to resist the growing marginalization of their community. Within the confines of the predominantly black neighborhood known as Lincolnville, the black community carved out their own space with a culture, society and economy of its own. This paper explores how the African American community within St. Augustine developed a racial solidarity and identity facing a number of events within the state and nation. Two world wars placed the community’s sons on the front lines of battle but taught them to value of fighting for equality. The Great Depression forced African Americans across the South to rely upon one another in the face of rising racial violence. Florida’s racial violence cast a dark shadow over the history of the state and remained a formidable obstacle to overcome for African Americans in the fight for equal rights in the state. Although faced with few instances of violence against them, African Americans in St. Augustine remained fully aware of the violence others faced in Florida communities like Rosewood, Ocoee and Marianna. St. Augustine’s African American community faced these obstacles and learned to look inward for support and empowerment rather than outside. This paper examines the factors that vii encouraged this empowerment that translates into activism during the local civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Two literary conversion narratives with much historical detail, are compared in this thesis: the Confessiones written by the renowned fourth century church-father, St. Augustine, and Surprised by Joy written by the twentieth century writer and scholar, C.S. Lewis. In order to understand St. Augustine's conversion to the Christian faith, Christian religion as a social phenomenon in the Ancient World is discussed. As background for the discussion and comparison of the two conversion narratives, a brief biography is given of St. Augustine and of Lewis, as well as a description of each one's course of conversion. The research is structured In terms of beacons that St. Augustine identified during the course of his conversion: people who played a significant role, events that influenced his life, and inner conflict that spurred him on his way. By means of an analysis regarding theme and content, it is shown that there are clear similarities between the beacons identified by Augustine and Lewis in their conversion narratives. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie tesis word twee literêre bekeringsverhale waarin die historiese werklikheid deur die skrywers weergegee word, met mekaar vergelyk: die Confessiones van die vierde eeuse kerkvader Augustinus, en Surprised by Joy van die twintigste eeuse skrywer en geleerde C.S. Lewis. Om Augustinus se bekeringsverhaal histories te kan plaas teen die agtergrond waarin hy geleef en tot bekering gekom het, word 'n uiteensetting gegee van die Christelike godsdiens as 'n sosiale fenomeen in die Antieke Wêreld. 'n Kort lewensbeskrywing van Augustinus en Lewis en 'n oorsig van die weg wat elkeen se bekering gevolg het, dien as agtergrond vir die bespreking en vergelyking van die twee bekeringsverhale. Die navorsing word gestruktureer aan die hand van bakens wat Augustinus op sy bekeringsweg uitgelig het: persone wat 'n beduidende rol gespeel het, gebeure wat hom beïnvloed het, innerlike konflik wat hom voortgedryf het. Die tesis toon deur 'n analise op grond van inhoud en tematiek aan dat daar duidelike ooreenkomste is tussen die bakens op Augustinus se bekeringsweg en dié op Lewis se bekeringsweg.

This dissertation addresses forgiveness as a philosophical matter, understanding that whenever forgiveness happens (or even when it is talked about) unnoticed theories of selfhood and time are at play. To bring these unobserved models of time and the self to the fore, this study explores a series of commonalities and divergences in some selected works by Augustine, Kierkegaard, and Arendt. In these texts, forgiveness is understood as the gathering of a self that is scattered in time (Augustine), as present participation in an earlier redemptive moment (Kierkegaard), or as an event that resists the otherwise rectilinear, death-oriented course of human life (Arendt).Why has forgiveness been mostly ignored in Western philosophy? What does this omission reveal about Western thought? Contemporary authors have argued for the (imperative) need to (re)think what forgiveness is, the conditions under which it (supposedly) occurs, and its relation to justice, since the inexpiable events of the past and present centuries maintain forgiveness an unresolved question. This study rests on a fundamental intuition: that for forgiveness to pass in history nothing must be passed from the one who forgives to the one who is forgiven. To support this claim, I undertake close readings of Augustine’s Confessions, Kierkegaard’s Works of Love, and Arendt’s The Human Condition. In these works, forgiveness is understood as a paradox —it must be contained to be given (Augustine), granted-yet-not-granted (Kierkegaard), and forgotten the moment it is given, as if never given at all (Arendt). Can forgiveness be thought of as a hidden existential capacity, and not as a magnanimous display of mercy? Can we imagine forgiveness as undoing the transgression we see, and secretly engaging with the invisible?