There’s a reason our guests have mentioned Augustine more than any other theologian or philosopher. St Augustine of Hippo was an intellectual giant whose shadow still hangs over Christianity and the Western philosophical tradition. But not everyone loves him. To some, he’s a misogynistic pessimist whose work we’re better off without. So – what’s the truth? It’s finally time for Undeceptions to take a deep dive into Augustine.
Meet our guests
Han-Luen Kantzer Komline is the Marvin and Jerene DeWitt Professor of Theology and Church History at Western Theological Seminary in Michigan. Oxford University Press published her book Augustine on the Will: A Theological Account in 2020.
Order Han-Luen Kantzer Komline’s book on Augustine here.
Kate Cooper is Professor of History at Royal Holloway, University of London, and author of Queens of a Fallen World: The Lost Women of Augustine’s Confessions. She’s published extensively on the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, with a focus on the role of children, adolescents, and women in this turbulent period of history.
Kate Cooper has published loads of fascinating work on Augustine’s period of history. Check out some of her stuff here.
Links
Special thanks to our season sponsor Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions
In this episode, John has an aside to the team on Augustine’s influence on the Enlightenment. The themes he talks about are in part taken from Peter Harris’ book The Fall of Man and the Foundations of Science – get your copy of it here
A transcript of this episode is available here. Please note, that due to software not all exchanges between guests will be completely accurate.
Extras
Check out the helpful links below for more information on what was discussed in this episode.
To Read
- The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is an excellent starting point for all things Augustine
- If you want to get straight into it though, here’s his full Confessions
- Here’s his masterwork City of God
- John Rawls claimed Augustine and with Fyodor Dostoevsky were the two “dark minds” of Western thought. Read about this idea here
- The self-esteem craze has produced loads of interesting – and conflicting – research. Here’s the academic reading The Social Importance of Self Esteem, released in 1989
- However, when it comes to parenting, experts aren’t so sure just repeating self-esteem mantras are effective. Here’s an article from The Atlantic exploring this more
- Here’s a fantastic article in Time Magazine on the influence of Augustine on Western thought
To Watch
- The Breaking the Habit YouTube channel has this wonderful video on Augustine for their ‘Saints You Should Know’ series
- Of course, The School of Life also has a video on him
- There have been many dramatisations of Augustine’s life, including the Italian film Restless Heart: The Confessions of Augustine. Here’s a scene from it – you can decide if you like it or not!
- If all of this has felt a bit … academic, then this cute cartoon on Augustine’s life is a great entry point!
To Listen
- Our former guest Christopher Watkin made the bold claim on the episode Critical Theory that Augustine’s City of God is the first-ever work of … critical theory! Check out the interview here
- In fact, loads of our guests have mentioned St Augustine in past episodes. Check out why his theology influenced the way Christians thought about time
- …. or listen to how his philosophy influenced a whole tradition of wrestling with God (Jesus Philosopher )
- American historian Paul Freedman has this excellent – and dense – lecture about Augustine’s influential Confessions
- BBC got in on the act recently too, doing a podcast on Confessions for their In Our Time show
… and finally
- Got a question for John? Head to our home page and scroll down to the “send us a question” section, and follow the prompts!
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