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121. Augustinianum: Volume > 53 > Issue: 2
Tito Orlandi The Turin Coptic Papyri
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The collection of Coptic literary papyri of the Egyptian Museum of Turin is one of the most important in the world, if not for the number of codices, certainly for their contribution to the knowledge of Coptic literature and codicology. This paper makes an exhaustive list of the codices and of the works that they contain, with reference to their publication, especially that of Francesco Rossi (late XIX century), who could read more than is visible today. The tables provided are useful because the papyri have been set in different order (with their new call number), after Rossi’s publication.
122. Augustinianum: Volume > 54 > Issue: 1
Gerald Boersma Participation in Christ: Psalm 118 in Ambrose and Augustine
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As bishops, both Augustine and Ambrose wrote sermons on Psalm 118 (119) towards the end of their lives. This article puts these two exegetical works in dialogue with each other by focusing on the common theological theme of participation operative in both commentaries. I argue that both Ambrose and Augustine present a Christological account of participation which functions as the basis of their respective ecclesiologies. Within this overarching Christological framework, the article notes that Ambrose grounds participation in the imago Dei, whereas Augustine’s takes his starting point from the grace Christ offers through the incarnation.
123. Augustinianum: Volume > 54 > Issue: 1
Ilaria L.E. Ramelli The Jesus Movement’s flight to Pella and the “Parting of the Ways”
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After a contextualisation concerning Pella in the Roman Decapolis and the Decapolis itself as the theatre of Jesus’ teaching, this essay analyses the question of the flight of many members of the Jesus movement to Pella during the conflict with the Romans in the Jewish War. I shall evaluate Eusebius’s piece of information and shall endeavour to connect it to the larger issue of the so-called “parting of the ways” between the Jesus movement (what became Christianity) and Judaism – or the construal of this “parting of ways” by early Christian authors. Special attention will be paid to some recent hypotheses and discoveries regarding the “parting of the ways”, which seem to reinforce my argument concerning the overall accuracy of Eusebius’s account of the flight to Pella and the probable role of the Romans in this move and in the “parting of the ways” itself.
124. Augustinianum: Volume > 54 > Issue: 2
Stuart Squires Augustine’s changing Thought on Sinlessness
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This article explores Augustine’s response to the Pelagians who claimed that if one truly desired to be sinless, one could be. The standard scholarly view, as articulated by Gerald Bonner, was that Augustine’s thought during the Pelagian controversy did not change over time. However, Augustine’s thoughts on sinlessness changed over a very brief period of time. He initially admits the possibility that, through grace, some may not have sinned (in De peccatorum meritis et remissione et De baptismo parvulorum); he later retracts this view (in De perfectione iustitiae hominis), only to assert in De gestis Pelagii that he unsure. Finally, he returns to his original position (citing the canons of the Council of Carthage of 418, and arguing that all have sinned).
125. Augustinianum: Volume > 54 > Issue: 2
Joost Van Neer Structure and Argument in Augustine’s Nativity Sermon 188
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A thread runs through Augustine’s s. 188 that first moves from the spiritual realm via the physical realm to man, and then from man via the physical realm to the spiritual realm. This descending and ascending movement is a perfect depiction of God’s plan with man, which is to become humble himself in order to exalt man. The traditional division of s. 188 ignores the high level of symmetry that one finds in the sermon, and consequently obscures its splendid balance. It is not a help to the reader, but an obstacle. This article has therefore proposed a different solution: a division in three parts.
126. Augustinianum: Volume > 55 > Issue: 1
Dan Batovici Hermas’ Authority in Irenaeus’ Works: A Reassessment
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Irenaeus of Lyon is a landmark in the reception history of the Shepherd of Hermas, as he seems to consider it scriptural, while being the earliest author to quote its text. The present article reconsiders the presence of the Shepherd of Hermas in the works of Irenaeus of Lyon, offering a fresh assessment of the rather differing stances on the matter in modern scholarship and some new considerations, with relevance for better understanding the circulation, function and use of authoritative texts in early Christianity.
127. Augustinianum: Volume > 55 > Issue: 1
Geoffrey D. Dunn Life in the cemetery: Boniface I and the catacomb of Maximus
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Liber pontificalis records that, during the disputed Roman episcopal election, which started at the end of 418 and lasted several months, between Eulalius and Boniface, the latter took up residence in the cemetery of Felicity when the two candidates were expelled from the city. It also records Boniface, after his ultimate victory as legitimate bishop, refurbishing this cemetery and eventually being buried there. Although Liber pontificalis is wrong on a number of points withregard to the disputed election, as revealed through letters preserved in the Collectio Avellana, there is no reason to doubt Boniface’s attraction to this martyrial complex on the via Salaria nova. This paper considers the catacomb and Boniface’s connection with it in the context of what we know about Roman episcopalburials of the early fifth century.
128. Augustinianum: Volume > 55 > Issue: 1
Mauricio Saavedra Monroy A Note Regarding the Status of Investigations in Asiatic Theology
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In the region of Asia Minor and above all in Smyrna up to the third and fourth centuries the tension between Jews and Christians is palpable. In the Martyrdom of Polycarp and in the Martyrdom of Pionius, it is clear that the social ascendency of Judaism in Smyrna was exploited on various occasions until it became a co-protagonist in the persecution against the Christians. Despite the gradual separation and differentiation between Jews and Christians, both the New Testament and subsequent Christian literature in Smyrna report that no self-understanding of Christianity in relation to its deepest roots escaped its necessary confrontation with Judaism.
129. Augustinianum: Volume > 55 > Issue: 2
Carmen Angela Cvetković Memory, Language, and the Making of Truth: Towards an Hermeneutic of Augustine’s Conversion Narrative
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For over a century modern scholars have passionately debated whether Augustine’s conversion narrative from Confessions 8 is an accurate description of what ‘has really happened’ in 386 in a garden in Milan without reaching so far a consensus. However, long before modern scholars disputed the historicity of his conversion account Augustine was already confronted with the mistrust of his contemporaries who doubted the authenticity of his conversion and compelled to deal with their accusations. This article intends to show how in the Confessions Augustine defends the truth of his narrative while admitting to his incredulous readers his inability to offer an exact picture of his past life, by looking at his views on memory, language and cognition, as presented mainly in the last non-narrative books of this work.
130. Augustinianum: Volume > 55 > Issue: 2
Hubertus R. Drobner Newly identified Augustinian and Pseudo-Augustinian Texts in Manuscripts of Bodleian Library, Oxford
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The article presents 111 newly-identified texts in manuscripts of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, which had hitherto all been attributed to Augustine of Hippo. Only thirty of them, however, proved to be authentic, fifty originate from works of other patristic and medieval authors, while thirty-one remain anonymous. Especially remarkable is the identification of two fragments from the new letters of St Augustine discovered by Johannes Divjak in Paris and Marseille, which predate the two manuscripts of his edition. These results complement the catalogues on the manuscript transmission of Augustine’s works compiled by the Vienna Academy and continue the Author’s earlier publications on manuscripts in Germany, Great Britain, Poland, Spain, and Sweden.
131. Augustinianum: Volume > 55 > Issue: 2
Angelo Di Berardino Women and Spread of Christianity in the first centuries
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Two topics already studied to a sufficient extent are the spread of Christianity in the first centuries and the ministry of women in the early Church. This article focuses, however, on the contribution of women in making known the faith and Christian life in the context of everyday life. Some apostles were married and traveled together with their wives, who in turn spoke of their life with those with whom they came in contact. In this sense we may speak possibly of a ‘family’ apostolate. In the second and third centuries this mission took place especially inside their families among their husbands and children. Then, as now, grandmothers and mothers were the vehicles of transmission of the Christian faith, in as much as they taught to the children their first prayers and the foundational elements of the faith.
132. Augustinianum: Volume > 55 > Issue: 2
Lydia Petridou, Christos Terezis George Pachymeres’ Gnoseological System And His Inductive Method in the Paraphrase of De Divinis Nominibus of Dionysius the Areopagite
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This study deals both with the gnoseological system of the byzantine theologian George Pachymeres, which is constructed on the methods of the affirmative, negative and superlative theology and the inductive method that he follows at his Paraphrase of De divinus nominibus of Dionysius the Areopagite, in order general conclusions on causality to be expressed. In the context of a consistent ontological monism, G. Pachymeres, without violating the epistemological approach of the Supreme Principle as Unknown, categorizes the sensible facts according to the similarities and the differences between them, so as to present God as the only cause of the produced world.
133. Augustinianum: Volume > 55 > Issue: 2
Sydney Sadowski A Critical Look and Evaluation of Augustine’s De haeresibus
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Today’s scholarship has paid little attention to the work of St. Augustine titled De Haeresibus ad Quodvultdeum. The following article will discuss the work itself in a couple of ways, first, by deciphering the sources used by Augustine and his definition of heresy; secondly, by categorizing the heresies in a way that is both understandable to the modern mind and consistent with current Catholic terminology, so that the language of the current century can be employed to describe and categorize heresies from the fifth century.
134. Augustinianum: Volume > 56 > Issue: 1
Edwina Murphy Cyprian’s Use of Philippians: To live is Christ and to die is gain
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Cyprian’s appropriation of Scripture and his theological emphases are closely connected with the circumstances of his congregation. As a case study in Cyprian’s biblical interpretation, this article considers all his quotations of and allusions to Philippians through the lens of his pastoral concerns: the unity of the Church; care for the poor and captive; discipline and repentance; and divine truth and eternal glory. The reading strategies Cyprian uses can be categorized as contextual exegesis, model, image, direct application, and prophetic fulfilment. The study provides a fresh perspective on patronage and almsgiving in Cyprian, deepens our understanding of the reception of Paul, and elucidates the interplay of text, context and theology in an important exponent of early Latin exegesis.
135. Augustinianum: Volume > 56 > Issue: 2
Francesco Berno Rethinking Valentinianism: Some Remarks on the Tripartite Tractate, with special reference to Plotinus’ Enneads II, 9
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This paper analyses an important Valentinian source, the Tractatus Tripartitus, the last work in the so-called Codex Jung. The main aim of the article is to provide a reading of the text as a whole, high-lighting how the Tractatus Tripartitus might be understood as an attempt to remove the apocalyptic matrix of Valentinian theology. Finally, several essential features of the work are compared with the well-known charges brought against the Gnostics by Plotinus, investigating the possibility of an actual historical relationship between the Tripartite Tractate and the ninth essay of the second Ennead.
136. Augustinianum: Volume > 56 > Issue: 2
Accepta Opera
137. Augustinianum: Volume > 56 > Issue: 2
Index Voluminis LVI
138. Augustinianum: Volume > 57 > Issue: 1
Joost van Neer Esau and Jacob (Sermon 4): Augustine’s Solution to an “Insoluble” Problem
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Augustine’s Sermon 4 on Esau and Jacob is long (860 lines) and consists of a complex division in 37 chapters. This division makes it difficult to identify quickly and easily the rhetorical arrangement which must have been an important factor in making this sermon a success in the context of Augustine’s struggle against Donatism. This same division has been handed down through the centuries. Once the existing, complex division into 37 chapters is relinquished, it is possible, on the basis of linguistic and Scriptural indications, to establish the existence of a new, simple division into 3 parts. A frame exists in these three parts that runs from creation (Gen. 1) to judgement (Mt. 25), in which Augustine discusses the stories of (the blessings of) Esau and Jacob (Gen. 25 and 27) in the context of the absence or presence of love (for which he employs 1 Cor. 13). Seen from this perspective, Esau represents the bad people who consciously permit themselves to be separated from the Church through the absence of love (a reference to the Donatist schism), while Jacob stands for the good people, who highlight the unity of the Church by availing themselves of love: by not acting on their own authority and expelling sinners, but by leaving judgement to God and by accepting them lovingly. The new division clearly reveals this message.
139. Augustinianum: Volume > 57 > Issue: 2
Angelo Di Berardino The Historical Geography of Asia Minor at the Time of Paul and Thecla: The Roman Provinces and the means of Communication
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The Apostle Paul exercised his ministry in the Roman provinces of Galatia and Asia. An unknown presbyter of the second century wrote the Acts of Paul. An important part of this text consists of the Acts of Paul and Thecla. Although sometimes these Acts circulated as a separate text, they recount the vicissitudes of the virgin Thecla, native of the city of Iconium (the present Konya). The events take place mainly in the cities of Iconium of Licaonia and of Antioch of Pisidia (Yalvaç), two neighboring regions in the heart of Anatolia in the Roman province of southern Galatia. The article intends to offer the historical, geographical, linguistic and cultural background of the Acts of Paul and Thecla of the second half of the second century.
140. Augustinianum: Volume > 57 > Issue: 2
Geoffrey D. Dunn Ecclesiology in Early North African Christianity: The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds
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The Matthean parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matt 13:24-30) appears across the spectrum of writings of early Christians in north Africa. Given that the parable seems to advocate a non-judgemental acceptance of sinners within the community in the present age, while north African Christianity is known for its emphasis on membership purity and the exclusion of sinners, how was this parable handled in that context? This article argues that an author like Tertullian avoided the ecclesiological dimensions of the parable, and that Cyprian never applied the parable so as to reject the excommunication of the lapsed. Tyconius and Optatus made only passing reference to the parable. Augustine found the parable helpful in arguing against the Donatist practice of excommunicating traditores. Contra litteras Petiliani is considered in some detail. Yet even Augustine, who stands outside the north African tradition, believed in the excommunication.