The Confessions of St. Augustine is widely regarded as one of the ‘classic texts’ of Christian theological history. In this unit, students will undertake a close, guided reading of the book in its entirety. Confessions will be contextualized with respect to Augustine’s own theological, social, and political influences, and students will be familiarized with the ways in which this text has been received by – and incorporated into the works of – later theological, and non-theological, writers. Finally, students will engage with the interpretive dilemmas of how to use biography as a source for theological construction.
Unit code: CT9510T
Unit status: Approved (New unit)
Points: 24.0
Unit level: Postgraduate Elective
Unit discipline: Systematic Theology
Delivery Mode: Face to Face
Proposing College: Trinity College Theological School
Show when this unit is running| 1. | Situate Augustine of Hippo in his historical, theological, and political context |
| 2. | Discuss the notion of Confessions as ‘literary prayer’ |
| 3. | Critically evaluate the influence of Confessions on later theological (and non-theological) writers |
| 4. | Identify key motifs for interpreting Augustine’s Confessions |
| 5. | Critique the usefulness of biography for the constructive task of theology |
Prerequisites: one foundational unit of CT
Participation in this unit assumes some knowledge of basic theological concepts as well as some understanding of the various ways theology and ethics intersect. Students will build on this foundational knowledge through exposure to a ground-breaking primary text in theological history, and by the opportunity to explore the innovations and challenges that emerged from the text in the context of a facilitated close reading.
Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, trans. Sarah Rudden, (New York: The Modern Library, 2017).
Virginia Burrus, Mark Jordan and Karmen Mackendrick, Seducing Augustine: Bodies, Desires, Confessions, (New York: Fordham University Press, 2010).
John D. Caputo and Michael Scanlon (eds), Augustine and Postmodernism: Confessions and Circumfession, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005).
Gillian Clark, Augustine: The Confessions, (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2005).
Therese Fuhrer, ‘Augustine’s Moulding of the Manichaean Idea of God in the Confessions’, in Vigiliae Christianae, 67 (2013), 531-547.
William Harmless (ed), Augustine in His Own Words, (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2010).
Andrés G. Niño, ‘Formative Practices in Augustine’s Confessions’, in Studies in Spirituality, 21 (2011), 149-192.
James Wetzel, Augustine: A Guide for the Perplexed, (London: Continuum, 2010).
Matthew Wilcoxen, ‘Augustine’s Theology of Time: A Trinitarian Reassessment of Confessions 11’, in The Heythrop Journal, 57.4 (2016), 666-677.
Gary Wills, Augustine’s Confessions: A biography, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011).
| Type | Description | Word count | Weight (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tutorial Paper/Seminar Paper - Addressing one of the 13 chapters of the book | 1000 | 25.0 | |
| Document Study - Documentary analysis of a selected chapter (different to that chosen for the seminar) | 2000 | 30.0 | |
| Essay - Research Essay | 4000 | 45.0 |
Unit approved for the University of Divinity by Maggie Kappelhoff on 6 Oct, 2020
Unit record last updated: 2020-10-06 16:09:56 +1100