The intention of this study is to investigate the role St. Augustine has contributed as a North African Church Historian. In order to archive the intention of this study one of the most significant works that Augustine wrote the City of God is going to be used as a literature review. The City of God is originally written to defend the church against charges of being responsible for the destruction of the city of Rome in 410 CE; the City of God has come to stand as a monument to theological reflection on the history of God’s creation. Though not primarily a historian, Augustine has made a significant contribution to the study of Christian history. He raises scripture to become the source of the meaning of history and defines the only true history as sacred history. This study considers Augustine’s critique of the Church catholic, the meaning of history, the origins of the City of God, Augustine’s views on the philosophy and theology history and the prophetic nature of biblical history. The first part of the study will trace the early life struggle of Augustine in his quest for knowledge and the truth. He learnt rhetoric studies; he examined the Holy Scriptures and found them unworthy. Then he was a follower of the Manicheans, but he was disillusioned when he met their sophistical leader Faustus. Finally, bishop Ambrose of Milan in his allegorical interpretation and explanation of scripture and the influence of Christian Neoplatonism helped Augustine to find an approach to the Bible and to overcome his difficulties with his childhood religion. Ambrose led him to the verge of conversion. Augustine’s impact on Reformation is considered. He is a father of the Church who has exerted an unparalleled influence on more than the thousand years that separated him from the birth of Protestant churches, but that long period is not an empty space because his historical work was influential throughout this period. In a movement to renew and reform the Church the various Reformers of the sixteenth century like Martin Luther and John Calvin studied Augustine in order to challenge abuses within the Catholic Church. The influence and the legacy that Augustine had on other people is discussed as the final conclusion of the study. The ideas, which he phrased with great skill, were to be accepted by almost all the leading thinkers of Europe until after the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. Augustine had made much of being the Catholic bishop of Hippo. / Dissertation (MTh (Church History))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Church History and Church Policy / unrestricted

The intention of this study is to investigate the role St. Augustine has contributed as a North African Church Historian. In order to archive the intention of this study one of the most significant works that Augustine wrote the City of God is going to be used as a literature review. The City of God is originally written to defend the church against charges of being responsible for the destruction of the city of Rome in 410 CE; the City of God has come to stand as a monument to theological reflection on the history of God’s creation. Though not primarily a historian, Augustine has made a significant contribution to the study of Christian history. He raises scripture to become the source of the meaning of history and defines the only true history as sacred history. This study considers Augustine’s critique of the Church catholic, the meaning of history, the origins of the City of God, Augustine’s views on the philosophy and theology history and the prophetic nature of biblical history. The first part of the study will trace the early life struggle of Augustine in his quest for knowledge and the truth. He learnt rhetoric studies; he examined the Holy Scriptures and found them unworthy. Then he was a follower of the Manicheans, but he was disillusioned when he met their sophistical leader Faustus. Finally, bishop Ambrose of Milan in his allegorical interpretation and explanation of scripture and the influence of Christian Neoplatonism helped Augustine to find an approach to the Bible and to overcome his difficulties with his childhood religion. Ambrose led him to the verge of conversion. Augustine’s impact on Reformation is considered. He is a father of the Church who has exerted an unparalleled influence on more than the thousand years that separated him from the birth of Protestant churches, but that long period is not an empty space because his historical work was influential throughout this period. In a movement to renew and reform the Church the various Reformers of the sixteenth century like Martin Luther and John Calvin studied Augustine in order to challenge abuses within the Catholic Church. The influence and the legacy that Augustine had on other people is discussed as the final conclusion of the study. The ideas, which he phrased with great skill, were to be accepted by almost all the leading thinkers of Europe until after the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. Augustine had made much of being the Catholic bishop of Hippo. / Dissertation (MTh)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Church History and Church Policy / MTh / Unrestricted

History / M.A. (History)

No description available.

History / M.A. (History)

The study is going to analyse Ambrose's treatise De paenitentia and evaluate its importance for the theology of penance. After presenting the evolution of the practice of penance in early Church till 4th century, especially in West and with focus on the Novatian crisis as a milestone, the study is further dealing with Ambrose of Milan's personality and works, namely with his treatise De paenitentia; not only in the context of the contemporary polemics with Novatian heresy, but mainly as a first formalized and structured theology which will be later developed into the understanding of penance as one of the Church's sacraments. Keywords Ambrose of Milan, Church Fathers, 4th century, Novatian, sin, penance, repentance

This thesis has two aims. Firstly, in order to answer the question, ‘In what sense do people see Mary as a type of the Church?’, this thesis will set up original typological models of the relationship between Mary and the Church (chapter 1). It will then demonstrate how and why an eschatological element came to be present in these models (chapter 2).It will be a contention of this thesis that looking at the Mario-ecclesial discussions set out in chapters 3 and 4 through these typological models will allow a greater depth of analysis. The models allow one to discern differences between and nuances in various views of the relationship between Mary and the Church that would be impossible to discern if one were using just the language of ‘type’. Secondly the thesis will show how each Mario-ecclesial discussion has been affected by the socio-political context of the time. Specifically, the thesis will analyse the Mario-ecclesial discussions of the patristic, medieval and modern periods in the light of the typological models. In chapter 1, the patristic Mario-ecclesiologies of Irenaeus and Ambrose will be considered. In chapter 2, Bernard of Clairvaux will be used to analyse the eschatological nature of the Mario-ecclesiology in the medieval period. In chapter 3, the contrasting Mario-ecclesiologies of the Second Vatican Council and Hans Urs von Balthasar will be compared. In chapter 4, it will be suggested that John Paul’s model of the Mario-ecclesial relationship was based on his eschatological vision for the Church and the role that Mary plays in that future which is both imminent and already realised. This thesis will demonstrate that by using the typological models in these periods a greater depth of analysis can be achieved. This will be particularly true of the complex and nuanced discussions on Mary in the Roman Catholic Church in the twentieth century. This analysis will culminate in the particular Mariology of John Paul II.

L’expression idéologique du pouvoir impérial romain au IVe siècle apr. J.-C. fut profondément marquée par les contextes religieux, culturel et littéraire dans lesquels elle s’inséra et dans lesquels coexistèrent deux religions et donc deux systèmes différents de pensée et de représentation du monde, soit le paganisme, religion traditionnelle de l’État romain, et le christianisme, religion émergente qui s’imposa de plus en plus dans l’Empire, notamment à partir du règne de Constantin. Cette trame de fond, loin de signifier à cette époque la fin totale du paganisme – comme il a longtemps été admis – au profit de la religion chrétienne qui entretint, grâce au support impérial, une relation nouvelle avec le pouvoir politique, modela de nouveaux critères d’exercice du pouvoir et des conceptions de l’idéal impérial qui s’exprimèrent dans les discours d’éloge destinés à l’empereur. Miroir du prince et moyen de communication entre ce dernier et l’élite, les éloges d’Ambroise de Milan et de Symmaque s’insérèrent dans le débat politique de leur temps en élaborant un archétype de l’empereur et en déterminant ses devoirs. Pour mesurer toute l’ampleur de la symbolique véhiculée dans de tels discours, il importe, pour le IVe siècle, de considérer la mentalité des auteurs, chrétiens et païens, d’où émanaient les éloges – ou encore les critiques – de la personne impériale. Ce mémoire propose ainsi d’analyser l’idéologie du pouvoir impérial selon les discours chrétien et païen, à travers les éloges d’Ambroise et de Symmaque, afin de relever les points de rencontre, d’influence ou de divergence entre ces représentations du monde et, plus spécifiquement, du pouvoir impérial, qui ont longtemps été considérées comme totalement opposées et incompatibles. / The ideological expression of Roman Imperial power in the fourth century AD was profoundly marked by the religious, cultural and literary contexts of which it was a part, and within which two religions, and thus two different systems of thought and of representation of the world, co-existed: paganism, the traditional cult of the Roman state, and Christianity, increasingly ascendant throughout the Empire beginning notably during the reign of Constantine. Contrary to the long-held view, this framework, far from signifying a complete end to paganism to the benefit of the Christian religion (which, with Imperial support, engaged in a new relationship with political power), in fact conditioned new criteria for the exercise of power and for the conceptions of the Imperial ideal expressed in the panegyric discourse directed at the Emperor. As mirrors of the prince and means of communication between him and the elite, the encomia of Ambrose and Symmachus became part of the political debate of their time, constructing an archetype of the Emperor and determining his duties. To gauge the full scope of the symbolism conveyed by such discourse, it is important, with regard to the fourth century AD, to consider the mentalities of the authors, both Christian and pagan, who praised—as well as criticized—the Imperial person. In analyzing the ideology of Imperial power according to the Christian and pagan discourses through the encomia of Ambrose and Symmachus, the author seeks to discern points of contact, influence or divergence between these representations of the world—and, more specifically, of Imperial power—which have long been viewed as entirely antithetical and incompatible.

L’expression idéologique du pouvoir impérial romain au IVe siècle apr. J.-C. fut profondément marquée par les contextes religieux, culturel et littéraire dans lesquels elle s’inséra et dans lesquels coexistèrent deux religions et donc deux systèmes différents de pensée et de représentation du monde, soit le paganisme, religion traditionnelle de l’État romain, et le christianisme, religion émergente qui s’imposa de plus en plus dans l’Empire, notamment à partir du règne de Constantin. Cette trame de fond, loin de signifier à cette époque la fin totale du paganisme – comme il a longtemps été admis – au profit de la religion chrétienne qui entretint, grâce au support impérial, une relation nouvelle avec le pouvoir politique, modela de nouveaux critères d’exercice du pouvoir et des conceptions de l’idéal impérial qui s’exprimèrent dans les discours d’éloge destinés à l’empereur. Miroir du prince et moyen de communication entre ce dernier et l’élite, les éloges d’Ambroise de Milan et de Symmaque s’insérèrent dans le débat politique de leur temps en élaborant un archétype de l’empereur et en déterminant ses devoirs. Pour mesurer toute l’ampleur de la symbolique véhiculée dans de tels discours, il importe, pour le IVe siècle, de considérer la mentalité des auteurs, chrétiens et païens, d’où émanaient les éloges – ou encore les critiques – de la personne impériale. Ce mémoire propose ainsi d’analyser l’idéologie du pouvoir impérial selon les discours chrétien et païen, à travers les éloges d’Ambroise et de Symmaque, afin de relever les points de rencontre, d’influence ou de divergence entre ces représentations du monde et, plus spécifiquement, du pouvoir impérial, qui ont longtemps été considérées comme totalement opposées et incompatibles. / The ideological expression of Roman Imperial power in the fourth century AD was profoundly marked by the religious, cultural and literary contexts of which it was a part, and within which two religions, and thus two different systems of thought and of representation of the world, co-existed: paganism, the traditional cult of the Roman state, and Christianity, increasingly ascendant throughout the Empire beginning notably during the reign of Constantine. Contrary to the long-held view, this framework, far from signifying a complete end to paganism to the benefit of the Christian religion (which, with Imperial support, engaged in a new relationship with political power), in fact conditioned new criteria for the exercise of power and for the conceptions of the Imperial ideal expressed in the panegyric discourse directed at the Emperor. As mirrors of the prince and means of communication between him and the elite, the encomia of Ambrose and Symmachus became part of the political debate of their time, constructing an archetype of the Emperor and determining his duties. To gauge the full scope of the symbolism conveyed by such discourse, it is important, with regard to the fourth century AD, to consider the mentalities of the authors, both Christian and pagan, who praised—as well as criticized—the Imperial person. In analyzing the ideology of Imperial power according to the Christian and pagan discourses through the encomia of Ambrose and Symmachus, the author seeks to discern points of contact, influence or divergence between these representations of the world—and, more specifically, of Imperial power—which have long been viewed as entirely antithetical and incompatible.

[pt] A revalorização da Sagrada Escritura na celebração litúrgica foi uma das grandes conquistas no tocante à reforma dos ritos promovida pelo Concílio Vaticano II. A partir desse evento, tanto o Magistério como a reflexão teológica amadureceram essa temática, inclusive rumando para uma perspectiva da Palavra de Deus sob a ótica da sua sacramentalidade nas ações litúrgicas. A presente tese, então, inicia-se com esta abordagem suscitada pelas intuições da Constituição Sacrosanctum Concilium. Em vista de aprofundar o tema da sacramentalidade da Palavra, o estudo em questão recorre à teologia patrística, mais precisamente, a de Ambrósio de Milão, com enfoque nas suas duas renomadas obras mistagógicas: De Sacramentis e De Mysteriis. Nelas, há o recurso à tipologia bíblica, cuja finalidade é conduzir os neófitos à experiência do mysterium. O método tipológico de Ambrósio procura demonstrar aos recém-batizados que a palavra eficaz de Deus, manifestada na história salvífica, continua realizando sua missão de resgatar a humanidade. À luz das instruções pós-batismais de Ambrósio, a pesquisa buscou encontrar elementos teológico-pastorais em relação à sacramentalidade da Palavra de Deus nas celebrações litúrgicas. A pregação mistagógica de Ambrósio, com efeito, se revela profundamente atual e se apresenta hoje como fonte de inspiração para que as nossas comunidades – ainda em processo de recepção das propostas do Concílio – façam a experiência litúrgico-assembleal das Escrituras. A contribuição ambrosiana, nesse sentido, tem a potência de fazer com que os cristãos descubram a eficácia salvífica da Palavra proclamada nas celebrações da Igreja e se tornem capazes de responder a essa mesma Palavra no culto e na vida. / [en] The revaluation of Holy Scripture in the liturgical celebration was one of the great achievements regarding the reform of the rites promoted by the Second Vatican Council. From this event, both the Magisterium and theological reflection have matured this theme, including moving towards a perspective of the Word of God from the viewpoint of his sacramentality in liturgical actions. The present thesis then begins with this approach raised by the intuitions of the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium. In order to deepen the theme of the sacramentality of the Word, the study in question uses patristic theology, more precisely, that of Ambrose of Milan, focusing on its two renowned mystagogical works: De Sacramentis and De Mysteriis. In them, there is the use of biblical typology, whose purpose is to lead the neophytes to the mysterium experience. Ambrose s typological method seeks to demonstrate to newly baptized that God s effective word manifested in saving history continues to fulfill its mission of redeeming humanity. In light of Ambrose s post-baptismal instructions, the research sought to find theological-pastoral elements in relation to the sacramentality of the Word of God in liturgical celebrations. Ambrose s mystagogical preaching, in fact, is profoundly current and is today a source of inspiration for our communities – still in the process of receiving the Council s proposals – to make the liturgicalassembly experience of Scripture. The ambrosian contribution, in this sense, has the power to make christians discover the salvific efficacy of the Word proclaimed in the celebrations of the Church and to be able to respond to that same Word in worship and life.