Charlotte Köckert

This article proposes interpreting Augustine’s Confessions against the backdrop of ancient philosophy as therapy of the soul. This proposition is argued by a close reading of selected passages as examples of what may be termed „Augustine’s narrative psychology“: On the one hand, Augustine demonstrates how emotions arise in man’s soul and how from repeated emotions fully-fledged bad habits grow (e.g., conf. 3,2,2f.3,4,7f.6,8,12f.6,12,22). On the other hand, he demonstrates how God mercifully acts upon man’s soul by means of human discourse, philosophical and biblical texts (e.g., conf. 3,4,7f.5,12,23f.7,9,13–7,21,27.8,2,3–5.8,6,14f.8,7,16–18). This applies also to the famous passage conf. 8,12,29f. The scene of conversion in the Milanese garden is not to be read allegorically, nor as a mere account of historical events. Rather, it is a psychological analysis in narrative form. In Confessions, Augustine delineates a specific therapy of emotion that can be regarded as the practical side of his famous doctrine of grace. This is supported by a philosophical reading of conf. 10,30,41f. The article further demonstrates that Confessions reflects practices of spiritual exercises widespread in ancient philosophy. Confessions should, therefore, be read as a Christian exercise that aims at redirecting and transforming the soul and at developing a new habit. In regard to the philosophical tradition, Augustine’s therapy of the soul proves to be provocative: On the one hand, he presents Christianity as superior with effective means to heal even the worst corruptions of the soul. On the other hand, he denigrates pagan philosophy by refuting its claim to transform people and to lead them to a happy life.

ABSTRACT: The article studies the letters Augustine exchanged with his long-term friend Nebridius. Twelve letters, written between Augustine’s retreat from public life in 386 and Nebridius’ death someday in 390, have been preserved (Augustine, epp. 3–14). They constitute Augustine’s largest extant private correspondence. The collection allows us to identify a programme of ascetic- philosophical discussions in which the two friends engaged after their return to North Africa. It also gives insights into the circumstances of their life and reveals how Augustine presented himself and his situation at Thagaste in 388–390 to the absent friend. The article argues that while Augustine and Nebridius construed the ideal of a joint philosophical life in their letters the realization of this ideal was seriously impeded by their obligations to the family, to other friends, and to the civitas. By and by, the exchange of letters became a substitute for the life they had envisaged. In this regard, their epistolary exchange is compared to the correspondences of other ascetic-minded Christian friends of this period (Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nazianzus, Paulinus of Nola and Sulpicius Severus). In an appendix to the article, questions of the letters’ date and chronology are discussed. It is argued that only ep. 3 was written at Cassiciacum and that all other letters stem from the period after Augustine’s return to North Africa.

In his classic monograph Conversion. The Old and the New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo (1933), Arthur Darby Nock proposes an influential assessment of conversion in Antiquity. He identifies conversion as a specific feature of ancient Christianity and regards conversions to philosophy as exceptions within the pagan world. This paper collects and studies statements and accounts of ‘conversion to philosophy’ and seeks to establish their communicative and social functions. It, then, asks how Christian conversion narratives relate to the concept of ‘conversion to phi- losophy’, taking Cyprian of Carthage’s account of his conversion in Ad Donatum as an example. The paper argues that conversion narratives support the self-presentation as a philosopher or as a Christian and, furthermore, play an important role in the debate about the realisation of a philosophical or a Christian life.

Charlotte Kockert investigates the cosmologies of three prominent theologians of the third and fourth centuries - Origen, Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa. As the literary and systematic locations for their cosmological speculations, she presents their hexaemeral writings and places them within the context of the ancient cosmological debate that has its main origin in the debate on the interpretation of Plato's Timaeus. This debate is outlined in the first part of the doctoral thesis, in which the author analyzes how Platonists of the early Roman Empire (Plutarch, Atticus, Numenius, Alcinous and Porphyry) interpreted Plato's myth. In the second part, the author provides a detailed analysis of the hexaemeral writings and shows the similarities and the differences between Christian and Platonic cosmological speculations. She proposes a reassessment of prominent key concepts, such as the concept of divine will or the idea of creatio ex nihilo, and a redefinition of the relationship between ancient Christian cosmology and contemporary philosophy.

Die antike christliche Kosmologie ist als Auslegung des biblischen Schöpfungsberichtes und gleichzeitig als Teil der antiken kosmologischen Debatte zu verstehen, die maßgeblich von der Diskussion um Platons Timaeus geprägt ist. Charlotte Köckert arbeitet heraus, wie drei bedeutende Theologen des dritten und vierten Jahrhunderts-Origenes, Basilius von Caesarea und Gregor von Nyssa-in der Auslegung von Gen 1 christliche Naturphilosophie betreiben und dabei einerseits in Auseinandersetzung mit ihren exegetischen Vorgängern treten, andererseits Themen und Fragestellungen der kosmologischen Debatte aufgreifen und sich dabei direkt oder indirekt gegen andere philosophische Kosmologien wenden. Die Debatte um die Interpretation des Timaeus stellt die Autorin anhand der Auslegungen von Plutarch, Atticus, Numenius, Alkinoos und Porphyrius dar. Vor diesem Hintergrund treten in den Analysen der Genesisauslegungen deutlich die Gemeinsamkeiten und die Unterschiede zwischen den christlichen und platonischen kosmologischen Entwürfen hervor. Bemerkenswert ist, daß die Christen und die Platoniker Kosmologie in der Auslegung eines autoritativen Textes betreiben. Dabei verteidigen sie gegenüber atomistischen Kosmologien die rationale Struktur des Kosmos. Vor allem ab dem dritten Jahrhundert grenzen sie sich systematisch von dualistischen Interpretationen ihrer Schöpfungserzählungen ab. Charlotte Köckert zeigt, daß etablierte Annahmen über die Spezi ka der antiken christlichen Kosmologie-wie die »Theologie des göttlichen Willens« oder die Lehre von der »Schöpfung aus dem Nichts«-präzisiert bzw. revidiert werden müssen. Die Arbeit erhielt den Kurt-Hartwig-Siemers-Wissenschaftspreis 2007 der Hamburgischen Wissenschaftlichen Stiftung und wurde mit dem Hanns-Lilje-Preis 2008 der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen ausgezeichnet.