In quo inquit, adprehendam Dominum? Plotinian Ascent and Christian Sacrifice in St Augustine’s The City of God 10. 1-7.
Tea and coffee from 15.30 in the Hood Room
Pierre Hadot proposed that philosophical works from antiquity should be approached with the idea of spiritual progress in mind. Even if the work is apparently theoretical or systematic, it was written to allow readers to traverse a certain itinerary which would allow them to make spiritual progress. Studies which have approached the Confessions and De Trinitate with this idea of spiritual progress in mind offer a new understanding of their parallel conceptual and literary structures. A Christian reconfiguration of the Plotinian ascent has been discovered in both works. I want to argue that the same procedure may also be perceived in Augustine’s response to the Platonists in Book 10 of De civitate Dei. Hadot’s approach discloses an unnoticed aspect of his argument about sacrifice in chapters 1-7, where Augustine engages with Platonic accounts of spiritual sacrifice to present his account of the sacrifice offered by Christians.
Date: 17 October 2018, 16:00 (Wednesday, 2nd week, Michaelmas 2018)
Venue: Pusey House
Venue Details: Ursell Room
Speaker: James Lawson (Vice Principal and Charles Marriott Director of Pastoral Studies, St Stephen’s House)
Organising department: Faculty of Theology and Religion
Organiser: Revd Dr George Westhaver (University of Oxford)
Part of: Pusey House Recollection Lectures
Booking required?: Not required
Booking url: http://www.puseyhouse.org.uk/
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Frances Roach