Confessions

Augustine’s accounts of his so-called mystical experiences in conf.
7.10.16, 17.23, and 9.10.24 are puzzling. The primary problem is that,
although in all three accounts he claims to have seen “that which is,”
we have no satisfactory account of what “that which is” is supposed to
be. I shall be arguing that, contrary to a common interpretation, Augustine’s intellectual “seeing” of “being” in Books 7 and 9 was not a vision
of the Christian God as a whole, nor of one of the divine persons, each of
whom is equally God, according to Augustine. This becomes clear when
we attend to the fact that Augustine is appropriating a specific meaning
of “that which is” or “being” used by Plotinus in his account of the
lover of Beauty. This resolution, however, leads to a second question. Is
there anything distinctively Christian about any, or all, of Augustine’s
ascents? On the one hand, it would be odd if there were not, given that
the Confessions are addressed to the Christian God. On the other hand,
upon close inspection we find that the allegedly specific “Christian”
characteristics that modern commentators have identified in the
ascents of conf. 7 and 9 also occur in the Neoplatonists. I will argue
that there is in fact one important difference between Augustine and the
Neoplatonists here that has not been pointed out in these prior
interpretations.

Few individuals in church history are as popular as Augustine of Hippo. His impressive body of work on diverse subjects, combined with his tremendous influence on Roman Catholics and Protestants, have led believers to imbue Augustine’s writings with great authority. Consequently, he is frequently cited by those seeking support for their particular position on theological matters. This practice is especially observed in the creation versus evolution and age of the earth debates. Young-earth creationists, theistic evolutionists, old-earth creationists, and intelligent design proponents have each claimed Augustine as one of their own and each of these scholars has provided quotations of Augustine which seem to support their view. The famous church father wrote four separate commentaries on the first chapter of Genesis. This paper surveys these works and demonstrates that Augustine was not concerned with the modern controversy. Nevertheless, his purpose for writing each commentary and t...

Adnan Oktar (Harun Yahya)

Various circles regard the theory of evolution as ideologically indispensable. From the day it was first proposed right up to the present, they have defended it by means of intense propaganda. Certain scientific publications, schools and a number of media organs portray it as a proven fact in terms of the origin of life. Since some scientists espouse the theory of evolution with the greatest devotion, most people imagine that the theory is scientifically valid.

In fact, however, over the last 150 years the theory of evolution has been totally discredited by such branches of science as paleontology, genetics, microbiology, biochemistry and biophysics. Countless findings revealed by these different branches make it obvious that evolution never happened.

Anyone reading this book may well naturally conclude that the adherents of the theory of evolution are scientists. Yet since those who find evidence that the theory of evolution is invalid are also scientists, therefore scientists must be divided into two groups: those who support evolution, and others who present evidence disproving it.

Yet this does not fully represent the true picture-because while scientists advocating the theory of evolution are in search for a single evidence about the validity of the evolution, they eventually try to adopt the current evidence proving the fact of Creation to their theory, so in fact they discover evidence that discredits the theory of evolution with their own hands.

For instance, every new discovery about the complex structure of the protein puts forth the fact that this structure can not be formed through coincidences again and again. However, even though Darwinists are very well aware of the fact that a single protein cannot be formed by coincidences and that the new found information confirm this truth, they still are advocating this theory persistently.

In 1947 the Oseredok Ukrainian Cultural and Education Centre in Winnipeg held a memoir contest. Sixty-four memoirs were submitted, and most of them are still preserved in Oseredok’s archives. I examined all extant submissions in order to determine what they had to say about the Holocaust. Altogether twenty-five memoirs concerned World War II, and of these fourteen made at least some mention of the Holocaust.  This body of memoirs is the earliest collection of Ukrainian memoirs of World War II that I am aware of, the closest in time to the events of the Holocaust. Already then, however, Ukrainians had become quite defensive about their behavior towards the Jews; this perhaps explains why close to half the memoirs about the war omitted the fate of the Jews altogether and why the memoirs that do mention the Holocaust say almost nothing about Ukrainian involvement. The memoirists did, however, reproduce the image of Jews as agents of communism, particularly active in the organs of repression. The majority of the 1947 memoirs none the less indicated horror at and disapproval of the murder of the Jews by the Germans. Perhaps characteristically, the account expressing the strongest such feelings was written by an older man from outside Western Ukraine. Conversely, the most outright expression of lack of sympathy with the Jews came from a man twelve years younger and from Galicia. Although the latter felt pity for some individual Jews he knew and gave them alms, he expressly stated that he had no sympathy with them as a group, as “a nation that had done so much evil to my nation.” Perhaps this is a case that corresponds to the phenomenon noted by Jan Gross in Fear, that individuals hate whom they have injured: this memoirist served in the civil administration.

The Uganda legal regime relies on the discretion of the courts in dealing with improperly obtained evidence. While various theories explain the need to exclude evidence, understanding their rationales sheds light on evaluating why the courts deal with this kind of evidence in the way they do. This article offers an assessment of selected decisions handed down by Uganda’s Supreme Court between 1995 and 2015 with regard to evidence improperly obtained through confessions. It seeks to establish the underlying theoretical considerations of the decisions, how the courts address aspects of procedural and substantive justice, and whether there is a consistent developed jurisprudence. This analysis, therefore, supports the need for reform.

While the reception of Augustine in the Late Middle Ages has attracted increasing scholarly attention in the last years, its fortune in the Italian Quattrocento still needs to be properly researched. This contribution focuses ona particular case of “Augustinianism” in fifteenth-century Italy, namely two liturgical offices for St. Augustine produced by the Italian humanist MaffeoVegio (1407-1458) and transmitted under the title De vita et officio beati Augustini. The article provides a detailed analysis and critical edition of these offices. The edition of these texts, extant in three manuscripts, further allow sus to approach the genre of the liturgical historiae in the Renaissance, texts which have often been neglected by earlier scholars, despite their central role in the devotional practices of that time.

This Cambridge Companion serves as an authoritative guide to Augustine’s Confessions—a literary classic and one of the most important theological/philosophical works of Late Antiquity. Bringing together new essays by leading scholars, the volume first examines the composition of the text, including its structure, genre, and intended audience. Subsequent essays explore a range of themes and concepts, such as God, creation, sin, grace, happiness, and interiority, among others. The final section of the Companion deals with its historical relevance. It provides sample essays on the reception history of the Confessions. These essays demonstrate how each generation reads the Confessions in light of current questions and circumstances, and how the text continues to remain relevant and raise new questions.

Under the instruction of my advisor, Mr. David Eschrich, I completed this paper for the fulfillment of my senior thesis requirement. This paper explores a lesser known purpose of Augustine's Confessions -- the idea that Augustine writes his Confessions to refute the Manichaen beliefs. Through his literary devices and his narrative, Augustine refutes the Manichaen beliefs that the physical world is inherently evil and that humans have no free will or culpability. Through Augustine's embodiment of abstract concepts in physical experiences, Augustine learns about God through himself.

http://selidodeiktes.greek-language.gr/lemmas/1953

Λήμμα στους Σελιδοδείκτες,  (http://selidodeiktes.greek-language.gr/) τον πολυμεσικό οδηγό για τη λογοτεχνία και την ανάγνωση του Κέντρου Ελληνικής Γλώσσας

Στις «γραφές του εγώ» συγκαταλέγονται η αυτοβιογραφία, τα απομνημονεύματα, το ημερολόγιο, η επιστολογραφία, αλλά και όσα ακόμα κείμενα, όπως οι αναμνήσεις ή οι εξομολογήσεις, φαίνεται να τηρούν την «αυτοβιογραφική συμφωνία». Με τον όρο αυτό περιέγραψε ο Philippe Lejeune την τριπλή ταύτιση του βασικού ή κυρίαρχου προσώπου ενός κειμένου με τον αφηγητή του κειμένου, αλλά και με τον συγγραφέα του. Η αυτοβιογραφία αφηγείται αναδρομικά ένα σημαντικό μέρος της ζωής του αυτοβιογραφούμενου και επικεντρώνεται στη διαμόρφωση της προσωπικότητάς του, ενώ τα απομνημονεύματα αναδεικνύουν τα ίδια τα γεγονότα που έζησε ή παρακολούθησε ο συγγραφέας. Το είδος που καθορίζεται περισσότερο από τον χρόνο της καταγραφής είναι το ημερολόγιο, το οποίο κατακερματίζεται από τη διαρκή επανεκκίνηση της συγγραφής. Έτσι, κάθε εγγραφή μπορεί να παρουσιάζεται εντελώς διαφορετική στο ύφος ή το περιεχόμενο· αυτό όμως που συνέχει το ημερολόγιο είναι η ανάγκη της έκφρασης του εαυτού. Στην επιστολογραφία, τέλος, προέχει η ανάγκη της επικοινωνίας, ώστε να υπηρετηθεί ένας συγκεκριμένος κάθε φορά σκοπός. Προκειμένου να μπορούν ο αποστολέας με τον παραλήπτη να εναλλάσσουν τους ρόλους τους, ο λόγος της επιστολής παραμένει πάντοτε συνδεδεμένος με την πραγματικότητα που ενώνει τους αλληλογράφους.

Για την Ομάδα εργασίας του πολυμεσικού οδηγού για τη λογοτεχνία και την ανάγνωση "Σελιδοδείκτες" βλ. http://selidodeiktes.greek-language.gr/content/266

L’article aborde les Confessions (1782, 1789) de Jean-Jacques Rousseau sous l’angle linguistique, en accentuant les  différences de fonctionnement entre les participes présents et les gérondifs. Non moins de 85% de participes présents dans les Confessions fonctionnent comme appositions (ou attributs libres), lesquelles, mobiles et liées faiblement au sujet du verbe régissant, apparaissent aux mêmes positions que les gérondifs pour alterner avec eux souvent. Or, cette alternance produit toujours un changement de sens, plus ou moins prononcé, du fait que le participe présent transforme
tout contenu verbal en propriété plus ou moins permanente du sujet, alors que le gérondif attache son contenu directement au verbe régissant en lui imposant un cadre temporel.

Resumen: En el libro VI de las Confesiones, el Agustín más joven, tal y como lo des-cribe su propio yo de más edad, está en camino a la conversión, a pesar de que élmismo aún no es consciente de ello. Su experiencia como maniqueo no le habíadado lo que esperaba conseguir, y temía que los católicos resultaran igualmente decepcionantes. Frente a esta situación, decidió consultar a sus amigos. Después del recuerdo de la influencia de Ambrosio (conf. VI,1,1-6,10), a la que se mostró susceptible, y antes de tratar con los problemas a los que dio lugar la elección quehabía hecho (conf. VI,11,18-16,26): la alternativa de si seguir trabajando o no,de casarse o no, Agustín describe su encuentro con Alipio y Nebridio en conf.VI, 7,11-10,17. En esta sección, cuidadosamente escrita no solo con relación ala forma (estructura), sino también, y principalmente, al contenido (argumento), resume el estancamiento en el que se encontraba, que lo describe con la ayuda dedos imágenes: la de la enfermedad, y la del peligro en el mar. El argumento quedesarrolla es el de una crisis: cuando una persona está enferma, sucede a vecesque la condición del paciente debe deteriorarse antes de la mejoría; del mismomodo que, si alguien está en peligro en el mar, en ocasiones ha de enfrentar unpeligro aún mayor antes de poder escapar de ellos. Esto es lo que Agustín describe en conf. VI,7,11-10,17, y esto asegura que el libro de conf. VI sea no un libroen el que se detenga, sino uno en el que se crea un retraso terapéutico que le dé lafuerza y el valor para aceptar la humildad en lugar del orgullo, y para perseveraren su camino hacia la conversión, descrito en conf. VIII. Este artículo analiza einterpreta la estrategia que Agustín emplea para lograrlo.

In this article, which is currently under review, I provide a close reading of Confessions book 3 in light of Augustine's allegorical interpretation of the six days of creation in book 13. By highlighting Augustine's use of day four as a submerged template, a literary and conceptual flow to book 3 surfaces that has heretofore eluded scholarly readers.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, écrivain illustre et philosophe révolutionnaire de l'Âge des Lumières, a recouru pendant les dernières années de sa vie à l'écriture des ouvrages autobiographiques. Il y refléta le véritable portrait de soi-même grâce à une mémoire encombrée de souvenirs tumultueux. Son oeuvre autobiographique qui comprend Les Confessions, les Dialogues et Les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire, renferme la restitution analytique de la personnalité et de la réflexion philosophique du philosophe célèbre. Dans ses Rêveries qui constituent le dernier ouvrage de Rousseau, il peint un tableau du bonheur retrouvé où il mêle à ses impressions, le goût de la marche et de la contemplation des paysages naturels. Dans cet article, nous tentons d'expliciter d'une part les thèmes principaux traités dans Rêveries, c'est-à-dire ceux de la solitude et du paradis perdu ; d'autre part en nous appuyant sur sa vision, nous analyserons le rôle essentiel que le problème du mensonge a joué dans son oeuvre autobiographique. Mots-clés : Jean-Jacques Rousseau, la solitude définitive, autosuffisance, le mensonge, la honte, le paradis perdu.

Escrita na segunda metade do século IV, período de paulatina aproximação entre a facção cristã nicena e os poderes políticos romanos protocolares, a obra Confessiones (c. 397) do bispo Agostinho de Hipona, uma das mais importantes “vozes autorizadas” do catolicismo, contém vigorosa crítica aos populares espetáculos de gladiadores, aos quais são atribuídos epítetos desfavoráveis. A proposta deste artigo é analisar a citada crítica agostiniana identificando a prática discursiva de antagonização entre o prazer de atender aos anfiteatros e a alegada moderação que caracterizaria os católicos.

Originally appearing in the Founders Journal (Issue 119, Winter 2020), this paper is an exposition of Chapter 25 in the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession. Edited by Tom Nettles, the essay is part of that Journal's ongoing expository series through the 1689 Confession.

The sexual politics and poetics of tape recording in Richard Linklater's 2001 film, _Tape_.

An extended version of this paper will form a chapter for my _Machine-Events_ book, particularly developing the question of transference and technology. In the meantime, I gave an updated version of this paper with a much stronger intersection with the work of Cornelia Vismann at the Legal Media colloquium and will be publishing that soon, details to follow.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, ecrivain illustre et philosophe revolutionnaire de l’Âge des Lumieres, a recouru pendant les dernieres annees de sa vie a l’ecriture des ouvrages autobiographiques. Il y refleta le veritable portrait de soi-meme grâce a une memoire encombree de souvenirs tumultueux. Son œuvre autobiographique qui comprend Les Confessions, les Dialogues et Les Reveries du promeneur solitaire, renferme la restitution analytique de la personnalite et de la reflexion philosophique du philosophe celebre.          Dans ses Reveries qui constituent le dernier ouvrage de Rousseau, il peint un tableau du bonheur retrouve ou il mele a ses impressions, le gout de la marche et de la contemplation des paysages naturels. Dans cet article, nous tentons d’expliciter d’une part les themes principaux traites dans Reveries, c’est-a-dire ceux de la solitude et du paradis perdu ; d’autre part en nous appuyant sur sa vision, nous analyserons le role essentiel que le probleme du mensonge a joue dans...

The article investigates the presence of the Bakhtinian category of Carnival in two texts by Rousseau, La Nouvelle Héloïse and Confessions, in order to highlight the ambivalence of his rhetoric and analyze his complex idea of authenticity. Despite his rejection of masks, dissimulation and mockery in order to stick to honesty and truth, Rousseau uses some carnivalesque elements such as the utopian vision of festivals or social criticism by means of scandal. In La Nouvelle Héloïse, the utopian time of the wine harvest diff erentiates from Carnival because it does not engender any real transgression of the hierarchical order. In the Confessions, by means of a hero-comic and scandalous representation of himself, Rousseau outlines a personal challenge.

Les Mémoires d'outre-tombe sont les Confessions de Rousseau révisées par Edgar Quinet : l'Histoire, et non plus le moi, y démêle ses énigmes. L'écrivain s'y représente sans jamais s'y dévoiler. L'écriture mémorialiste réduit le moi au silence et le transforme en une crypte où, non plus un secret intime, mais quelque grande vérité d'ordre providentialiste dort sous les chiffres du récit. Or, dans le livre de Venise, un des derniers livres des Mémoires, la crypte condamnée du moi paraît sur le point de s'ouvrir et de livrer des aveux imparfaitement transformés en chiffres allégoriques. Ces chapitres trop intimes succombent sous la censure : Chateaubriand en expurge la version définitive de son autobiographie. L'étude de leurs pages tardives, écrites et puis désécrites, offre un aperçu précieux sur l'opiniâtre ars tacendi dont les Mémoires d'outre-tombe, ces " Confessions mal faites " pétries de réticences, tirent leurs silences les plus riches.

This Cambridge Companion serves as an authoritative guide to Augustine’s Confessions—a literary classic and one of the most important theological/philosophical works of Late Antiquity. Bringing together new essays by leading scholars, the volume first examines the composition of the text, including its structure, genre, and intended audience. Subsequent essays explore a range of themes and concepts, such as God, creation, sin, grace, happiness, and interiority, among others. The final section of the Companion deals with its historical relevance. It provides sample essays on the reception history of the Confessions. These essays demonstrate how each generation reads the Confessions in light of current questions and circumstances, and how the text continues to remain relevant and raise new questions.

What was formerly ‘tried’ by the method of force or the mechanical following of form is now tried by the method of reason. Thayer At the start of Shakespeare's Richard II Bolingbroke and Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, are called before the King ‘to appeal each other of high treason’. Each of the disputants is anxious to defend his honour and to prove the other a traitor in the lists. Before they come before him, Richard asks Gaunt if this dispute is based on ancient malice or ‘worthily, as a good subject should, on some known ground of treachery in him’. Gaunt replies that, ‘as near as I could sift him on the argument’, there is no inveterate malice, but apparent danger to the King. Richard responds: Then call them to our presence; face to face And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear The accuser and the accused, freely speak. Only after they have had their say and Richard and others have failed to persuade them to make up, does he reluctantly agree to let … your swords and lances arbitrate The swelling difference of your settled hate. They reassemble at Coventry ready for battle, but the King intervenes at the last moment to stop the fight and to banish both disputants, a classic example of a disastrous attempt at peaceful dispute-settlement. We need not here concern ourselves with the detailed accuracy of Shakespeare's account of the proceedings, nor with whether this mode of dispute-settlement can appropriately be said to have involved a ‘trial’, political or otherwise.