Syllabus
The course will be summarily divided into four blocks:
- Introduction to the course; introduction to the Late Antiquity; main genres and themes of the patristic literature.
- Life and works of Augustine; historical background of the IV and V century; philosophical and literary background of Augustine.
- The main topics and themes of Augustine's production and their historical and philosophical contextualization.
- Monographic part: focus on the work De doctrina christiana ("On christian doctrine").
Annotation
Among the thinkers of the Late Antiquity, Augustine of Hippo (354-430) takes on a position of extraordinary importance in the history of thought. Ideal trait d’union between the Antiquity and the Middle Ages, he deploys his ample production in various genres (commentaries on the Bible, philosophical and theological treatises, apologetic and polemic works, writings on rhetoric, logic, and autobiography). A Christian Bishop nourished by the study of the Greek and Latin classics and of the great rhetors, a brilliant rhetor himself in the early part of his life, Augustine succeeds in transforming, revitalizing, and transmitting the old pagan culture, absorbing it as a set of logical, philosophical, and literary tools to be used in the new Christian intellectual speculation.
Through the study of his most important works, and the reading of relevant textual passages, we will trace the trajectory of the evolution of Augustine’s thought, and we will analyze the rhetorical and stylistic instruments that are typical of his writings. Some attention, towards the end of the course, will also be paid to his legacy and to the reception of his works in the Middle Ages.