Module 4: Early Christianity - Augustine of Hippo

As you will read, Augustine by profession taught philosophy, and, prior to his conversion, he was what is called a Manichean philosopher. Even after his conversion, he remained a “neo” (new) Platonist. In some of the selections you will read, you can see him arguing against Manicheanism and for certain aspects of Plato's thinking, re-imagined through Christianity. You might also recognize that Augustine read some of the same Platonic texts you have. Pay attention to those aspects of Platonic philosophy he seems to be accepting, and those he rejects, either implicitly or explicitly. Paul/Saul of Tarsus figures quite predominantly in his writings, too. Note the way Augustine makes use of his words. I joked to a friend once that Paul plus Plato equals Augustine. As you read these selections, think about how and why I might have been led to this conclusion.
You should review the grading and composition expectations prior to submitting your paper to ensure you are meeting all the requirements. Save your paper file with your last name and module number (it should look something like this - champagne_G2_M2.doc)
Please read the requirement for the module and please use the in text citation. Also, please meet all of the requirement for the essay.

Module 4: Early ChristianIn this module we will read writings of one of the fathers of the Christian church, St. Augustine.
Learning Goal
• Discuss themes of sexuality in early Christian writing
• Explore how Augustine's ideas are shaped by both pagan learning and the words of Christian writer Paul of Tarsus. How does Augustine manage to "resolve" the differences between the two? Between paganism and Christianity? How is "re-writing" Plato?
To Do
• Read the online material
• Read Book Eight: Vocation - St. Augustine (library reserve)
• Read Friend's Death - St. Augustine (library reserve)
• Read Sexual Offenses - St. Augustine (library reserve)
To Complete
• Complete the Individual Response Paper or Discussion Post and two responses

Individual Response PapersFor each module, you will be handing in a piece of writing, either a paper or discussion post and response to two other people's posts.
Process
Your paper must quote a passage from one of the readings assigned for that module and then comment upon that passage in some way: interpret it, extend it, refute it, question it, whatever you choose, as long as you are drawing out something in the passage related to the ways in which it philosophizes on the subjects of love and/or sex. Read the passage as carefully as you can, taking into consideration the context from which it is drawn.
The passage you discuss should be roughly the length of a paragraph, and your commentary should at the very least be equivalent in length to the passage you cite. These writing assignments will form the basis of the group module discussion/writing assignment.
Basic Requirements
• The writing assignment must be typed, double-spaced, using 12 point font.
• The assignment must be two to three pages long.
No late assignments will be accepted, period.

The late Roman empire had a complicated relationship to antiquity. On the one hand, Christianity obviously required a degree of rejection of the pagan past. On the other hand, early Christians recognized the value of pagan learning, as well as the political, economic, and artistic accomplishments of Rome's past. For example, the Sibyls, ancient prophetesses of Greece, were by the time of Constantine “adopted" by Christians as prophetesses of Jesus' birth. The city of Rome itself is still impressive today in terms of the evidences it displays of the empire's former greatness. Though some archaeological sites are still hidden under the earth, the ground level having changed from ancient times, many survive in situ today, where they have stood for over a thousand years. Reconciling paganism with Christianity continued into the Renaissance and arguably even today. While ultimately, many Roman temples were destroyed, their columns were often reused in Christian churches. The Pantheon survived precisely because it was converted into a church, which it still is. Part of the gigantic public bath complex named for Diocletian also become a church. The ancient theater of Marcellus (completed in 13 BCE) was converted into apartments; some are reputedly for sale today!
Written in Latin between 397 and 398 and meant chiefly to be read aloud (no printing press yet existed, and many of the people to whom Augustine wanted to speak were themselves illiterate), the Confessions is Augustine's autobiography. The material in quotation marks are references to scripture, both Old and New Testaments. Augustine's mother was a Christian; his father, a pagan. The book narrates his struggle to adopt Christianity. Even in my lifetime, it was considered a bit "racy," one of the West's first "potboilers" (a book or film with sexual content so "hot" it could make a pot of water boil).
Augustine is considered one of the four church fathers. (The other three are Jerome, Ambrose and Gregory.) According to some scholars, his influence on contemporary Christianity cannot be over-stated. He is credited with inventing (or, depending upon one's beliefs concerning Christianity and history, formulating) the concepts of original sin and just war.
NOTE: At one point in the readings, Augustine addresses directly the philosophy called Manichaenism. In order to understand this passage, you may have to do some research on this philosophy. But if you read carefully, you can will see Augustine both re-state certain ideas from Manichaenism and also refute them. (Prior to converting, Augustine was himself, to some degree, a Manichean.)

Augustine of HippoBorn in present day Northern Africa, then a province of the Roman Empire, Augustine lived from 354 to 430. A period generally referred to as late antiquity, this was a turbulent time in Roman history. By the time of Augustine's birth, the Roman empire had been divided in two, East and West, for administrative purposes.
(First in 285 by the Emperor Diocletian.) The emperor Constantine (306-337) issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which guaranteed freedom of religion for Christianity, and Constantine himself was the first Christian emperor, converting to Christianity himself, possibly on his death bed. He also established Constantinople (present day Istanbul) as the new capital of the Eastern empire. (Formerly, it had been Nicomedia. Over time [after 286], the seat of the Western empire also shifted between various cities, including Milan and Rome.)
In 379, Theodosius I became Emperor of the East, reuniting the empire temporarily by also becoming Emperor of the West in 394. He outlawed paganism and made Christianity the official religion of the empire. Rome, the sometime capital of the Latin speaking Western half of the empire, was sacked during Augustine's lifetime, in 410, by invading Visigoths, and Roman Africa was invaded by Vandals in 430, when Augustine was Bishop of Hippo. (Formerly called "barbarians,” these invading peoples were Germanic tribes that settled in Italy, sometimes intermarrying with the Italians, sometimes being accepted by the emperor as Roman citizens, and some even converting to Christianity.) Given that Rome was at this time considered to be one of the "centers” of Christianity, the sacking was particularly traumatic.
The last Western emperor is considered to be Romulus Augustus, who was deposed in 476 by Odoacer, a Germanic soldier. This event was once considered the beginning of the “dark ages” in Western Europe, but this designation is itself prejudiced in that it reflects later assumptions about what constitutes "civilization.” The Greek-speaking Eastern half of the empire, called Byzantium or the Byzantine Empire, survived until 1453, when it was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and became part of their empire. The actual history of the end of antiquity is actually more complex than this suggests, however. For example, the Eastern Emperor Justinian I, who ruled from 527-565, succeeded in retaking parts of the West from the Vandals and Ostrogoths.