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  • Cited by 9
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
June 2010
Print publication year:
2009
Online ISBN:
9780511691744

Book description

This book examines Augustine's intellectual conversion from Platonism to Christianity, as described at Confessions 7.9.13–21.27. It is widely assumed that this occurred in the summer of 386, shortly before Augustine's volitional conversion in the garden at Milan. Brian Dobell argues, however, that Augustine's intellectual conversion did not occur until the mid-390s, and develops this claim by comparing Confessions 7.9.13–21.27 with a number of important passages and themes from Augustine's early writings. He thus invites the reader to consider anew the problem of Augustine's conversion in 386: was it to Platonism or Christianity? His original and important study will be of interest to a wide range of readers in the history of philosophy and the history of theology.

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Contents

Bibliography
TRANSLATIONS
ARISTOTLE
Categoriae, trans. Edghill, E. M., in McKeon, R. (ed.), The Basic Works of Aristotle. New York: Random House, 1941.
AUGUSTINE
Confessiones, trans. Sheed, F. J., Confessions. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., 1993.
DESCARTES
The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, trans. Cottingham, J., Stoothoff, R., Murdoch, D. and Kenny, A., 3 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984–91.
PLATO
Cratylus, trans. Reeve, C. D. C., in Cooper, J. M. (ed.), Plato: Complete Works. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., 1997.
Symposium, trans. Nehamas, A. and Woodruff, P., in Cooper, J. M. (ed.), Plato: Complete Works. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., 1997.
PLOTINUS
Enneads, trans. Armstrong, A. H., vols. 440–5, 468 in Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966–88.
PORPHYRY
Ad Marcellam, trans. Wicker, K. O., Porphyry the Philosopher to Marcella. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1987.
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