Jerusalem and Babylon : a study into Augustine's City of God and the sources of his doctrine of the two cities /
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Although many studies have been devoted to Augustine's City of God and its most important theme, viz. the antithesis between the civitas Dei and the terrena civitas ,until now no consensus has been reached concerning the sources of this doctrine. Was Augustine decisively influenced by Manichaeism, by (Neo)Platonism, the Stoa or Philo, by the Donatist Tyconius? Or should we look in another direction and refer to preceding Christian, Jewish, and especially to archaic Jewish-Christian traditions? This lucidly written books opens with a survey of the research carried out so far on the aim, structure and central theme of the City of God . Chapter 2 analyzes the essentials of Augustine's life, of his City of God , and of his doctrine of the two cities. Making use of one of the recently discovered letters of Augustine in Chapter 3 the author describes the City of God as an apology and as a catechetical work. Chapter 4 provides an investigation into the possible sources of Augustine's doctrine of the two cities in Manichaeism, in (Neo)Platonism, the Stoa and Philo, and in the works of Tyconius. The idea of two antithetical cities proves to be present most clearly in writings in which, closely related to Jewish thinking, archaic Christian concepts occupy an important place. In a final chapter some pertinent remarks are made on Jewish and Jewish-Christian influences on pre-Augustinian Christianity in Africa.
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"English version of my doctoral thesis, which was originally submitted to the Theological Faculty of the University of Utrecht in September 1986 and published in Dutch"--Preface. :
1 online resource (ix, 427 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 375-405) and indexes. :
9789004253346 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Religion and the Good Life /
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Studies in Theology and Religion,10 In this volume, fourteen philosophers of religion reflect on religious views of the good life. Some authors focus on positive religion and its specific religious representations of the good life, while others abstract from these and focus on philosophical religion and its conceptual articulations of the good life. The tension between positive religion and philosophical religion, between representation and concept, is itself also analyzed. This volume is a result of the co-operation of the philosophers of religion who are senior members of the Netherlands School for Advanced Studies in Theology and Religion NOSTER. Religion and the Good Life Religion and the Good Life: Introduction - Marcel Sarot (Utrecht) and Wessel Stoker (Amsterdam) PART I - THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN REPRESENTATION AND CONCEPT The Tension between Representation and Concept as a Challenge for Philosophy of Religion - Peter Jonkers (Utrecht) Beyond Representation and Concept: The Language of Testimony - R.D.N. van Riessen (Kampen) PART II - THE TENSION BETWEEN REPRESENTATION AND CONCEPT Seduction and Guidance: Some Remarks on the Ambiguities of Reason and Reflective Thought in Connection with Religion and the Good Life - W. Dupré (Nijmegen) The Good Life is Historical - Ben Vedder (Nijmegen) The Quality of Life: Comic Vision in Charles Dickens and Iris Murdoch - Henry Jansen (Amsterdam) Narrative, Atonement, and the Christian Conception of the Good Life - Gijsbert van den Brink (Leyden) Myths and the Good Life: Ricoeur's Hermeneutical Approach to Myth - Wessel Stoker (Amsterdam) Bhajans and their Symbols: Religious Hermeneutics of "the Good Life" - Hendrik M. Vroom (Amsterdam) PART III - REPRESENTATIONS OF THE GOOD LIFE Models of the Good Life - Marcel Sarot (Utrecht) The Highest Good and the Kingdom of God in the Philosophy of Kant: A Moral Concept and a Religious Metaphor of the Good Life - Donald Loose (Tilburg-Rotterdam) Jacques Derrida and Messianity - Victor Kal (Amsterdam) Skepticism and the Meaning of Life - Michael Scott (Manchester) Ultimate Happiness and the Love of God - Vincent Brümmer (Utrecht) Human Being and the Natural Desire for God: Reflections on the Natural and the Supernatural - Eef Dekker (Utrecht).
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004493476
9789023240693