Augustine and the Cure of Souls

Revising a Classical Ideal

Paul R. Kolbet

Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity

Augustine and the Cure of Souls situates Augustine within the ancient philosophical tradition of using words to order emotions. Paul Kolbet uncovers a profound continuity in Augustine’s thought, from his earliest pre-baptismal writings to his final acts as bishop, revealing a man deeply indebted to the Roman past and yet distinctly Christian. Rather than supplanting his classical learning, Augustine’s Christianity reinvigorated precisely those elements of Roman wisdom that he believed were slipping into decadence. In particular, Kolbet addresses the manner in which Augustine not only used classical rhetorical theory to express his theological vision, but also infused it with theological content.

This book offers a fresh reading of Augustine’s writings—particularly his numerous, though often neglected, sermons—and provides an accessible point of entry into the great North African bishop’s life and thought.

PAUL R. KOLBET is assistant professor of theology at Boston College.

ADVANCE PRAISE: “In Phaedrus, Plato distinguished between rhetoric that deceives and rhetoric that guides the soul to self-knowledge. He called the latter psychagogia or ‘guidance of the soul.’ Psychagogy became a common practice in the Hellenistic philosophical tradition. . . . Paul Kolbet’s Augustine and the Cure of Souls offers the most extensive analysis of psychagogy to date. The work contributes both to our understanding of the Hellenistic philosophical practice and to Augustine’s appropriation and modification of it.” — Gregory Sterling, University of Notre Dame