Jennifer Hockenbery - Wisdoms Friendly Heart: Augustinian Hope for Skeptics and Conspiracy Theorists

Augustinian Hope for Skeptics and Conspiracy Theorists

Jennifer Hockenbery

I have used only my own translations for all non-English quotes in the body of the text, attempting to be as literal as understandable English allows. In particular, I have paid close attention to the pronouns used by each author for God, using the masculine, feminine, or neuter in English when the author has done so in Greek, Latin, French, or German. Importantly, all four of those languages use the feminine pronoun for Truth and Wisdom. In addition, I have tried to translate other terms for God as close to its cultural context as possible. For example, the term dominus in the late antique Roman empire was a regularly used term of respect for a male who was a citizen and the most prominent member of his household. Sometimes, Augustine was implying a familiar relationship when he addressed God as dominus, as if God were a fellow citizen. In such instances, I use the term Sir. At other times, Augustine is clearly using the term to denote the person in charge of a household, a household in which Augustine was considering himself a child or, at times, a servant. At such times, I use master of the house. Augustine would have understood that dominus was the Latin translation of adonai in Hebrew and kyrie in Greek, terms that are also forms of address for human men with wealth and property, although not in a feudal context. The medieval English term Lord conveys a meaning that would have been foreign to Augustines context. Of course, the term is appropriate to Hildegard, Thomas, and Luthers medieval feudal contexts. So for those authors, I do use the word Lord for dominus .

I always have included the passage in its original language (if other than English) in the footnotes. The sources of the original language quotes appear in the bibliography as do quality English versions of most of the books cited in the original language. I use the English translations of the titles of all works I cite in the body of the text but include the original titles in the footnotes and the bibliography. Augustines works are cited in the footnotes with an abbreviation of the Latin title and the book, chapter, and paragraph number. For those works that only have one book, only the chapter and paragraph number appear, and in the rare instances where there are no chapters, only the paragraph number is cited. For the quotes from the Confessions, I use J. J. ODonnells edition of the Latin. Quotes from the other texts of Augustine are from Latin texts from J. P. Mignes Patrologia Latina , published online. Other ancient sources are similarly cited using standard pages or book, chapter, and/or paragraph numbers. When available, I also have provided an online location for the original language text. My hope is that those who want to check these quotes for accuracy or for the purpose of their own research will be able to do so easily, while those who simply want a general understanding of the ideas will get a taste of the rhetoric and style of each of the philosophers and other writers I quote.

. See Augustine, Opera Omnia .

All quotations from the Confessions are from J. J. ODonnells edition. See Augustine, Confessiones . All quotations of Augustines other works are from J. P. Mignes Patologia Latina and can also be accessed online. See Augustine, Opera Omnia .

BV de Beata Vita ( On the Happy Life ) ()

CA Contra Academicos ( Against the Academic Skeptics ) ()

CD de Civitate Dei ( The City of God ) ()

CJ Contra Secundam Iulianam responsionem imperfectum opus ( Against Julian) ()

Conf. Confessiones ( Confessions ) ()

DGM de Genesis contra Manichaeos ( On Genesis against the Manicheans in Two Books ) ()

DG d e Genesi ad litteram imperfectus liber ( On the Literal Meaning of Genesis: An Unfinished Book) ()

DG de Genesi ad litteram libri duodecim ( On the Literal Meaning of Genesis in Twelve Books) ()

Doct. de Doctrina Christiana ( On Christian Doctrine ) ()

DM de Magistro ( On the Teacher ) ()

DME de Moribus Ecclesiae Catholicae et de Moribus Manichaeorum ( On the Morals of the Catholic Church and the Morals of the Manicheans ) ()

DSD de Sermone Domini in Monte ( On the Sermon on the Mount) ()

Ench Enchiridion de Laurentium de Fide, Spe, et Charitate ( Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love ) ()

Enn. Ps. Enarrationes in Psalmos ( Narrations on the Psalms ) ()

Epis. Epistolae ( Letters ) ()

LA de Libero Arbitrio ( On the Freedom of the Will ) ()

NB de Natura Boni ( On the Nature of the Good ) ()

Ord. de Ordine ( On Order ) ()

Ret. Retractiones ( Retractions ) ()

Sermon Sermones ( Sermons ) ()

Sol. Soliloquia ( Soliloquies ) ()

SL de Spiritu et Littera (On the Spirit and the Letter) ()

TJ Tractatus in Evangelium Iohannis ( Tractate on The Gospel of John ) ()

Trin. de Trinitate ( On the Trinity) ()

VR de Vera Religione (O n True Religion ) ()

UC de Utilitate Credenda ( On the Usefulness of Belief ) ()