Johannes van Oort Książki

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. While 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 conceptsoccupy an important place. In a final chapter some pertinent remarks are made on Jewish and Jewish-Christian influences on pre-Augustinian Christianity in Africa.

Manichaeism, once a gnostic world religion, soon spread to the Roman West. Here, the life and the work of the future (and, without doubt, most influential) Church Father Augustine (354-430) became inextricably connected with Manichaean teachings and practices. In view of the many new Manichaean texts in particular, it turns out that, without a thorough knowledge of the 'Religion of Light', Augustine's theology and philosophy are hardly conceivable.This volume brings together the selected papers of the Fribourg-Utrecht symposium Augustine and Manichaeism in the Latin West , organized on behalf of the International Association of Manichaean Studies in Fribourg (Switzerland) in the summer of 1998. It contains a considerable number of contributions by leading authorities on the subject, focussing on the diffusion of Mani's religion in the Latin West and on its impact upon St Augustine.

This volume brings together a rich & varied collection of essays by Gilles Quispel (1916-2006), Professor of the History of the Early Church at Utrecht University from 1951 until retirement in 1983. During his illustrious career, Quispel was also visiting Professor at Harvard University in 1964/5, & visiting Professor at the Catholic University of Leuven from 1969 until 1974. The 50 essays collected in this volume testify to most of the prominent themes from Professor Quispel's scholarly career: the writings of the Nag Hammadi library in general & the Gospel of Thomas in particular; Tatian's Diatessaron & its influences; the Hermetica; Mani & Manichaeism; the Jewish origins of Gnosticism; & Gnosis & the future of Christianity. This volume also makes a number of his less known earlier publications (mainly presented under the heading 'Catholica') available to the international community. Until shortly before he died, Quispel remained active in his study of the Gospel of Thomas. He had been one of the 1st to acquire the Coptic text of the Gospel of Thomas, of which he published the 1st translation in 1959 & his final translation in 2005. He was also active in researching the Diatessaron, & Valentinus the Gnostic. One of his most recent essays--published here for the 1st time--is on 'the Muslim Jesus.'