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It’s Augustine’s Birthday
13 November–He tells us in one of his early writings, De Beata Vita (On the Happy Life).
This is different from the famous Platonist philosopher Plotinus. Porphyry, the biographer of Plotinus, tells us this:
Plotinus, the philosopher our contemporary, seemed ashamed of being in the body.
So deeply rooted was this feeling that he could never be induced to tell of his ancestry, his parentage, or his birthplace.
Augustine isn’t like that. G-d made us, dang it.
And G-d made us human, with bodies. De Beata Vita is a whole philosophical dialogue beginning at Augustine’s birthday lunch on 13 November at a place called Cassiciacum, near Milan. Augustine, his students, his mother, his son, and others talk about the purpose of life. They give a Christian answer. They use some Greco-Roman philosophy for sure, but they end up talking about Jesus, quoting a hymn by Bishop Ambrose of Milan, talking about the Trinity, and saying stuff about faith, hope, and love.
Well–now you know.
I wrote about this in my dissertation, and it became Chapter 3 of my cheap Augustine book. Oddly, I don’t know where to find a full English text of De Beata Vita online. Here’s a sample, and here’s the Amazon page for a good translation by my dissertation director.
Published in Religion and Philosophy
Pro tip:
Seneca the Stoic philosopher also wrote a De Vita Beata–same title since Latin word order matters very little. It’s a good book too.
I forgot I did this before! Ha!
Augustine said, The good earthly kingdom is just a benevolent band of robbers.
Shameless self-promotion:
Augustine on how G-d’s foreknowledge doesn’t mean we don’t have free will.
A lunch party with St. Augustine and St. Sophia? You’d better be on your best behavior for that.
According to our current calendar?
Ides of November.
If you want to get meticulous on calendars, I’m afraid you’ll need someone else.
If there’s birthday cake I’ll celebrate when everyone else does.
Sold! I just bought a copy. St. Augustine’s name has been popping up in various history courses that I’ve been listening to and I made a mental note that I should become more familiar with his works. So I’ll take a look.
Are you saying St. Augustine lived a life in pursuit of happiness?
Read Confessions.
He sure did.
Not even a spoiler alert. Tsk, tsk.
I’m talking about after his conversion. Is that a spoiler?
Clearly. The man had more plot turns than Hitchcock.
Luther’s confessor, Johann von Staupitz, once said that though Luther’s confessions could last hours, he never once confessed to “something interesting.”
Pretty sure Augustine’s mother was Saint Monica, not Sophia.
That is correct.
I should look more stuff up.