One of the most debated questions surrounding Augustine of Hippo’s Confessions is the search for the structural unity of its thirteen books. In this article, based on an analysis of the of Augustine’s ecstasies in Milan and Ostia, and of the influence of Plotinian Neoplatonism and Pauline theology on Augustinian thought, we intend to offer a new interpretative hypothesis, according to which the ternary division of the Confessions (Books I-IX, Book X, Books XI-XIII) reflects the Christian conception of the anagogic (...) stages of the human soul towards divinity. (shrink)

In the present article, after reviewing the existing bibliography on De uera religione, a study is made of the text of the uera rel. 3, 3, where St. Augustine presents what we have called a Platonic dialogue written by the Doctor of Hippo himself. The dialogue is analysed, presenting first of all the “lectio magistralis” that Augustine puts in Plato’s mouth, pointing out from this discourse the contingency of created beings and their link with the concept of creatio ex nihilo (...) that Augustine himself had already presented some years before in the De Genesi aduersus manicheos. Subsequently, the article highlights the reflection on the human being as a rational entity capable of contemplating the Beauty and Greatness of God, as well as the impediments that may exist for this. Finally, the article exposes what we have called the “myth of the perfect man”, with which St. Augustine, in imitation of Plato himself, closes his dialogue with a myth with which he synthesizes all that he had affirmed up to this point. (shrink)