Augustine's Ostia Revisited: a Plotinian or Christian Ascent in "Confessiones 9"
Augustine converted to Christianity in 386 and described his conversion in his Confessiones a decade later. Much ink has been spilled concerning the question of the specific nature of Augustine's conversion and the "historical accuracy" of his description thereof 10 years later. The C...
| Published in: | International journal of philosophy and theology |
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| Authors: | ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
[2018]
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| In: |
International journal of philosophy and theology
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Augustinus, Aurelius, Saint 354-430, Confessiones 9
/ Conversion
/ Neoplatonism
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| RelBib Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity VA Philosophy |
| Further subjects: | B
Enneads
B anabasis B "Ostia-ecstasy" B Augustine of Hippo B relation theology-philosophy B Plotinus B Confessiones 9 B Conversion |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | Augustine converted to Christianity in 386 and described his conversion in his Confessiones a decade later. Much ink has been spilled concerning the question of the specific nature of Augustine's conversion and the "historical accuracy" of his description thereof 10 years later. The Confessiones seem to describe a volte face: he radically embraced Christianity. But to what kind of Christianity did he convert? We will readdress this question, not by investigating his conversion, but by a close exegesis of Confessiones 9, in which he describes the so-called Ostia-ecstasy (Ostia in 387). In the first part of our article, we discuss the description of the latter experience in Confessiones 9 and situate it within his conversion narrative, with attention to the symbolical language he used. The second part compares the Ostia-experience with the ascent of the soul as described in Plotinus' Enneads, and with similar "Neoplatonic ascents" present in the Confessiones (7, 16; 7, 23; 10, 10-12) and in writings penned by Augustine prior to or simultaneous with the Confessiones (de animae quantitate 33, 70-76; de doctrina Christiana 2, 9-11) in order to elucidate the relationship between Augustine's "Christian" conversion and "Ostia-ecstasy" with the Neoplatonic anabasis. |
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| ISSN: | 2169-2335 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: International journal of philosophy and theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/21692327.2017.1387074 |