Podcasts about manichaean

In Prophets and Prophecy in the Late Antique Near East (Cambridge UP, 2023), Jae Han investigates how various Late Antique Near Eastern communities—Jews, Christians, Manichaeans, and philosophers—discussed prophets and revelation, among themselves and against each other. Bringing an interdisciplinary, historical approach to the topic, he interrogates how these communities used discourses of prophethood and revelation to negotiate their place in the world. Han tracks the shifting contours of prophecy and contextualizes the emergence of orality as the privileged medium among rabbis, Manichaeans, and 'Jewish Christian' communities. He also explores the contemporary interest in divinatory knowledge among Neoplatonists. Offering a critical re-reading of key Manichaean texts, Han shows how Manichaeans used concepts of prophethood and revelation within specific rhetorical agendas to address urgent issues facing their communities. His book highlights the contingent production of discourse and shows how contemporary theories of rhetoric and textuality can be applied to the study of ancient texts. Jae Han is Assistant Professor in Religious Studies and the program for Judaic Studies at Brown University Michael Motia is a lecturer in the Religious Studies and Classics Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston

In Prophets and Prophecy in the Late Antique Near East (Cambridge UP, 2023), Jae Han investigates how various Late Antique Near Eastern communities—Jews, Christians, Manichaeans, and philosophers—discussed prophets and revelation, among themselves and against each other. Bringing an interdisciplinary, historical approach to the topic, he interrogates how these communities used discourses of prophethood and revelation to negotiate their place in the world. Han tracks the shifting contours of prophecy and contextualizes the emergence of orality as the privileged medium among rabbis, Manichaeans, and 'Jewish Christian' communities. He also explores the contemporary interest in divinatory knowledge among Neoplatonists. Offering a critical re-reading of key Manichaean texts, Han shows how Manichaeans used concepts of prophethood and revelation within specific rhetorical agendas to address urgent issues facing their communities. His book highlights the contingent production of discourse and shows how contemporary theories of rhetoric and textuality can be applied to the study of ancient texts. Jae Han is Assistant Professor in Religious Studies and the program for Judaic Studies at Brown University Michael Motia is a lecturer in the Religious Studies and Classics Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

In Prophets and Prophecy in the Late Antique Near East (Cambridge UP, 2023), Jae Han investigates how various Late Antique Near Eastern communities—Jews, Christians, Manichaeans, and philosophers—discussed prophets and revelation, among themselves and against each other. Bringing an interdisciplinary, historical approach to the topic, he interrogates how these communities used discourses of prophethood and revelation to negotiate their place in the world. Han tracks the shifting contours of prophecy and contextualizes the emergence of orality as the privileged medium among rabbis, Manichaeans, and 'Jewish Christian' communities. He also explores the contemporary interest in divinatory knowledge among Neoplatonists. Offering a critical re-reading of key Manichaean texts, Han shows how Manichaeans used concepts of prophethood and revelation within specific rhetorical agendas to address urgent issues facing their communities. His book highlights the contingent production of discourse and shows how contemporary theories of rhetoric and textuality can be applied to the study of ancient texts. Jae Han is Assistant Professor in Religious Studies and the program for Judaic Studies at Brown University Michael Motia is a lecturer in the Religious Studies and Classics Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies

In Prophets and Prophecy in the Late Antique Near East (Cambridge UP, 2023), Jae Han investigates how various Late Antique Near Eastern communities—Jews, Christians, Manichaeans, and philosophers—discussed prophets and revelation, among themselves and against each other. Bringing an interdisciplinary, historical approach to the topic, he interrogates how these communities used discourses of prophethood and revelation to negotiate their place in the world. Han tracks the shifting contours of prophecy and contextualizes the emergence of orality as the privileged medium among rabbis, Manichaeans, and 'Jewish Christian' communities. He also explores the contemporary interest in divinatory knowledge among Neoplatonists. Offering a critical re-reading of key Manichaean texts, Han shows how Manichaeans used concepts of prophethood and revelation within specific rhetorical agendas to address urgent issues facing their communities. His book highlights the contingent production of discourse and shows how contemporary theories of rhetoric and textuality can be applied to the study of ancient texts. Jae Han is Assistant Professor in Religious Studies and the program for Judaic Studies at Brown University Michael Motia is a lecturer in the Religious Studies and Classics Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Prophets and Prophecy in the Late Antique Near East (Cambridge UP, 2023), Jae Han investigates how various Late Antique Near Eastern communities—Jews, Christians, Manichaeans, and philosophers—discussed prophets and revelation, among themselves and against each other. Bringing an interdisciplinary, historical approach to the topic, he interrogates how these communities used discourses of prophethood and revelation to negotiate their place in the world. Han tracks the shifting contours of prophecy and contextualizes the emergence of orality as the privileged medium among rabbis, Manichaeans, and 'Jewish Christian' communities. He also explores the contemporary interest in divinatory knowledge among Neoplatonists. Offering a critical re-reading of key Manichaean texts, Han shows how Manichaeans used concepts of prophethood and revelation within specific rhetorical agendas to address urgent issues facing their communities. His book highlights the contingent production of discourse and shows how contemporary theories of rhetoric and textuality can be applied to the study of ancient texts. Jae Han is Assistant Professor in Religious Studies and the program for Judaic Studies at Brown University Michael Motia is a lecturer in the Religious Studies and Classics Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

In Prophets and Prophecy in the Late Antique Near East (Cambridge UP, 2023), Jae Han investigates how various Late Antique Near Eastern communities—Jews, Christians, Manichaeans, and philosophers—discussed prophets and revelation, among themselves and against each other. Bringing an interdisciplinary, historical approach to the topic, he interrogates how these communities used discourses of prophethood and revelation to negotiate their place in the world. Han tracks the shifting contours of prophecy and contextualizes the emergence of orality as the privileged medium among rabbis, Manichaeans, and 'Jewish Christian' communities. He also explores the contemporary interest in divinatory knowledge among Neoplatonists. Offering a critical re-reading of key Manichaean texts, Han shows how Manichaeans used concepts of prophethood and revelation within specific rhetorical agendas to address urgent issues facing their communities. His book highlights the contingent production of discourse and shows how contemporary theories of rhetoric and textuality can be applied to the study of ancient texts. Jae Han is Assistant Professor in Religious Studies and the program for Judaic Studies at Brown University Michael Motia is a lecturer in the Religious Studies and Classics Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

In Prophets and Prophecy in the Late Antique Near East (Cambridge UP, 2023), Jae Han investigates how various Late Antique Near Eastern communities—Jews, Christians, Manichaeans, and philosophers—discussed prophets and revelation, among themselves and against each other. Bringing an interdisciplinary, historical approach to the topic, he interrogates how these communities used discourses of prophethood and revelation to negotiate their place in the world. Han tracks the shifting contours of prophecy and contextualizes the emergence of orality as the privileged medium among rabbis, Manichaeans, and 'Jewish Christian' communities. He also explores the contemporary interest in divinatory knowledge among Neoplatonists. Offering a critical re-reading of key Manichaean texts, Han shows how Manichaeans used concepts of prophethood and revelation within specific rhetorical agendas to address urgent issues facing their communities. His book highlights the contingent production of discourse and shows how contemporary theories of rhetoric and textuality can be applied to the study of ancient texts. Jae Han is Assistant Professor in Religious Studies and the program for Judaic Studies at Brown University Michael Motia is a lecturer in the Religious Studies and Classics Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

In Prophets and Prophecy in the Late Antique Near East (Cambridge UP, 2023), Jae Han investigates how various Late Antique Near Eastern communities—Jews, Christians, Manichaeans, and philosophers—discussed prophets and revelation, among themselves and against each other. Bringing an interdisciplinary, historical approach to the topic, he interrogates how these communities used discourses of prophethood and revelation to negotiate their place in the world. Han tracks the shifting contours of prophecy and contextualizes the emergence of orality as the privileged medium among rabbis, Manichaeans, and 'Jewish Christian' communities. He also explores the contemporary interest in divinatory knowledge among Neoplatonists. Offering a critical re-reading of key Manichaean texts, Han shows how Manichaeans used concepts of prophethood and revelation within specific rhetorical agendas to address urgent issues facing their communities. His book highlights the contingent production of discourse and shows how contemporary theories of rhetoric and textuality can be applied to the study of ancient texts. Jae Han is Assistant Professor in Religious Studies and the program for Judaic Studies at Brown University Michael Motia is a lecturer in the Religious Studies and Classics Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

From the Gnostic Bible

“Unapologetic antisemitism—whether the incidents are few or numerous—is a college phenomenon because of what we teach, and how our teachings are exploited by malign actors.” That's a line you'd expect to hear from some right-wing activist or conservative think tank. Instead, it came from Harry Lewis, Harvard grad, Harvard professor, and former Harvard dean.  In his article “Reaping What We Have Taught,” Lewis took his own school to task:  When complex social and political histories are oversimplified in our teachings as Manichaean struggles—between oppressed people and their oppressors, the powerless and the powerful, the just and the wicked—a veneer of academic respectability is applied to the ugly old stereotype of Jews as evil but deviously successful people.  It's not easy in today's academic environment to point out the emperor has no clothes. Ideas have consequences, but so does courage. Let's hope others in ivory towers are willing to call out the dangerous ideas that control these institutions. 

On episode #58 of Josh's Worst Nightmare Oddcast, host Josh Schlossberg gets Manichaean with Daniel Braum, author of THE SERPENT'S SHADOW, as they explore nature's darkness and light.

What is the difference between the Catholic and the Manichaean account of evil? St. Augustine anticipates his meeting with Faustus, the Bishop of the Manichaeans. He prepares to ask Faustus many questions, hoping for understanding and truth. Fr. Gregory Pine and Fr. Jacob-Bertrand Janczyk explain what heresy is and the background of the Manichaean sect. Today's readings are Book 5, Chapters 1-4. To get your copy of the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/catholicclassics or text "CONFESSIONS" to 33-777. Please note: The Confessions of St. Augustine contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Last time we spoke about the conclusion of the first Sino-Japanese War and we took a side trip speaking about overseas Chinese in the 19th century. The treaty of Shimonoseki ended the war between Japan and the Qing dynasty. The Qing dynasty was humiliated yet again, but so too was Japan because of the triple intervention of Germany, France and Russia. The balance of power in the east had shifted dramatically. Such dramatic change that was seen in the 19th century led to massive emigration within and outside of China. The wealthy and common Chinese people wanted to improve their lives and they moved within China seeking lands to farm and outside China seeking new opportunities. Overseas Chinese were heavily influenced by the great Gold Rushes of the 19th century and of course the colossal railway projects. In many ways it was a dark part of the histories of numerous nations, but in the end it was also the beginning of a new international community.     #56 This episode it's not always sunny in Shandong   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Shandong, anytime you hear about a conflict in Chinese history it always seems to originate with Shandong. Indeed Shandong has been at the heart of an unbelievable number of conflicts, it just always seems to be the birthing place for trouble, but hell it always gave us Confucious. Not going to lie, this is going to be a bit of a bizarre episode. The purpose of this episode is to somewhat explain, how certain groups emerge historically because….well of just a place. Shandong is unique, its been at the heart of so many events. We are soon going to be jumping into another major event in Chinese history, but to best tell how it comes about, I wanted to cover the origin of those responsible. It just so happens where the majority of these people come from, that is northwest Shandong by the way, makes for quite a story. So let us explore Shandong and perhaps touch just a bit, like a teaser upon a group of people that will become known to the western world as the Boxers. In the late 19th century Shandong held an enormous population, cereal agriculture and numerous impoverished villages. The climate of the region could go from just above freezing for the winter months and blazingly hot and humid for the summer months. China took its time modernizing as we all know, so the peasants of Shandong had to rely mostly on mother nature for irrigation and mother nature in China could be quite cruel. Floods were common, so were droughts. Shandong is quite diverse, its eastern portion was very productive, producing grain, fruits and vegetables. Its streams carried gold dust which was panned by locals. It was part of an ancient silk-raising region. Along the peninsula was a relative immunity to natural disasters. Landlords were more plentiful here than Shandongs western half and it held numerous important port cities like Qingdao which today produces Tsingtao beer, one of my favorites. Commerce was quite bountiful in the port cities and by far and large the peninsula and northern slope of eastern shandong were the most developed parts of the province. In the mid 19th century 58% of Shandongs provincial degree holders came from either the northern slope or peninsula. However when you look at the northwest plains of Shandong province you begin to see a discrepancy. Stretching across the entire region north of the Yellow River, held one of the most populous regions, with 250 people per square kilometer covering around 26% of Shandongs land area. 93% or so of these people were peasants and the region was purely agricultural, but it could be described as anything but prosperous. Average yields were the lowest of any region in Shandong, reflecting the persistent problems of waterlogging and salinity of the soil. The northwest was prone to natural disasters. The yellow river became quite problematic to this region in the 1880s. The bed of the river had risen above ground level through most of Shandong, and the floods became increasingly bad. Though bad, the yellow river was not the only source of misery for northwest Shandong. Lesser streams frequently caused local floodings and as funny as it sounds, too much water was an issue, but often it was too little that brought upon real calamity. In 1876 a terrible drought was said to have carried off nearly 2 million people. 10 years later, famine hit again, truly making Northwest Shandong a disaster area. As bad as mother nature could be, man could also be problemsome.  West of Jinan is an imperial highway that runs north and south. It passed into the province of Dezhou, then through Haotang and Chiping before crossing the yellow river's northern course at Dong'e. This area since ancient times saw numerous invading armies cross it from north to south. The Mongols used it and then the Manchu in a similar fashion. It was ripe also for rebels to take up shop. As we saw, the Taiping's northern expedition in the mid 1850's brought them into Shandong, when they attempted to hit Beijing. But Prince Sengge Rinchen managed to turn away the Taiping, ironically by flooding them out. The Nian rebels likewise raided Shandong, first in its southwest, but then in its northwest by the late 1860's. Even the White Lotus Rebellion saw much spreading in the region. It was often said by travelers that this area “suffered quite as much from the imperial soldiers as they did from the rebels, and at times even worse”. With such conditions it was no surprise numerous rebels and bandits would emerge. Banditry was an important part of both northwest and southwest Shandong. It was prevalent especially along the southern border with Zhili were bands of around 8-13 men would often perform highway robbery. Roving bandits would prey upon innocent villages, with the prime time being winter as most of these men were not full time bandits, oh no most had homes and grew crops, it was seasonal work. One account in July of 1897 had this to say “the season when highwaymen are especially numerous and dangerous is upon us. The kaoliang is in its prime, and being 7 or 8 feet high and very thick affords a most convenient ambush. It is unsafe to travel alone even in daylight over lonely roads”.  Now northwest shandong was disaster prone leading to barely any landlords. The region was simply not wealthy enough to support many landlords. Poverty and peasantry was the norm. It was not unheard of for entire villages to take up the road, carrying entire families of men, women and children begging for food. There was a ton of mobility, and a lot of young men would sell themselves as laborers to make ends meet. There was a constant migration of people in northwest Shandong because of the harsh conditions. All of these conditions lent the region into a certain mentality. Now Shandong is the birthplace of both Confucious and Mencius, the very foundation of orthodoxy in China, so why do so many rebellions seem to spurt up here? Confucian tradition holds that a ruler should educate, and lead people to do what is right. But Shandong has historically been seen to be a stubborn place for sectarianism, especially during the Qing dynasty. Something Qing officials took notice of, was how rebellions often came about with the marriage of a sect, take for example the White Lotus and martial arts, which we can also refer to as boxing. The Ming had set a law against Heterodoxy which the Qing adopted, it proscribed a penalty of strangulation for the leaders and banishment of 3000 li distance for followers. Here is a passage of the laws “all teachers and shamans who call down heterodox gods [jiang xieshen, write charms, [chant] incantations [to make] water [magically efficacious: zhou-shui], perform planchette and pray to sages, calling themselves duan-gong (First Lord), tai-bao (Great Protector) or shi-po (shamaness); and those who wildly call themselves the White Lotus Society of the Buddha Maitreya, the Ming-zun [Manichaean?] sect, or the White Cloud Assembly with their heretical and heterodox [zuo-daoyi-duan] techniques; or those who hide pictures [of heterodox gods or patriarchs] and gather in groups to burn incense, meeting at night and dispersing at dawn, pretending to do good works but [actually] arousing and misleading the people” So as you can see with this passage, the law made it clear that incantations or charms were particularly concerning to the Qing court. Mere worship was tolerated or at least treated leniently. But what was definitely not ok was the formation of hierarchies, such as master and disciples, or the use of lets say magic. These actions were seen as instrumental to providing the organization needed for subversive activity, ie rebellions. In the early Qing days, these prohibitions were pretty effective, while sectarian worship still flourished, at least no rebellions were kicking off. However by the late 18th century things began to change, rebellions emerged. Now I spoke extensively about the White Lotus Rebellion, but there were two other significant rebellions took place around this time, the Wang Lun rebellion of 1774 and the eight Trigrams uprising of 1813. Both broke out in the Shandong region and both involved significant participation from martial arts groups, more notably both involved those known as Yi-he-quan, aka those who the west would call Boxers by 1898.  The Qing noted the persistence of sectarianism in Shandong, the province was a major source of what was called ‘meditational sects” built upon the White Lotus tradition. These meditational sects had no great halls, sutras or views, they usually were just people prescribing certain diets. They stressed meditation and breathing exercises, sometimes with recitation of incantations. They were pretty simplistic, groups with rituals based around certain times of the day. Both the Wang Lun rebellion and eight Trigrams uprising were begun by these so called “meditational sects”. Wang Lun was a former Yaman runner who managed to get rich working as a healer in Shouzhang county in southwest Shandong. He was the leader of the White Lotus sect in Shandong province in the 1770s. He was a self-taught physician and a martial arts master. He taught his followers yoga, meditation and  the ability to fast for long periods of time. Honestly you could really call these people modern day yogi's. His sect was noted for their fasting techniques and martial arts prowess. By 1774 his sect numbered several thousand. It was in this year, Wang Lun began spreading rumors of an impending turn of the Kalpa. In the Hindu and Buddhist faiths, Kalpa refers to a period of time between creation and the recreation of the universe. He was telling his converts that the reincarnation of Maitreya was upon them, and he was destined to become the Emperor of China. He mobilized his followers and marched upon the city of Shouzhang on October 3rd of 1774. With some help from followers already inside the city, the rebels seized it and ransacked everything they could. The rebels held Shouzhang for a few days before abandoning it to attack the city of Yangku. Yangku was easily captured as its local garrison had just been sent to relieve Shouzhang. From there the rebels captured Tangyi and Liulin before marching upon the larger city of Linqing. By this point the rebels had defeated multiple Qing forces and rumors spread this sect were utilizing invulnerability magic. Many officials in Linqing fled in fear of this. For weeks Wang Lun's forces besieged the city, but the Qing defenders led by Qing Zhanhun resisted their attacks. Wang Lun's forces soon were surrounded and Wang Lun elected to burn himself alive rather than surrender. The Eight Trigrams rebellion was a short lived revolt that broke out in Zhili, Henan and of course Shandong. It too was a sub branch of the White Lotus, led by 3 notable figures. The Eight Trigram sect goes back to the late 17th century of the Ming Dynasty founded by Liu Zuochen and the Liu family of Shandong which maintain it for decades. It was the first folk religion to develop civil and martial work methods, this is referred to as “wen and wu” a conceptual pair in Chinese philosophy, referring to civil and military realms for governance. They believed in meditation techniques to overcome human limits, to reach salvation. They were organized into eight trigrams and predicted a time of troubles and a new kalpa and mobilized themselves through master-disciple relationships. A major component of them was practicing martial arts.  Now like I said during this rebellion they had 3 leaders, the first was Lin Qing who was described as a hustler who loved gambling and took on some odds jobs like being a night watchman, an enforcer, and even a minor healer. Eventually he took over a small white lotus sect and in 1811 he met Li Wen-cheng who at the time was trying to assume leadership over a larger white lotus sect network spanning across Henan, Zhili and Shandong. Both Lin and Li were inspired by the appearance of a comet in 1811 that they believed was a sign that they could topple the Qing dynasty. They also met Feng Keshan who was a martial arts master, who was not really interested in their crazy religious stuff, but he was seen to be a great leader in his own right and he joined them as a means of recruiting followers from boxing groups within Henan, Zhili and Shandong. In July of 1813 the main leaders of the eight trigrams met and discussed a date for a rebellion. What really began their necessity to rebel, was a series of droughts and floods that had brought upon a famine which in turn led to a sharp increase in the price of wheat. The emperor at the time had scheduled a hunting trip on September 15th, so the rebels knew the Forbidden city would be lightly guarded. The plan called for ambushing the Emperor as he was coming back from the trip, just outside the city. Qing court officials heard rumors of the planned rebellion and quickly arrested Li Wen-cheng on September 2nd. They began torturing him, but soon his followers broke in and rescued him. The rebellion was then pushed forward and the Eight Trigrams quickly seized Huaxin, Dingtao and Caoxian in southern Zhili and Shandong. Lin Qing took charge of an attack upon the forbidden city, although he notably did not participate in the attack. The rebels hid in ships outside the eastern and western palace gates as Lin paid off palace eunuchs to lead his forces through the gates. The rebels wore white cloths around their heads and waists and were armed mostly with knives or iron bars. They tried to attack during a mealtime when they assumed the guards would be eating. The Emperor at this time was around 50 miles away from the city walls. Around 80 rebels managed to get through the gates before they were closed and fighting erupted inside. With the element of surprise lost, the rebels soon routed as the Imperial guards brigade hunted them down. Several thousand supported continued to besiege cities for months, but all would be suppressed in January of 1814.  Li Wen-chang along with 4000 followers died while besieging Huixian. Over 20,000 or so eight trigram members would be killed and an estimated 70,000 people would die as a result of the short rebellion. So Shandong was kind of a breeding ground for sects, particularly from the White Lotus faith. Shandong also was a place notable for martial arts. As early as the Song dynasty, the people of Shandong were noted for being warlike and brave. Their reputation only strengthen with time. During the late 19th century a western source labeled the people of shandong “Warlike, industrious and intelligent. The natives of Shantung [Shandong] ... whose overflow has peopled the rich lands of Manchuria, enjoy the finest record for both physical and moral qualities. It is from them the Chinese navy drew its best recruits; it is they who proved their prowess either as brigands or as a self-reliant and self-defended exploiters of the resources of Liaotung [Liaodong] and Manchuria.” It was not just westerners who took notice of Shandong's martial arts prowess, the Qing dynasty looked to Shandong often for its military. Shandong was an area of China that had seen repeated invasions, take out a map of China, you see it immediately, anyone who comes from the north pretty much has to go through shandong. Repeated invasions by forces from the north encouraged the development of martial habits in self defense, add natural and human disasters that continuously disrupted the social order, and you eventually end up with bandits. The people who settled in shandong had to deal with constant banditry and attacks from invaders. Shandong also had a greater military/civil ratio than most provinces. From 1851-1900 the northwest ratio was around 1.22 to 1 and the southwest 2.38 to 1 while the ratio for the entire province was around .57 to 1. And those areas with the higher rations just so happen to be the areas where boxers and members of the Big Sword society emerged. We will talk more about them later. The martial arts tradition of western shandong spawned numerous martial arts groups. There was a popular culture which stressed military virtues, boxing and swordsmanship. Seeing martial arts teachers displaying their prowess in the market places was a very common sight. In 1899 the Zhili magistrate Lae Nai-xuan wrote a pamphlet urging the prohibition of boxers and he wrote about certain martial arts groups along the borders of Jiangsu, Anhu, Henan and Shandong.  “In this area there are many vagabonds and rowdies (wu-lai gun-tu) who draw their swords and gather crowds. They have established societies of various names: the Obedient Swords (Shun-dao hui), Tiger-tail Whip (Huwei bian), the Yi-he Boxers,* and Eight Trigrams Sect (Ba-gua jiao). They are overbearing in the villages and oppress the good people. The origin of these disturbances is gambling. They go to fairs and markets and openly set up tents where they take valuables in pawn and gather to gamble. They [also] conspire with yamen clerks who act as their eyes and ears. “ The people Lai Nai-xuan are describing are the Yi-he-quan Boxers. Who the hell are these guys? These were young men, the type to gamble, drink, perform petty crime to get by, the thuggish types. They most often than naught were bandits, involved in things like salt smuggling. As seen with the Wang Lun and the eight trigrams rebellions, these types of young men practicing boxing were greatly sought after as followers, so sects often created civil and military like divisions to attract them. Adding martial arts to a sect's repertoire could help greatly to recruit. Take the White Lotus sect overall, many of its members, perhaps the majority were historically women. Females were much less likely to take an active role in violence, so white lotus leaders who were usually always looking to start a rebellion began seeing the necessity to recruit able bodied young men, those who knew some boxing to get things cooking. Boxing was often used as a way of luring people into sect activities. It was also a deceptive little trick. If a sect members was teaching youth boxing, it did not necessarily mean they were followers of his sect, it was like a foot in the door process. Thus Shandong was the breeding grounds for both sects and boxers, who often intermingled.  Another interesting thing that has a lot of roots in Shandong is the long history of invulnerability rituals. When rebels kicked up, they were as you can imagine met with force by the Qing authorities. Facing well armed Qing soldiers, rebels often tried to enhance the fighting capabilities of their followers by the use of magic, specifically invulnerability magic. This goes back to ancient times of course, but the advent of firearms from the west during the 17th century really enhanced the appearance of such magic. Several rebel groups during the Ming dynasty would use the allegedly polluting power of women to stop gunfire from walled cities that were being besieged. Wang Lun famous used large numbers of women who would attempt summoning goddesses to prevent the approach of bullets or stop guns from firing. The eight trigrams rebellion used a particularly invulnerability technique known as “jin-zhon-zhao / the armor of the golden bell”. This technique would later be famously employed by the Big Swords society, again future episodes will delve into this more. The technique was a form of kung-fu that employed “Qigong”. Qigong is a system of coordinating body-posturing, like movement, breathing and meditation. Those performing it would perform breathing exercises which they claimed helped protect their bodies against blades and even bullets as if a large bell was covering their body. Some who practiced this would chant incantations like “a song does not tell his father; a father does not tell his son”. During the mid 19th century rebellions were tearing China apart. The Taiping, Nian, local white lotus were all hitting different parts of China simultaneously. By 1860 the Qing government was cracking down left right and center, increasing land taxes to support the suppressing efforts. In 1861, in Qiu county, the very extreme edge of western Shandong saw rebels rise up, a majority of them were of the white lotus.  They were joined by martial artists of the Black Flag Army under the leadership of Song Jing-shi a professional boxer and swordsman who made a living as a highway escort, like a armed guard for wealthy nobles.  Unlike the previous rebellions that had marriages between boxers and sects, these rebellions in the mid 19th century brought upon a new flavor, an anti-manchu one. The Taiping and Nian rebellions inspired a vigorous hate against the Manchu, particularly against the corrupt officials that made up their dynasty. Certainly when the Qing began to suppress the rebels, it led to a ravaging of the countryside seeing flocks of boxers join the rebels in response. While many boxers joined such rebels, others would join the Qing to combat them as well. In 1861, Song Jing-shi was forced to surrender to the Qing and he would claim he only joined the rebellion because he and his followers were facing persecution by yamen runners. He then offered his services against the rebels, but he had one condition, that his forces would stay intact. His forces indeed fought against the Nian rebels, marching into Henan. The Qing asked him and his followers to go to Shaanxi to fight them there, but he elected to take his men to western Shandong where his original base was and just rebelled again. The story of Song Jing-shi showcases how martial artists and sectarians were a mainstream aspect of peasantry life in shandong. The participation of boxers on the side of rebels and the government shows it was really part of the social fabric of the region. Western Shandong by the late Qing period saw greater numbers of military examination graduates. Boxing was becoming much more popular as a recreation for youthful men and a means of protecting one's home. As one Gazetter said “The local people like to practice the martial arts—especially to the west of Linqing. There are many schools: Shao-lin, Plum Flower and Greater and Lesser Hong Boxing. Their weapons are spears, swords, staff and mace. They specialize in one technique and compete with one another” . In rural villages of Shandong you would see what “ying-shen saihui / inviting the gods to a performance”. This can be described as a sort of opera, where a center for attention was erected. Shows would be put on to benefit the local temple gods, large tents went up and people came from all around for some good ol' R & R. Relatives from surrounding villages would come and drink, eat, gamble, have fun and such. And here at these opera places, many boxers would showcase their skills. Many of the gods being worshiped were military figures, especially for western shandong. Marital themes of the Water Margin, the romance of the 3 kingdoms and enfeoffment of the gods were notably loved spectacles. It was all a blend of social drama and theater and it was a beloved part of communities, and something they wanted to protect, and to protect it they had Boxers. Young men began studying martial arts to protect their communities, leading to things like crop watching associations. Poverty was getting worse and worse by the late 19th century, driving more into banditry and thus more boxers emerged to counter balance them. The late Qing dynasty would see an increase in military applicants from Shandong and it seems boxing was pushing it. Boxing was a popular part of the culture in Shandong, particularly in its western half and this led itself to providing the dynasty with good soldiers. The boxers were tolerated, hell they kind of became seen as defenders of local communities. But as the 19th century saw many internal rebellions, it also saw external threats. The British, French, Russians, and Japanese, amongst others, were encroaching and humiliating China. The threat of western imperialism would prove to be the final ingredient to see the rise of a new sort of movement. After the first opium war, 5 treaty ports were opened in China, but they were most confined the the southern and southeastern coast. Then the second opium war opened major ports in the north, like Tianjin and Chefoo along the Shandong peninsula in 1862. The Boxer movement was thus introduced to foreigners. Foreign cotton textiles began to enter Shandong through these ports, increasing during the 1880s and much more so during the 1890s. Despite the disruption of the first sino-Japanese war, cotton textile imports in Shandong rose rapidly. The increase in textile imports was seriously interfering with Shandong home grown textiles. In 1866 the Commissioner of customs at Yantai noted that the native Shandong textiles were "very good and durable, and are largely used in this province." Twenty years later, this same port reported that "the increase in its [cotton yarn's] import is said to be seriously interfering with the local industry ofspinning, which affords a means of support to many poor women." Then  in 1887, the same commissioner reported that "I gather that the reeling of Native Cotton Yarn in this province is almost at a standstill." Foreign imports were having a disastrous effect particularly on northwest Shandong. The war with Japan hit the Shandong peninsula when the Japanese attacked weihaiwei. Qing forces were rushed northward and to the coast from interior parts of Shandong. The wars primary affect on Shandong was stripping it of its garrison forces as more and more men were sent to the front. This left a power vacuum in which two types of forces emerged; bandits and self defense forces, such as the Big Sword Society. When the war came to an end it provided dramatic evidence the Qing government was incompetent. There was a immediate feeling that China was breaking apart and that the Great Powers intended to carve it up for themselves. You all probably have seen the famous painting showing the great world powers leaders carving into china. 1897-1898 saw what we call the scramble for concessions and this was a very real crisis. Every since the opium wars, Christian missionaries gradually flooded China. In Shandong, catholic missionaries began at first in secret to convert the Chinese, by 1850 its estimated there were nearly 6000. By the late 19th century this grew to 16,850 in 1887 and during the 1890's it rose up dramatically to 47,221. The catholics remained in western Shandong and parts of Zhili while protestants grew along Shandongs coast around the treaty ports. The converts began to gain advantages with foreigners and this was met with resentment from those non christians around them. The church would intervene countless times in China's domestic politics and justice. The missionaries were protected and held extraterritoriality provisions from the many treaties of the 19th century. Their converts would also by extension be able to use some rights. For example if a convert Chinese stated they were being oppressed because of their faith, the foreign missionaries could intervene, and this was most definitely a system that was exploited. The missionaries would often intervene in any sort of temporal dispute, but the most common exploit was converts using their christianity to escape government punishments. Who else do you think would convert to Christianity to escape punishment, well bandits of course. In western shandong, bandits began seeking the protection of the church. So all of the sectarian groups that had been flourishing alongside the boxer groups were decaying and sought Christianity for protection. Likewise bandits would seek the same protection. The Boxers were losing their sense of being, those who they often aligned with to protect were seeking alternatives, and those they were protecting them from, were seeking the same thing. It looked to many of these youthful men that the missionaries were evil and ruining their lives. The situation was ripe for a major conflict. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Shandong, why is it always Shandong? It's sort of reminiscent of Bismarck talking about the balkans before WW1. Shandong was producing youthful men, who were watching their nation decay, and at some point enough would be enough.  

This is part 16 of the Early Church History class. Jerome and Augustine are two of the most influential Latin Christians of the first millennium of Christianity. This episode will introduce you to their lives, personalities, and some of their most important ideas. You'll see how significantly asceticism affected their lifestyles as well as how their particular take on Christianity came to set the norm for Roman Catholic Christianity. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtNF5-rvmwU&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV2lk3B0I7Pa77hfwKJm1SRI&index=16&pp=iAQB —— Links —— More Restitutio resources on Christian history See other classes here Support Restitutio by donating here Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here —— Notes —— Jerome's Life (347-419) Actual name: Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus Excellent Latin education, highly intelligent Learned Greek and Hebrew Lived as a hermit in the Syrian desert 382-385 - served as secretary to Pope Damasus I, bishop of Rome Jerome's Asceticism Believed everyone should be celibate Worked a lot with wealthy widows from the senatorial class and their daughters Thought the only benefit from marriage was the production of more virgins After Paula's daughter Blaesilla died, he moved to Bethlehem. Spent his time engaging in controversies by letter, translating the Bible and other literature into Latin, and writing commentaries on scripture Jerome's Writings Though deeply influenced by classical literature, especially Cicero, he advocated reading only the Bible and Christian literature. Worked on the Vulgate (382-405) Became the dominant Latin Bible for the Roman Catholic Church from 600 onwards; though in Jerome's day, many still preferred a translation of the Septuagint (including Augustine) Translated Origen's On First Principles, Pachomius' Rule, and Eusebius' Historical Chronicle into Latin Lives of Illustrious Men provides short biographies of many early Christians. Commentaries on many books of the Bible Augustine's Early Life (354-430) Grew up in North Africa with a Christian mother, Monica, and a pagan father, Patrick Had an excellent education in Carthage Particularly influenced by Cicero's dialogues, especially his Hortensius Became a teacher of rhetoric in Rome, then Milan Augustine's Sexual Life Stealing pears as a teenager “I was burning to find satisfaction… I ran wild in the shadowy jungle of erotic adventures.” (Confessions 2.1.1)[1] At Carthage, he said, “All around me hissed a cauldron of illicit loves.” (Confessions 3.1.1) Took a concubine from a lower class and lived with her for 13 years and had a son with her, Adeodatus His mother convinced him to send his concubine away so he could be eligible to marry a well-born woman. Couldn't live chastely in the interval and took another concubine Augustine's Journey to Christianity Had encountered the scriptures but said they “seemed to me unworthy in comparison with the dignity of Cicero” (Confessions 3.5.9) Became a Manichaean for 9 years Believed in Astrology for a long while Found great satisfaction in Neo-Platonism, especially the writings of Plotinus and Porphyry Checked out Bishop Ambrose just to listen to his rhetoric and was impressed Heard a voice saying, “Pick up and read [tolle, lege]” and opened to Romans 13.13-14 387 - Ambrose baptized Augustine and Adeodatus Augustine's Bishopric (395-430) Became bishop of Hippo Regius and served for 35 years Preached regularly, held court twice a week, counselled people Engaged in many controversies with Manichaeans, Donatists, Pelagians, and pagans. Augustine's Writings Wrote approximately five million words Confessions: an autobiography City of God: responds to Alaric's sack of Rome in 410 as well as lays out extensive interpretation of the Bible and key doctrines On the Trinity: defended the Trinity and explained it philosophically Also, many letters, commentaries, and treatises Augustine's Thought Original sin passed down a corrupted nature incapable of doing good. God predestined the elect to be saved. The elect go to heaven to live eternally. The damned go to hell to be tormented eternally. Augustine's Influence Probably the most influential Christian of the first millennium Codified Catholic doctrine that held sway throughout the Middle Ages Martin Luther was himself an Augustinian monk, and the Reformation was largely a return to Augustinian Christianity. Review Jerome and Augustine were influential Christians who shaped Christianity in the fifth century. Both received excellent educations and voluntarily chose ascetic, celibate lifestyles. Both were influenced by Origen, especially his allegorical hermeneutic. Jerome's translation of the Bible into Latin from Hebrew and Greek--the Vulgate--became the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church. Augustine had a fraught and lengthy battle with lust that eventually led him to celibacy. Augustine was a Manichean, a believer in astrology, and a Neo-Platonist before he became a Christian. Augustine battled Manicheans, Donatists, Pelagians, and Pagans throughout his career. He advocated original sin, infant baptism, eternal life in heaven, eternal torment in hell, predestination of the elect, and celibate clergy. More than anyone else in the first thousand years, Augustine's thought influenced Roman Catholic doctrine. To a degree, the Reformation itself was a return to Augustinian Christianity. [1] All quotes from Confessions from Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, trans. Henry Chadwick (New York: Oxford, 1998).

Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS6mHBwRaf8 When a police detective, hunting a serial killer, gets too close, the killer murders his wife and two children, sending him into a downward spiral of alcohol, suicide, and a near-death experience where God tells him to become a priest. Years later the serial killer reappears – in his confessional. From the Screenwriter: Good vs. Evil Not in the more orthodox religious view of Christianity, but in a Manichaean vision Norman Mailer discussed in my film, “Norman Mailer: The Sanction to Write.” The Manichaeans saw God and the Devil as brothers caught up in a battle til the end of time – a battle of good vs. evil. There exist an important third element at play and that is mankind, human beings. How we act (for good or for evil) will determine if God or the Devil wins. So as humans we bear an awesome responsibility, a terrifying duty, in determining the outcome of this cosmic battle. You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it's only $3.99 per month. Subscribe to the podcast: https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod https://www.instagram.com/wildsoundpod/ https://www.facebook.com/wildsoundpod

The American tendency in foreign affairs to think in Manichaean terms is exemplified by the Biden Administration's democracy-versus-autocracy lens. Yet such thinking can result in a failure of imagination, says Robert D. Kaplan, which he believes explains his own regretted support for the 2003 Iraq War. Kaplan joins host Richard Aldous to discuss his new book, The Tragic Mind: Fear, Fate, and the Burden of Power (https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300263862/the-tragic-mind/), an exploration of why the Greeks believed anarchy to be worse than tyranny.

There's a spiritual saying, an axiom of wisdom, that's been meaningful to millions of people spanning many centuries, scriptures, spiritual classics, languages, nations, and several world religions from West to East, East to West. This saying was quoted by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament but it's been a mystery as to what exactly the source was for his quote. Today, we find out the origin of this saying, and get to hear various versions of this saying as it appears again and again in so many ancient texts, traveling far and wide, passing through Jewish, Rabbinical... also many Christian Apocryphal Writings. A version of it is even attributed to Jesus, and by this I don't just mean in The Gospel of Thomas but in many other sources as well, and I will explore many of those as they appear in other early Christian writings. Other versions also turn up in Egypt, Ethiopia, the Mesopotamian region, in Gnostic, Mandaean, Manichaean scriptures, Suras of the Quran, a couple of Hadiths, and there's even similar versions to be found in the writings of Kabir, Guru Nanak, and other sources in India.   This wisdom saying is central to the spiritual journey as it pertains to The Spiritual Seeing and Spiritual Hearing Capacity of Souls, and being initiated into the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Master says, "I will Give You, What the Eye Has Not Seen, What the Ear Has Not Heard" - Solving the Mystery of an Ancient Saying... today on this Spiritual Awakening Radio podcast. I will turn this into a satsang and include related teachings from Kirpal Singh and others... on spiritual seeing and hearing that which is inconceivable to the average human mind, what has typically not occurred to the heart of man.   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhaswami, James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

“In religion, ethics, philosophy, and psychology "good and evil" is a very common dichotomy. In cultures with Manichaean and Abrahamic religious influence, evil is perceived as the dualistic antagonistic opposite of good, in which good should prevail and evil should be defeated.[1] In cultures with Buddhist spiritual influence, both good and evil are perceived as part of an antagonistic duality that itself must be overcome through achieving Śūnyatā meaning emptiness in the sense of recognition of good and evil being two opposing principles but not a reality, emptying the duality of them, and achieving a oneness.[1].” By the way, one-sided sex in organized crime is bad and at times, I had one-sided self in college. I no longer have one-sided sex. “Spill it” means explain yourself in organized crime, but “spill it” is harmless outside of organized crime. I was forced to shoot twenty-five guys in the rib cages by human traffickers who put a gun to my five-year old head, but they all survived. The victims got the traffickers jailed, and chose not to report me because I didn't purposefully shoot them. I never fired kill shots in the temple region. I was forced to rob people at gunpoint by some human traffickers, but I would quickly them all of their stuff back before we left each other's physical presences. The robbery victims were able to imprison those human traffickers, and keep me out of their law enforcement reporting because I didn't purposefully shoot them. I never robbed a female and I never shot a female and I never purposefully struck a female. I never fought a female physically. I never aimed at a female when it came to deadly weapons and my body. There are church people being accused, indicted, arraigned, processed, arrested, prosecuted, imprisoned, death penalty sentenced, in witness protection programs, experiencing witness immunity, and having whistleblower protection. I knew people living all of these exact same realities within organized crime. Some witnesses were victims of violence and murder (in jail and outside of jail), but most survived and were well-protected in jail and outside of jail. “Living large” and luxurious attire both happen within organized crime (church criminals and non-church criminals). In organized crime, restraining orders are real and court-orders are real. Both were violated even violently and murderously, but for the most part, but were honored. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/antonio-myers4/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/antonio-myers4/support

"Memories of Betrayal and Betrayal of Memory: Narratives of Defeat in Chile and Argentina" Yosa Vidal Collados, PhD candidate, Romance Languages, and 2022–23 OHC Dissertation Fellow "My dissertation questions the current cultural boom of fictional and non-fictional works on the politics of memory, characterized by a Manichaean rhetoric of heroes versus enemies, heroes versus traitors. Analyzing a testimony, a graphic novel, and a play, I argue that representations of betrayal, often evoking terrible forms of torture and suffering, allow us to critique a patriarchal and epic vision of the traumatic past in the Global South."

This lecture discusses key ideas from the early Christian theologian John Chrysostom's Homily 16 on the Gospel of Matthew This episode focuses specifically on his discussion of the old law of the Hebrew scriptures and the new law of the precepts given by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Chrysostom argues against potential Jewish interlocutors that the new precepts effectively expand the old law, and against Manichaean (and other Gnostic) opponents that the old law is good. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO - or at BuyMeACoffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/A4quYdWoM You can find over 2000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler (Amazon links are associate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)

What is freedom? If we are free, why do we feel anxiety? How do I relate to the world? Saint Augustine of Hippo asked himself these questions around 400 AD as he wrote Confessions—indeed, as he lived his life. At various points in his life, Augustine was a Manichaean, a Platonist, an academic, a father, and a thief. He was on a quest for truth, an understanding of himself as an individual and a human being. Augustine wrote this text in his forties when he was a bishop. Formally speaking, it is a prayer, a confession to God, but it also an extremely influential philosophical text and one of the earliest ever autobiographies. Columbia Professor Dhananjay Jagannathan discusses the huge existential questions that Augustine tackled and the conclusions he drew that have influenced modern philosophy. Dhananjay Jagannathan is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. His research focuses on ancient Greek and Roman philosophy and the history of ethics, and he is currently writing a book on Aristotle's moral epistemology. See more information on our website, WritLarge.fm. Follow us on Twitter @WritLargePod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

What is freedom? If we are free, why do we feel anxiety? How do I relate to the world? Saint Augustine of Hippo asked himself these questions around 400 AD as he wrote Confessions—indeed, as he lived his life. At various points in his life, Augustine was a Manichaean, a Platonist, an academic, a father, and a thief. He was on a quest for truth, an understanding of himself as an individual and a human being. Augustine wrote this text in his forties when he was a bishop. Formally speaking, it is a prayer, a confession to God, but it also an extremely influential philosophical text and one of the earliest ever autobiographies. Columbia Professor Dhananjay Jagannathan discusses the huge existential questions that Augustine tackled and the conclusions he drew that have influenced modern philosophy. Dhananjay Jagannathan is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. His research focuses on ancient Greek and Roman philosophy and the history of ethics, and he is currently writing a book on Aristotle's moral epistemology. See more information on our website, WritLarge.fm. Follow us on Twitter @WritLargePod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies

What is freedom? If we are free, why do we feel anxiety? How do I relate to the world? Saint Augustine of Hippo asked himself these questions around 400 AD as he wrote Confessions—indeed, as he lived his life. At various points in his life, Augustine was a Manichaean, a Platonist, an academic, a father, and a thief. He was on a quest for truth, an understanding of himself as an individual and a human being. Augustine wrote this text in his forties when he was a bishop. Formally speaking, it is a prayer, a confession to God, but it also an extremely influential philosophical text and one of the earliest ever autobiographies. Columbia Professor Dhananjay Jagannathan discusses the huge existential questions that Augustine tackled and the conclusions he drew that have influenced modern philosophy. Dhananjay Jagannathan is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. His research focuses on ancient Greek and Roman philosophy and the history of ethics, and he is currently writing a book on Aristotle's moral epistemology. See more information on our website, WritLarge.fm. Follow us on Twitter @WritLargePod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is freedom? If we are free, why do we feel anxiety? How do I relate to the world? Saint Augustine of Hippo asked himself these questions around 400 AD as he wrote Confessions—indeed, as he lived his life. At various points in his life, Augustine was a Manichaean, a Platonist, an academic, a father, and a thief. He was on a quest for truth, an understanding of himself as an individual and a human being. Augustine wrote this text in his forties when he was a bishop. Formally speaking, it is a prayer, a confession to God, but it also an extremely influential philosophical text and one of the earliest ever autobiographies. Columbia Professor Dhananjay Jagannathan discusses the huge existential questions that Augustine tackled and the conclusions he drew that have influenced modern philosophy. Dhananjay Jagannathan is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. His research focuses on ancient Greek and Roman philosophy and the history of ethics, and he is currently writing a book on Aristotle's moral epistemology. See more information on our website, WritLarge.fm. Follow us on Twitter @WritLargePod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

What is freedom? If we are free, why do we feel anxiety? How do I relate to the world? Saint Augustine of Hippo asked himself these questions around 400 AD as he wrote Confessions—indeed, as he lived his life. At various points in his life, Augustine was a Manichaean, a Platonist, an academic, a father, and a thief. He was on a quest for truth, an understanding of himself as an individual and a human being. Augustine wrote this text in his forties when he was a bishop. Formally speaking, it is a prayer, a confession to God, but it also an extremely influential philosophical text and one of the earliest ever autobiographies. Columbia Professor Dhananjay Jagannathan discusses the huge existential questions that Augustine tackled and the conclusions he drew that have influenced modern philosophy. Dhananjay Jagannathan is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. His research focuses on ancient Greek and Roman philosophy and the history of ethics, and he is currently writing a book on Aristotle's moral epistemology. See more information on our website, WritLarge.fm. Follow us on Twitter @WritLargePod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

This lecture was given on June 16, 2022 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. as part of The Civitas Dei Summer Fellowship: "The City of God in Modernity: Culture and Ecclesiology." For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Thomas Clemmons, a native of South Florida, is assistant professor of theology in Church History at the Catholic University of America. Dr. Clemmons joined the STRS faculty in 2016 after completing his Ph.D. in the History of Christianity from Notre Dame, where he focused on Latin Patristics, early medieval theology, and Augustine. He also holds an M.A. in Early Christianity from Notre Dame and an M.T.S. from Vanderbilt. Dr. Clemmons's teaching and research interest focus on Latin Patristics, Augustine, particularly his thought through the Confessions and his anti-Manichaean works, Late Antiquity, especially in North Africa, and the medieval reception of Augustine.

The Kephalaia - Manichaean Gnostic Codices - Audiobook w/text. The Kephalaia, meaning the headings or central principles, is a series of chapters of varying length that present Mani discussing basic Manichaean doctrine with his students. Here two Kephalaia are given, 26 and 38. In Kephalaion 26 Mani tells five stories or parables about the primal man, the third messenger, and the role of the living spirit in bringing redemption. In Kephalaion 38 Mani offers a Manichaean cosmogony. He describes the universe in human form, and he relates the cosmic human to the individual human. Thus the cosmogonic account, for all its complexity, becomes the story of the individual person living out his or her life. The gods in the outer zone are remote, transcendent, but the actions of the light mind are intimate and accessible. This is included in Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer's Gnostic Bible which can found at https://amzn.to/35oRC9b Please consider supporting my work and download this audio as part of the ESOTERIC AND OCCULT WISDOM - MASTER COLLECTION (an ongoing collection of Gnostic, alchemical, Hermetic, and related occult/spiritual audio projects that span dozens of hours) at https://altrusiangrace.bandcamp.com/ *JOIN MY PATREON at https://www.patreon.com/altrusiangracemedia *BECOME A YOUTUBE CHANNEL MEMBER at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMzRTOugvDLwhSwJdoSWBZA/join *JOIN THE CULT OF STARRY WISDOM at https://altrusiangrace.bandcamp.com/starry-wisdom-cult *FOLLOW THE AGM PODCAST at https://altrusiangracemedia.podbean.com *MY TSHIRTS AND DESIGNS ON AMAZON at https://amzn.to/3peS9j3 *MY NEW 2022 MERCH LINE "OCCULT NOUVEAU" at https://amzn.to/3OeUHZL *MY TSHIRTS AND DESIGNS ON TEEPUBLIC at https://teepublic.sjv.io/XxvPDX *LICENSE MY MUSIC FOR YOUR PROJECT at https://www.pond5.com/artist/altrusiangracemedia *MY BOOKS ON AMAZON at https://amzn.to/3oQGh6A As an Amazon Associate I earn a small amount from qualifying purchases and it helps to support my channel. Please consider LIKING the video, SUBSCRIBING to the channel, and SHARING the links! These simple actions go a long way in supporting AGM and is truly appreciated!  ~~Places to follow and support Altrusian Grace Media~~ Website ► https://altrusiangrace.blogspot.com/ Bandcamp ► https://altrusiangrace.bandcamp.com Teepublic Store ► https://teepublic.sjv.io/XxvPDX Twitter ► https://twitter.com/AltrusianGrace Rumble ► https://rumble.com/c/c-375437 YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/AltrusianGraceMedia Odessy ► https://odysee.com/@altrusiangracemedia:1 Bitchute ► https://www.bitchute.com/channel/altrusiangracemedia/ To kindly donate directly to my channel: www.paypal.me/altrusiangrace For inquiries regarding voice-over work or licensing for my work (including music) please contact altrusiangracemedia ((at)) gmail.com AGM BACKUP CONTENT ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO0nCG5aqB1CHyU3Xf0TUbg #Gnosticism #Alchemy #Hermeticism #Occult #Esoteric #Audiobook #Mysticism #Gnostic #Egyptian #Christianity #NagHammadi #Spirituality #Jung  

This lecture was given on June 15, 2022 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. as part of The Civitas Dei Summer Fellowship: "The City of God in Modernity: Culture and Ecclesiology." For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Thomas Clemmons, a native of South Florida, is assistant professor of theology in Church History at the Catholic University of America. Dr. Clemmons joined the STRS faculty in 2016 after completing his Ph.D. in the History of Christianity from Notre Dame, where he focused on Latin Patristics, early medieval theology, and Augustine. He also holds an M.A. in Early Christianity from Notre Dame and an M.T.S. from Vanderbilt. Dr. Clemmons's teaching and research interest focus on Latin Patristics, Augustine, particularly his thought through the Confessions and his anti-Manichaean works, Late Antiquity, especially in North Africa, and the medieval reception of Augustine.

"This 'Single' or 'Third Eye' provides an ingress into the spiritual worlds -- the Kingdom of God -- now a lost realm to most of us... Of this inlet or ingress little is known by the people at large." (Kirpal Singh)   Satsang is a term in Sant Mat that means association ('sang') with the Eternal Timeless Truth or God ('Sat'). Satsang means "association with Eternal Truth" as well as "association with God," and is to some extent comparable to "church" or "temple," but not in any institutional sense. A saying of Jesus in the New Testament provides a good definition of a Satsang meetup: "Where two or three are gathered in My Name, I am there in their midst."   The format of Satsang can include: a spiritual discourse, instruction on putting the Path into practice, a video or audio of the Master giving a talk, readings from the writings of the Masters, the reciting or singing of banis, bhajans or kirtans (hymns of worship composed by Sants), and silent group meditation. It's considered the greatest of blessings if it is a Master who conducts the Satsang in person (or in this age of live streaming, via the web).   The effect of Satsang is that of DIVINE REMEMBRANCE, thus, with such a spiritual boost, encouragement and support for the spiritual journey, those who go to Satsang are much more likely to stay-on-the-Path and put effort into their own daily spiritual practice at home. Thus will the life of the Bhakta (lover, devotee, disciple) become more and more God-intoxicated by imbibing the spiritual wine, the nectar of divine love.   Satsang is intended to be an oasis, a refuge from the agitations of the mind, maya, the labyrinth of the world (and astral plane), a refuge from all that occupies minds in this land of illusion, from all the outer distractions of the world that occupies people's attention, distracts people from the sacred path.   Today, an exploration of the practice of satsang, also the spiritual senses of inner seeing and hearing (Inner Light and Sound meditation - Surat Shabd Yoga), the Third Eye Center as the Seat of the Soul, and Simran practice, featuring wisdom from Sant Kirpal Singh (Instructions For Holding Satsang, Circular Letters,  Simran - The Sweet Remembrance of God, The Teachings of Kirpal Singh), Hazur Baba Sawan Singh (Gurmat Siddhant - The Philosophy of the Masters), and Baba Ram Singh (Satsang Discourses, plus, The Sant Mat Glossary of Terms). Also there are readings from: Russell Perkins (The Stranger of Galilee - The Sermon on the Mount and the Universal Spiritual Tradition), The Canonical Prayer Book of the Mandaeans (Gnostic), Corpus Hermeticum, Matthew 6:22, Matthew 18:20 (New Testament), Psalm 119:37 (Hebrew Bible), a Manichaean passage (Gnosis On The Silk Road), Rumi (Sufism), The Adi Granth (Sikh scriptures), Sikh Wiki, and a mystic poem of Sant Tukarama of Maharashtra (Jog Gatha).    In Divine Light and Sound, Radhaswami,   James Bean https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com/sant-mat

This lecture was given on June 14, 2022 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. as part of The Civitas Dei Summer Fellowship: "The City of God in Modernity: Culture and Ecclesiology." For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Thomas Clemmons, a native of South Florida, is assistant professor of theology in Church History at the Catholic University of America. Dr. Clemmons joined the STRS faculty in 2016 after completing his Ph.D. in the History of Christianity from Notre Dame, where he focused on Latin Patristics, early medieval theology, and Augustine. He also holds an M.A. in Early Christianity from Notre Dame and an M.T.S. from Vanderbilt. Dr. Clemmons's teaching and research interest focus on Latin Patristics, Augustine, particularly his thought through the Confessions and his anti-Manichaean works, Late Antiquity, especially in North Africa, and the medieval reception of Augustine.

This lecture was given on June 13, 2022 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. as part of The Civitas Dei Summer Fellowship: "The City of God in Modernity: Culture and Ecclesiology." For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Thomas Clemmons, a native of South Florida, is assistant professor of theology in Church History at the Catholic University of America. Dr. Clemmons joined the STRS faculty in 2016 after completing his Ph.D. in the History of Christianity from Notre Dame, where he focused on Latin Patristics, early medieval theology, and Augustine. He also holds an M.A. in Early Christianity from Notre Dame and an M.T.S. from Vanderbilt. Dr. Clemmons's teaching and research interest focus on Latin Patristics, Augustine, particularly his thought through the Confessions and his anti-Manichaean works, Late Antiquity, especially in North Africa, and the medieval reception of Augustine.

In this episode of Author to Author, Dr. Cynthia Toolin-Wilson talks with David Hajduk on his book Healing the Culture and the Family. It is evident that the culture and the family need healing, but before we can offer a cure, we need to know the spiritual disease ailing us. Pope John Paul II offers a diagnosis in his Letter to Families: the human family is experiencing a “New Manichaeism,” a variant of an ancient heresy, that was released with the philosophical revolution of the 17th century philosopher René Descartes and has reached pandemic levels today. This New Manichaeism has deteriorated our understanding of ourselves, the world, and how we ought to live, and borne radical consequences especially in the areas of bioethics and sexual ethics. John Paul II believed the remedy was an “adequate anthropology” — an “integral vision of man” that includes the body within the structural whole of the person's life and activity. This is what he offers in his popularly known Theology of the Body. In this book, Dr. David Hajduk details Pope John Paul II's diagnosis and remedy, explaining how Descartes and the philosophical tradition that followed are at the source of the current crisis in the culture and the family. Dr. Hajduk demonstrates how all the symptoms point to a rejection of the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as how they bear a striking resemblance to the heretical ideas that throughout Christian history have typically been labeled as “Manichaean.” Finally, he presents John Paul II's anthropology, particularly as expressed in his oft-misunderstood Theology of the Body, as a corrective especially suited to lead contemporary men and women to the truth about themselves and God's plan for human love, as well as marking a return to the perennial philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, which John Paul II himself declared as the only way to get past the Cartesian watershed.http://aroucapress.com/healing-the-culture-and-the-family

More Lost Books: Post Resurrection Gospels and The Sermon on the Light   There is a very clear Light-motif in the world scriptures, including Western holy books such as the Hebrew Bible, Ethiopian Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, Zohar, Books of Enoch, New Testament, Nag Hammadi Library, Gnostic Gospels, Pitstis Sophia, Corpus Hermeticum, Mandaean and Manichaean texts, as well as in countless writings of Kabbalah, Syrian, Coptic, Orthodox, Catholic, and other mystics.   Saying of the Resurrected Christ: "Do not cease seeking day or night, and do not let yourselves relax until you have found all the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Light, which will purify you and make you into Pure Light and lead you into the Kingdom of the Light." (Yeshua, Book of Faith-Wisdom -- Pistis Sophia)   "If thine eye be Single, thy whole body shall be full of Light". (Yeshua, New Testament)   "If one is whole, one will be filled with Light, but if one is divided, one will be filled with darkness..." (Yeshua, Gospel of Thomas)   "Close your eyes as in sleep, and look sweetly, lovingly, intently into the middle of the darkness lying in front of you. You will see a dark veil. That which sees the dark veil within, without the help of your physical eyes, is the inner eye.., As you look within, you will see a sky, or blue sky: If you look minutely into it, you will find it studded with stars, or you may see pinpoints of Light. If so, try to locate the big star out of them, and fix your whole attention on that. Then you may see the inner sun or moon. If so, focus all your attention into the middle; it will break into pieces, and you will cross it. Beyond you will see the radiant form of the Master or his Master." (Kirpal Singh, from the Introductory Meditation Instructions)   "The Tenth Gate is also known as the Sixth Chakra, the Third Eye, bindu, the Center located between the two eyebrows. This is the gateway through which we leave the gates of the sense organs and enter in the divine realms and finally become established in the soul. We travel back from the Realm of Darkness to the Realm of Light, from the Light to the Divine Sound, and from the Realm of Sound to the Soundless State. This is called turning back to the Source." (Swami Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj)   God is the Ocean of Love.   In Divine Light and Sound, Peace Be To You, James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com  

In this episode, Higher Density Living tackles a meditative glance into the bodily works of humankind. We are reminded of Alex and Jason instilling a refreshing mindset based on proper attitude, spiritual rigor, and healthy physique as the mind, body, and spirit are interconnected to each part of the whole complex. The body can only do so much as we use to live with it while maintaining a pursuit towards higher density living. We must recognize that you, as a human being, are vulnerable to all flaws of mankind. This explains the open embrace of moral relativity, or finding your convenient truth that works for yourself. You must know the version of truth that really stands out for your individual welfare and autonomy. We must recognize this objective reality in order to achieve internalized peace and order. Peace and order to the self can be organized within the body. The body has to catch up so to speak, striking a balance between material and non-material evolution. Alex and Jason explain the organic reaction of human bodies in energy repulsion and absorption. Creational evolution is not limited to the grand stage towards collective path to higher density; it can also cascade down to the cellular and organic levels, too. Alex and Jason re-orient their audiences from the perilous bewilderment of metaphysical delusions offered by conventional dogma and mainstream philosophy. This is known as toxic positivity, where in our material world the fantasy of fatigue and sickness We can trace the defiance against negative forces as purely a clash of Manichaean “good” and “evil”. Alex-Jason says otherwise, the vulnerabilities of that meat suit is a natural vehicle for material evolution and learning to this present universe. This telling reinforces potent open-minded values, there is no absolute truth. “Truth comes in many different ways.” Aiming for higher vibratory senses helps you elucidate better reflexive abilities and possibilities for the human body, and this way we can let out toxic positivity that is inhibiting our freedom. You have an effect in this universe. Let's join Alex and Jason as they give us tips to enhance our self power and vibratory senses. www.higherdensityliving.com

Ep. 17 (Part 1 of 2) | Jonathan Rowson, brilliant, driven, articulate, shines a bright light of understanding on the metacrisis we face today, what feeds it, and what could help us find our way through. What is metamodernity and what does it have to offer? Is the ecological crisis fundamentally an educational crisis? Can we grow into our problem rather than thinking of ourselves as “failing beings” as the climate collapses around us? From the metaperspective to the deeply personal, Rowson shares his wisdom, including life lessons he gleaned from being a chess Grandmaster, before becoming a philosopher, research fellow, nonprofit director, and author. Recorded on November 17, 2021. “Let's be careful what we're talking about because we're creating a world…” Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1What are Jonathan's daily practices (while also being very much “in the world” these days)? (05:37) Being a cartological hedonist: intellectual mapmaking (10:27) What does Christianity have to offer that we should be paying attention to? (11:58) Becoming “construct aware” in the political spectrum and elsewhere: cultural progress depends on it (14:29) The UK Brexit quagmire: what are we talking about when we say democracy? (18:32) Why developmental psychology may not be the best lens to look at our culture and politics (20:15) What is the most strategic contribution you can make? (29:45) Progressive imperialism: assuming everyone is or could be on the same page—but conflict and opposition will always be a feature of the world (32:04) Who is included in the word “we,” getting people to face up to the fallen nature of the world, and the Manichaean worldview (34:51) The contemplative perspective and our fundamental state of delusion (36:30) Underlying delusion in the progressive community that there is a fundamental “right” way or that we will come to a common agreement on issues like climate (38:28) The imperative to mobilize to face the epistemic crisis as well as the environmental crisis (40:23) How do we work together in a context where we may disagree and dislike each other: making friends with conflict (42:05) The metacrisis, confusion, and the bottomless mystery: a time between worlds (45:08) Carlos Castenada's 4 traps for the person of knowledge: fear, power, clarity, old age (47:57) Confusion is not necessarily a bad thing (48:35) Resources & References – Part 1Jonathan Rowson, https://amzn.to/3szuCgo (The Moves That Matter: A Chess Grandmaster on the Game of Life)* https://systems-souls-society.com/ (Perspectiva), https://systems-souls-society.com/ (systems-soul-society.com), interdisciplinary nonprofit organization based in London, developing responses to our epistemic metacrisis; Jonathan is co-founder and director Jonathan Rowson, essay https://systems-souls-society.com/tasting-the-pickle-ten-flavours-of-meta-crisis-and-the-appetite-for-a-new-civilisation/ (Tasting the Pickle: Ten Flavours of Meta-Crisis and the Appetite for a New Civilisation) Jonathan Rowson, https://www.thersa.org/globalassets/pdfs/reports/spiritualise-report.pdf (Spiritualise: Revitalising Spirituality to Address 21st Century Challenges) Jonathan Rowson, anthology https://amzn.to/3vz9vwK (Metamodernity: Dispatches from a Time Between Worlds: Crisis and Emergence in Metamodernity)* Jonathan Rowson, essay, https://systems-souls-society.com/metamodernism-and-the-perception-of-context-the-cultural-between-the-political-after-and-the-mystic-beyond/ (Metamodernism and the Perception of Context: The Cultural Between, the Political After and the Mystic Beyond) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedanta (Vedantic philosophy) Confucius' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectification_of_names (Rectification of Names) Robert Kegan, https://amzn.to/3sI1K5v (The Evolving Self) (first chapter “The Unrecognized Genius of Jean Piaget”)* Alistair McIntosh, https://amzn.to/3ts6Xhb (Hell and High Water:...

Source: https://www.ccel.org/ Confessions is generally considered one of Augustine's most important texts. It is widely seen as the first Western Christian autobiography ever written, and was an influential model for Christian writers throughout the Middle Ages. Professor Henry Chadwick wrote that Confessions will "always rank among the great masterpieces of western literature." The work is not a complete autobiography, as it was written during Saint Augustine's early 40s and he lived long afterwards, producing another important work, The City of God. Nonetheless, it does provide an unbroken record of his development of thought and is the most complete record of any single person from the 4th and 5th centuries. It is a significant theological work, featuring spiritual meditations and insights. In the work, Augustine writes about how he regrets having led a sinful and immoral life. He discusses his regrets for following the Manichaean religion and believing in astrology. He writes about his friend Nebridius's role in helping to persuade him that astrology was not only incorrect but evil, and Saint Ambrose's role in his conversion to Christianity. The first nine books are autobiographical and the last four are commentary and significantly more philosophical. He shows intense sorrow for his sexual sins and writes on the importance of sexual morality. The books were written as prayers to God, thus the title, based on the Psalms of David; and it begins with "For Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee." The work is thought to be divisible into books which symbolize various aspects of the Trinity and trinitarian belief.

Confessions is generally considered one of Augustine's most important texts. It is widely seen as the first Western Christian autobiography ever written, and was an influential model for Christian writers throughout the Middle Ages. Professor Henry Chadwick wrote that Confessions will "always rank among the great masterpieces of western literature." The work is not a complete autobiography, as it was written during Saint Augustine's early 40s and he lived long afterwards, producing another important work, The City of God. Nonetheless, it does provide an unbroken record of his development of thought and is the most complete record of any single person from the 4th and 5th centuries. It is a significant theological work, featuring spiritual meditations and insights. In the work, Augustine writes about how he regrets having led a sinful and immoral life. He discusses his regrets for following the Manichaean religion and believing in astrology. He writes about his friend Nebridius's role in helping to persuade him that astrology was not only incorrect but evil, and Saint Ambrose's role in his conversion to Christianity. The first nine books are autobiographical and the last four are commentary and significantly more philosophical. He shows intense sorrow for his sexual sins and writes on the importance of sexual morality. The books were written as prayers to God, thus the title, based on the Psalms of David; and it begins with "For Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee." The work is thought to be divisible into books which symbolize various aspects of the Trinity and trinitarian belief.

Joseph Schafer (@zizekonawiredbrain) joins in for an incomprehensible word salad session on the Manichaean hysteria over vaxxing, the campy cultural commentary of Trump, and whether or not Hegel was right that we are eternally screwed. 

Joseph Schafer (@zizekonawiredbrain) joins in for an incomprehensible word salad session on the Manichaean hysteria over vaxxing, the campy cultural commentary of Trump, and whether or not Hegel was right that we are eternally screwed. 

Dr. Jason BeDuhn studies ancient Christian, Jewish, and Manichaean thinkers, and in this podcast interview, he explores their common “tipping point”—the place where all these religious groups struggled to find answers to explain a perfect God who allowed bad things to happen. All of them did so by blurring the idea of monotheism to some degree. There was some other divine influence, commonly known as a ‘demiurge' who became the source of evil in some manner.

This lecture was delivered for the D.C. Intellectual Retreat on 5/8/21 For information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the Speaker: Thomas Clemmons, a native of South Florida, is assistant professor of theology in Church History. Dr. Clemmons joined the STRS faculty in 2016 after completing his Ph.D. in the History of Christianity from Notre Dame, where he focused on Latin Patristics, early medieval theology, and Augustine. He also holds an M.A. in Early Christianity from Notre Dame and an M.T.S. from Vanderbilt. Dr. Clemmons's teaching and research interest focus on Latin Patristics, Augustine, particularly his thought through the Confessions and his anti-Manichaean works, Late Antiquity, especially in North Africa, and the medieval reception of Augustine.

This lecture was given on May 8, 2021 as part of "Grace & Peace: St. Augustine as Spiritual Master", an intellectual retreat at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org About the Speaker: Dr. Thomas Clemmons, a native of South Florida, is assistant professor of theology in Church History. Dr. Clemmons joined the STRS faculty in 2016 after completing his Ph.D. in the History of Christianity from Notre Dame, where he focused on Latin Patristics, early medieval theology, and Augustine. He also holds an M.A. in Early Christianity from Notre Dame and an M.T.S. from Vanderbilt. Dr. Clemmons's teaching and research interest focus on Latin Patristics, Augustine, particularly his thought through the Confessions and his anti-Manichaean works, Late Antiquity, especially in North Africa, and the medieval reception of Augustine.

SAINT MONICA | PATRON SAINT OF MOTHERS Feast Day: May 4 Suffering is one of the saddest experiences in the life of a person. Some give in to discouragement and easily give up the fight. But those who patiently face their daily burdens and persevere will be rewarded. This was true to our saint for today, St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine of Hippo, the problematic son, who became a great saint of the Church. St. Monica was born in the year 332 in Thagaste, present-day Souk Arac, Algeria. She was married to Patricius Aurelius, a Roman pagan. Patricius, had a violent temper and was a womanizer. Monica's Catholic devotions and her almsgiving annoyed him. Monica would often receive some beatings, which she suffered silently. Monica's mother-in-law had the same temperament and Monica had to bear the attitudes of both mother and son. But she did not give way to rebellion and revenge. She prayed and made penances for peace in her family. The three children of the couple, were not baptized and Monica grieved over this fact. Augustine was the most mischievous of them all. He was wayward and lazy When Augustine was 17, studying at Carthage, Patricius died and was baptized at his deathbed. His baptism was a great relief for Monica who prayed very much for his conversion for a 30 years. Augustine, meanwhile, pursued his higher studies. While studying rhetoric, he became a Manichaean, a religion with Christian, Gnostics and pagan beliefs mixed together. When he went home, exhibiting his newfound religion, Monica drove him away from home. The sufferings of Monica increased but also her prayers and sacrifices. Fortunately, she was consoled by a certain bishop she consulted, who told her: “the child of those tears shall never perish.” Monica was also very much grieved with the sexual life of Augustine. He had a relationship for fourteen years with a concubine with whom he had a son. When Augustine secretly went to Rome, Monica followed him. She tried to arrange for him a good marriage with a Christian girl and he was persuaded to send away her concubine. But this marriage did not take place because he converted and decided to become a priest. While in Rome, someone offered him a work in Milan, where he met St. Ambrose, whose sermons he admired, and became his disciple. Monica followed him even to Milan. Augustine was converted and was baptized by St. Ambrose. However, in his writings, Augustine admits that his final conversion was due to his mother's prayer for him for a period of 17 years After Augustine's conversion, he and Monica left for Africa. They stopped at Civitavecchia and Ostia, where Monica died, happy for the conversion of her son. Monica died in 387. Five years later in 391, Augustine was ordained a priest of God in Hippo, Algeria. St. Monica is the patroness of mother and wives. Dear St. Monica, we now ask you to pray with us for all those sons and daughters who have wandered away from God. Pray also for wives and mothers who are suffering from their own husband and children. Am I persevering in prayer, or do I give up at once when I do not obtain what I ask from God. Am I kind to the members of my family?

It would be difficult to overstate Augustine of Hippo's role in shaping Catholic theology. In this episode, we explore Saint Augustine's philosophical evolution from a belief in the predestination of the heretical Manichaean sect to his conversion to the True Faith of free will, swayed finally by his mother's tears and the sermons of Saint Ambrose. Along the way, we discuss how this debate continues to this day in popular shows like Devs and Loki, and how quantum physics and the multiverse could explain why some people believe we can manifest our own destiny. Recorded on the feast day of John-Francis Regis, patron saint of illegitimate children, lace makers, and social workers, we also learn about the history of the Jesuit order and how their focus on education continues to this day at the prestigious New York City Catholic school, Regis, named for this famously popular preacher who was known for his "indelicate language, satire, and savage invective."Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/saints-preserve-us. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In modern physics as in Western theology, darkness and shadows have a purely negative existence. They are merely the absence of light. In mythology and art, however, light and darkness are enjoy a kind of Manichaean equality. Each exists in its own right and lays claim to one half of the Real. In this episode, JF and Phil delve into the luxuriant gloom of the Japanese novelist Jun'ichirō Tanazaki's classic meditation on the half-forgotten virtues of the dark. Get your Weird Studies MERCH! https://www.redbubble.com/people/Weird-Studies/shop?asc=u Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies Find us on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies REFERENCES Junichiro Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780918172020) Chiaroscuro (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiaroscuro), Renaissance art style John Carpenter (dir.), Escape from L.A. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116225/) Weird Studies, Episode 13 on Heraclitus (https://www.weirdstudies.com/13) Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in Age of Mechanical Reproduction (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781667156071) Yasujiro Ozu (dir.), Late Spring (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781667156071) Wabi Sabi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi), Japanese idea John Carpenter (dir.), Escape from NY (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082340) Jonathan Crary, 24/7: Late Capitalism and the End of Sleep (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781781683101) Eric Voegelin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Voegelin), German-American philosopher

The drama of Augustine’s life hardly ended with his baptism. The years that followed included his ordination-by-mob, an attempt on his life, and wars of words with at least four major heresies. His years were breathless adventure and busyness, and yet they yielded 44 volumes of work that continues to exercise a profound influence—no only on Christian theology, but on civilization. This is the second of three episodes on his life. LINKS Saint Augustine. Works and Links (in several languages) http://www.augustinus.it/links/inglese/index.htm Augustine, On the Trinity https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3276 Augustine, The Correction of the Donatists https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3296 Augustine, Of the Morals of the Catholic Church and of the Morals of the Manichaeans https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3292 Augustine, On Christian Doctrine https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3275 Augustine, On the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3309 Erich Przywara, An Augustine Synthesis https://www.amazon.com/Augustine-Synthesis/dp/1625649363/ Vernon J. Bourke, The Essential Augustine https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Augustine-Saint-Hippo/dp/0915144077 Mike Aquilina’s website https://fathersofthechurch.com Mike Aquilina’s books https://catholicbooksdirect.com/writer/mike-aquilina/ Theme music: Gaudeamus (Introit for the Feast of All Saints), sung by Jeff Ostrowski. Courtesy of Corpus Christi Watershed http://www.ccwatershed.org Donate today! https://www.catholicculture.org/users/donate/audio

It seems to me we live in a time where more and more people are being devalued.  Where corporate rights appear to be growing at the expense of individual rights.  Where, in the age of Artificial Intelligence or AI, many services including customer support and chat support are being replaced by AI bots that supposedly provide the same level of service as their human counterparts once did.  The trend seems to be an expanding devaluation of the human person and with this expansion a greater denial of the existence of that which truly provides us value — the soul.   Our value comes from the spark of the divine that innately exists in each and every person.  Our value comes in helping nourish that spark within ourselves and shining the light of that spark brightly so as to nourish and heal and restore awareness of that spark within for those individuals directly impacted by this expansion of devaluation of the person. I recently came across the Gnostic influenced Manichaean writings that really seemed to speak to my soul.  Manichaeism would be condemned by the Latin Church as a heresy, the Manichaean writings provide a richness that speaks more true to the human condition as a soul embodied, incarnated in this physical body we live and experience this earthly life than most of the Christian spiritual writings ever shed on the soul.   I hope you too find it just as enriching as I did.

Transcript: As I see it, reversion or conversion is a life-long process.  It's like walking on shores of a sandy beach looking into the beautiful blue ocean illuminated by the rising Son, S-O-N.  You want to walk into the water but you're afraid so instead, you sit and build grandiose castles in the sand.  All is well and good until a gentle wave comes and melts it all away.  This “melting away” happens when we face trials and carry our crosses. Their purpose is to reveal moments when we have turned our focus away from God and towards things that are temporary and fleeting.  Trials reveal our attachments.  Every time our worlds are shaken, we are called to turn our gaze to Truth Incarnate, Jesus our Lord.  These are the times we realize that what's most important is the soothing ocean that gets its beauty and brilliance from…the Son.  You see, sometimes we get so consumed building sand castles that we forget to love and appreciate the beauty and depth of the ocean…our Mother Church.  Conversion is God calling you ever so gently into the fullness of Truth, into the deep waters, not to drown in despair and loneliness, but to walk on water as you steadfastly cast your gaze upon the Son of God.    Saint Monica, the patroness of conversion, alcoholics, married women, and mothers, reveals to us the recipe for true conversion.  She is well noted by St. Ambrose for her piety, detachment, and determination.  Her son Saint Augustine, doctor of the Church, names her as, not only the woman who bore him from her own flesh and blood, but also the mother of his spirit.  Saint Monica watered the seed of love of Christ and the name of Jesus in Augustine with her own tears.  In Saint Augustine's Confessions, he said his mother mourned and cried for him more than some women cried over their child's dead bodies.  Some of us may not know the lives of Saint Monica and Saint Augustine but I'll gladly give you a brief overview.  Saint Monica lived between the years 330 and 387 in Tagaste, her hometown in North Africa.  Tagaste is present-day Algeria. She was from a Christian home but her parents arranged her marriage to a local magistrate from Tagaste, a pagan Roman named Patricius.  She had 3 children – Augustine was the eldest, followed by Nagivius and Perpetua.   She confided in Augustine that when she was young she fell into the path that would lead her to alcoholism.  She would go down to the cellar to get wine for her father and started taking little tastes, then a few drinks, then after a while big swallows of wine.  One day, a servant commented to her about how this little habit she was entertaining was wrong and not suitable for one such as she.  Instead of becoming rebellious and defensive, Monica allowed herself to be corrected and decided to act in contrition and leave that worldly habit.  I could imagine Saint Monica told Augustine this story for a reason.  Many of us parents often tell these kinds of stories for one reason alone – to give our children the hope of true conversion.  My sisters-in-Christ, Saint Monica had good reason to tell this story – her beloved Augustine had a dying soul as he fell into worldly living and the Manichaean heresy.  Her heart wasn't torn by her other two children, Nagivius and Perpetua.  They eventually entered the religious life.  But it was her beloved oldest son, her first born, who tore her heart to shreds. As if the pain of her beloved Augustine wasn't enough, her married life was also fraught with conflict with her husband and mother-in-law.   Monica was alone amongst enemies with her husband having a long-time mistress and her mother-in-law, having turned the servants against her, made her life miserable.  Does anyone know what that's like?  I could imagine that in those times, a woman leaving her husband was not an option.  One couldn't just dispense divorce papers like people do now – sadly, we see people call for divorce the moment the honeymoon period is over.  “It doesn't feel good anymore so let's tear this family apart and pursue the next thrill.  Besides, the kids will bounce back, they're so resilient.”  No, whether the situation is worthy of an annulment or not, divorce causes hurt that can scar and last a lifetime, especially to children involved. If leaving a marriage was impossible for Monica, where could she have taken refuge?  I could think of one place.  She could have taken refuge in the one addiction Satan planted in her youth – alcoholism.  But to this saint's credit, she did no such thing.  Instead, she steadfastly stayed the course in growing in faith, hope, and love, through relentless piety, detachment and determination.  In summary, it was Saint Monica's weaving of piety, detachment and determination, throughout her life that brought about great fruits beginning with the conversion of her beloved mother-in-law and the entire household.  A year before her husband Patricius' death, he joined his mother and also converted. But to her dismay, her beloved Augustine was yet to be converted. How could it be that such a devout and faithful mother had a son so spiritually lost?  Early in his childhood it was obvious that Augustine was a special boy.  He had a profound intellect and the gift of being a great orator in his time.  An “orator” is another word for public speaker.  And even through his troubled youth he had a deep love for the name of Jesus – a seed of faith that his mother planted and watered with her own tears. Yet, he had a son out of wedlock and embraced the heresy of Manichaeanism.  How many of you are mothers?  Good Catholic mothers have a unique fear that an agnostic, atheistic, or protestant mother does NOT have.  It is the fear that our children will fall away from the ONE true Church established by God himself.  As mothers, we want the best for our children and we know in our hearts that this is it.  There are many ways that lead to God, but our Catholic faith is the surest and safest way to the fullness of Truth, Love, and eternal Happiness.  Isn't that what we want for our children?  The greatest gift we can give to our children is God himself in the Holy Eucharist and we KNOW, there is no other way for our children to be ONE with the creator of the universe week after week than through the Catholic faith.  Before she died, Saint Monica witnessed the conversion of her beloved Augustine as he became a Catholic Christian.  She had already arranged a marriage for him thinking he may not be able to handle celibacy but to her surprise, Augustine abandoned worldly pleasures to pursue the religious life. Monica's heart was full as she lay dying in her final days.  But God rewarded her even more abundantly after death.  Augustine went on to become a bishop and doctor of the Church.  Maybe Monica's prayers were even more powerful as she peeked over the walls of heaven to see the fruit of her worldly labor for Augustine.  Saint Monica laid a path and the foundation that fosters true conversion.  This saint is not only for mothers, wives, and alcoholics, but she is also for you if you are in need of conversion.  Ask her to pray for you.  If you don't have a husband or children but have a friend, sister, brother, niece, nephew, mother, father in need of conversion – pray for her intercession.  Whether you have children or not, you can always be the mother of someone's spirit, as Monica was to Augustine, and go through spiritual and emotional labor pains for their conversion.  I suggest you spiritually adopt some one in need of a spiritual mother. Saint Monica's life is marked by 3 overarching qualities…piety, detachment and determination. Extraordinary Piety St. Ambrose, the bishop of Milan in the 4th century, was instrumental in helping Augustine convert.  St. Monica had a great affection for him because of this and he also had a great affection for her.  Ambrose would break-out in praise of Monica at times he'd run into Augustine noting her extraordinary piety. She went to Mass twice a day, morning and evening, offered sacrifices, prayed without ceasing, and helped anyone who needed it. In the CCC #1831 says that piety is one of the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit and comes in the form of almsgiving, fasting, and prayer. Pope St. Gregory taught that, “Through fear of the Lord, we rise to piety.” The basic definition is “to give filial worship to God precisely as our Father and to relate with all people as children of the same Father.”  Piety allows us to see rightly, who we are in relation to God and creation.  We have a child-like willingness to make sacrifices in order to please God and fulfill our obligations to each other as brothers and sisters of Christ.    Practicing piety should foster humility when we realize our littleness in relation to the great, almighty God.  We are able to see with great clarity, the frivolousness of worldly pleasures, honors, and materials.  Piety coupled with humility and fortitude pushes us through pain and adversity.  The CCC #1808 says that, Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause. "The Lord is my strength and my song." "In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  Pope Francis teaches that “Piety, therefore, is synonymous of authentic religious spirit, filial confidence in God, of the capacity to pray to Him with love and simplicity which is proper of persons who are humble of heart. The gift of piety makes us grow in our relation and communion with God and leads us to live as His children; at the same time it helps us to pour this love also on others and to recognize them as brothers.” Let us ask – what more can we do to practice extraordinary piety focused, not to be seen by others as good and religious, but to glorify God and better serve him and those in need – the sick, the lonely, and all those far from God? Extraordinary Determination to Persevere There is no doubt that St. Monica's determination to persevere and embrace her suffering led her to the conversion of those who seemed hopeless.  Her mother-in-law and the household, her husband, and ultimately, her son.  She was willing and able to endure emotional suffering, verbal abuse, infidelity, and rejection.  This allowed her to dive deeper and deeper into the recesses of her heart to find relief in the interior castle with God.  It's a tragedy how, as time goes on, finding ways to numb our pain and suffering has become easier than ever.  At the moment of discomfort we'll go eat a sweet treat, work a little longer, play music or a movie, or just pick-up our cell phones to get on social media to distract ourselves.  If this generation doesn't assimilate the art of graceful and grace-filled, redemptive suffering into their lives, it's in danger of never happening.  The determination to persevere is best taught through example. CCC#1637 says that, In marriages with disparity of cult the Catholic spouse has a particular task: "For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her husband."138 It is a great joy for the Christian spouse and for the Church if this "consecration" should lead to the free conversion of the other spouse to the Christian faith. Sincere married love, the humble and patient practice of the family virtues, and perseverance in prayer can prepare the non-believing spouse to accept the grace of conversion. Let us reflect:  Do I embrace suffering or do I try to avoid it with little comforts or distractions throughout the day?  Instead of persevering, do I give up too easily and take the easy way out? Extraordinary Detachment The CCC#2544 tells us that, Jesus enjoins his disciples to prefer him to everything and everyone, and bids them "renounce all that [they have]" for his sake and that of the Gospel. Shortly before his passion he gave them the example of the poor widow of Jerusalem who, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on. The precept of detachment from riches is obligatory for entrance into the Kingdom of heaven. Saint Ambrose helped Monica amid her every growing piety, to detach from things of this world – particularly from her wanting conversion for Augustine.  The more she tried to push and push and push him to change, the less likely it would happen.  She was too attached. What is an attachment? In order to understand detachment, it would be good to understand what an attachment is.  According Fr. Ripperger, an attachment is when the faculties, such as the appetite, emotions, intellect, and will, are so focused on a thing that moving away from it causes pain.  We're fixed on certain ideas, objects, foods, even people and ourselves. St. Thomas Aquinas taught that faith initiates the purification of the Will because we learn that God is the center of the universe rather than ourselves or other creatures and things. What is detachment? Detachment is a process where we recognize the things that we can't move away from and begin to look away towards God.  So how can we tell that we're not attached to something?  We can tell if we're detached when it makes no difference to us whether or not that created thing is in our lives or not.  For example, if I love buffalo wings dipped in ranch dressing and all of a sudden I have one last wing to eat and there's no more dressing, I'm attached if I get upset about it.  Being detached would mean it wouldn't make any difference to me whether or not we had dressing or wings or anything else.  We can also have an attachment to our ways of thinking or take pride in our own intellect and knowledge.  If someone tries to present a different idea and we're resistant to it or get angry because someone doesn't agree with our ideas, then I have an attachment to my intellect.  If I were detached to my intellect, I would remain calm and not get irate about someone wanting to do things differently than me.  It's also possible to be attached to spiritual objects.  Let's say I have a blessed statue of our Lady and my kid accidentally knocks it over and breaks it, my anger is a great indicator of how much I was attached to this created thing.  If I were detached, I'd have the grace necessary to be charitable towards my child instead of going into a rage over the broken statue.  One of easiest ways to detect a detachment to something is to observe if you have and emotion that comes with the presentation or thought of the thing.  It could be pleasure, anger, sorrow, or bitterness. St. John of the Cross says that we must aim to have perfect detachment from created things in order to be perfectly attached to God and go to Heaven.  In heaven, souls have perfect detachment, where as in hell, we have constant attachments… no exceptions, no middle ground.  Therefore, it's great to practice mortification.  Mortification is a way of being proactive and dying to self, particularly with taming the physical senses and appetites.  There varying degrees of mortification but it's a process of replacing the pleasure you get from the created thing you are attached to with pain. Therefore, mortification is, in a sense the antidote to what you are attached to.  It's replacing the pleasure we're seeking with pain.  Unfortunately, many people today do all they can to avoid pain and discomfort. Now think of something in your home you really love.  Let's say it's a more expensive than other things in your home and you worked long hours to be able to buy that thing.  Let's pretend someone you love accidentally broke it, threw it away, or misplaced it.  Well of course you'd just look at him or her and say, “oh don't worry about it, it's ok!”  Or would you probably fly into a rage and let that person have it?  I don't know about you, but I know I would have a hard time getting over it.  You see, a problem with attachments is that it clouds our intellect and triggers us to behave disproportionately angry or sad. The broken or lost thing is not worth destroying a relationship or belittling someone, but our attachments don't allow us to make right decisions. Attachments of the Will are broken by simply turning away from the thing you want to do.  It's difficult in the beginning but as you turn away from the thing, and focus on God, the pain of not having it dissipates until you have perfect detachment from it.   Another way to break from attachments is, of course, prayer.  When we pray we turn our focus to God.  The more we pray, the greater our focus.  But it's important to pray with intention of connecting with our Creator, not for our own selfish pursuits.  For example, we may have a routine to pray at a certain hour of the day.  If something comes up with your family and it breaks your routine, do you strike in anger because your plans were ruined?  Or you know you're time is limited and you race through the Rosary with not even a single gaze upon the Lord in your heart?  Did you say it for the sake of checking it off your to-do list?  If so, then the prayer was empty and you might as well have been doing something else.  We must detach ourselves from all created things including our identities, what we think about ourselves, our homes and other things, and even our children and our loved ones.  St. Ambrose's message to Saint Monica about detaching herself from Augustine was not just for her but for all of us. It is through the determination to persevere in detaching from created things that we can find true charity and purify our intentions.  We have all felt pain at the site of watching our loved ones fall into sin…especially our children.  Until we reach a greater degree of detachment, will be able to realize the correct order of praise.  By relating to God in this way we are able to practice true charity. Does detaching from family and loved ones means we'll turn cold or indifferent? The answer is no.  As a matter of fact, this greater union with God as your priority in life will bring about graces.  You will be more loving than ever before because the Lord is taking residence in your heart.  You will also be more compassionate, understanding, patient, and kind.  You will grow in piety and reverence for God. And these are the great lessons that St. Monica taught us.  The secret to leading our children, spouses, and others to true conversion begins with us.  What a blessing that St. Augustine took up the art of journaling his conversion story.  The translators noted that his book Confessions, was not an autobiography.  It's his testimony of how God transformed his heart through the love and tears if his beloved mother Monica and the great Ambrose. I'm going to read a short excerpt from Confessions: Then my mother said: “Son, for myself I have no longer any pleasure in anything in this life. Now that my hopes in this world are satisfied, I do not know what more I want here or why I am here. There was indeed one thing for which I wished to tarry a little in this life, and that was that I might see you a Catholic Christian before I died. My God hath answered this more than abundantly, so that I see you now made his servant and spurning all earthly happiness. What more am I to do here?”   I do not well remember what reply I made to her about this. However, it was scarcely five days later--certainly not much more--that she was prostrated by fever. While she was sick, she fainted one day and was for a short time quite unconscious. We hurried to her, and when she soon regained her senses, she looked at me and my brother as we stood by her, and said, in inquiry, “Where was I?” Then looking intently at us, dumb in our grief, she said, “Here in this place shall you bury your mother.” I was silent and held back my tears; but my brother said something, wishing her the happier lot of dying in her own country and not abroad. When she heard this, she fixed him with her eye and an anxious countenance, because he savored of such earthly concerns, and then gazing at me she said, “See how he speaks.” Soon after, she said to us both: “Lay this body anywhere, and do not let the care of it be a trouble to you at all. Only this I ask: that you will remember me at the Lord's altar, wherever you are.” And when she had expressed her wish in such words as she could, she fell silent, in heavy pain with her increasing sickness.  These were the last words of a dying woman who had done all she could to attain detachment from created things and perfect attachment to God. She had not a care for earthly pleasures, she did not wail in sadness for not having more time with her newly converted son, and she grieved that her sons would be concerned over the earthly cares of her body.  With this, I challenge you to take stock of the things that cause you pain and ask God for the grace of detachment.  I also urge you to listen to our Lady of Fatima and pray the Rosary with your family daily.  We want to be proactive in strengthening your family prayer life and safeguarding your children from the forces of evil by praying the Rosary as a family.   This will deepen your spiritual life and help you and your children love God with all your hearts, minds, and souls.  Like someone said, “A house is no home unless it contains food for the soul as well as for the body.”   Let's pray together… Glory be… You'll find the transcript to this episode on TheCatholicServant.com/Saint-Monica-lessons and please share it with someone who may need today's message.  And, please continue to send me your prayer requests to Alexandra@TheCatholicServant.com so we can lift you up in prayer during our next family Rosary. May you have a blessed and prayerful week.  

As we've seen in other episodes, theologically, the Church spent the 4th & 5th Cs figuring out exactly how to articulate what it believed about the nature of God & Jesus. The main questions it dealt with in the 5th thru 7th Cs, centered on how God saves the lost. Theologians were consumed with properly understanding God's grace, free will, and the nature of sin. Just what happened in the Fall? Instead of the nature of God, it was the nature of humanity that dominated Church councils.In this episode of CS, we'll deal with what's become something of a boogeyman in theological discussions, especially those that take place between Calvinists and Arminianists.That boogey is a man named Pelagius. His debate with the 5th C Church Father Augustine took center stage in the theological bruha over human nature and the extent of the Fall.Pelagius was born around 354 in Britain. Descriptions of him cast a large figure; both tall and wide, who cut an imposing figure wherever he went. Pelagius took his faith seriously and followed the tradition of many of his Celtic peers by being an ascetic and becoming a monk. Having taken advantage of the finest education he could in his native Britain, mastering both Latin & Greek, in 380 he went to Rome, to further his studies in law & theology. What he saw there grieved him greatly.The Church that had been persecuted through the 3rd C, had by the late 4th become something of a darling of the State. Hundreds of one-time pagans now filled the churches, many of them with dubious intent and less than altruistic motivation. They saw the way the political winds were blowing and so blew into the Church's ready embrace. The consequence was many who called themselves “Christians” but whose lives gave little support to the claim.Many Italian nobles kept a stable of mistresses in addition to their wives. They lived in luxurious ostentation while the desperately poor died nightly on the street outside the gate to their villa. Pelagius was shocked that the clergy took little action to confront all this. Priests allowed the rich to attend church as kind of half-way Christians. That is, they looked and sounded like believers, but hadn't been baptized, because once baptized, a new level of obedience and morality was expected and the poser-noble didn't want to go that far with it. Their attendance at church was a social thing, not a matter of a sincere faith. Pelagius was dumb-founded that this was going on in Rome. In one of his letters, he wrote, “Do you consider him a Christian who oppresses the wretched, who burdens the poor, who covets others' property, who makes several poor so that he may make himself rich, who rejoices in unjust gains . . . and a man of this kind has the audacity to go to church!” Pelagius warned that unless a person denied himself and imitated Christ, he had no business calling himself a Christian.From what he observed in Rome & from his own experience in following Jesus as a monk,  Pelagius developed a perspective on sin and salvation that centered on works. He said that sin doesn't arise out of some pre-existing state. If it did, he said, that meant God created sin as part of human nature. He wrote, “To say that man cannot be without sin is like saying that a man cannot live without food or drink or sleep or other such things without which our human state cannot exist.” Rather, Pelagius said, sin comes from bad habits people form willingly. Continually sinning, their wills weaken & they sin more often. BUT: If they commit to doing good rather than sinning, they're able to reverse their habits and develop patterns of behavior pleasing to God. God's part in all this is 3-fold:1) He gives people free will, with the ability to see for themselves what's right and wrong.2) God gives supernatural revelation through Scripture to guide them.3) Christ is the ultimate manifestation of God's grace; a perfect guide to demonstrate for humanity how to live.But in the final analysis, people have to overcome sin by choosing not to, but rather to do that which pleases God.The historical view of Pelagius is that he said Jesus was more an Example than a Savior.It's important to keep in mind that Pelagius' primary motivation wasn't theological so much as pastoral. He believed that the doctrine of Original Sin inherited from Adam & promulgated by Augustine, led Christians to be apathetic about their own sins, because it became a kind of cop-out for personal responsibility. He loathed the idea that people would say, “Well, I'm born a sinner, in sin, and have no choice in the matter. Since I came from fallen Adam, I'm fallen and can't get up. So I might as well lie here in my sin and sin away.”  Pelagius reasoned along these lines: “If Christians are inherently sinful, but God forgives sins, what's the motivation to even try to change?” He said the doctrine of Original Sin would gut the sense that sin was evil simply because it would be seen as inevitable. He worried when The Church accepted the idea of Original Sin, it would give people an excuse for sins, and that God would bring judgment.During the next 3 decades Pelagius spent in Italy, he seemingly remained orthodox and was a popular author and speaker. He wrote a commentary on Paul's NT letters and condemned the heresy of Manichaeanism. Though he held no official position or title, he was honored as a spiritual director and mentor to many. Regarding the things that mattered to him; namely, the moral purity of believers, Pelagius was only marginally influential.Over against Pelagius who rejected the idea of Original Sin was it's prime articulator, Bishop Augustine of Hippo in North Africa. Augustine had already made a name for himself in the controversy with the Donatists that we looked at in Season 1. This controversy with the Donatists prepared Augustine for the challenge Pelagius offered up. Against the Donatists, Augustine argued the Church isn't made up of perfect people, but that it is peopled by those who've been Born Again, as evidenced by their baptism.Augustine was convinced the doctrine of Original Sin was true. He said people begin life in the grip of a power their unable to shake. It draws them ever deeper into ruin unless God rescues them. In the same way that Pelagius's ideas were formed in the crucible of his own experience, so were Augustine's. He'd been a rank profligate, a true-blue pagan. Reform hadn't come to Augustine by self-will or in a vow to do better. In His classic autobiography, Confessions, he leans on Romans 7 when he says, “Even though a person may be delighted with God's law as far as his inmost self is concerned, how is he to deal with that other law in his bodily members which deliver him as prisoner to the law of sin dominant in his body. Who will free him from this death-laden body, if not your grace, given through Jesus Christ our Lord?” Augustine thus gives voice to how helpless he was in his former life, and how much he owed to God's mercy.Pelagius said human beings were posse non peccare = Able to not sin, apart from any supernatural enabling by God.Augustine said they were non posses non peccare = Not able to not sin, apart from God's enabling. He said even the good things people do aren't out of a genuine of love of God but for some lesser, and ultimately selfish purpose. Augustine's concept of grace isn't the Pelagian nudge into doing good by being inspired by Jesus' example, it's a colossal power that liberates people to truly love & serve God. That grace-empowered love then conquers sin & installs the virtues of the Spirit-filled life. But, Augustine said, until that grace is given, people can't even choose good, let alone DO it.In Augustine's conception of Original Sin, When Adam sinned, all humanity sinned with him.The clash between Pelagius and Augustine might never have materialized if the Roman Empire had remained intact. But in 410 Rome was sacked by the Visigoths. Roman nobles fled to enclaves on the coast and North Africa. Among them was Pelagius and his followers. It was there that a disciple of Pelagius named Celestius began spreading his teacher's ideas. A synod of African bishops met in Carthage in May of 418 to resolve the conflicting visions of God's grace and human free will. They came down heavily on Augustine's side.Among the 8 canons the Council passed, are 3 that posed a major challenge to Pelagius' theology.1) The Council said infants require baptism because baptism is MORE than a symbol. The African bishops said it actually washes away sin; that is, the stain of original sin.2) The Council decreed that the sinless life Celestius advocated was impossible. Quoting 1 John 1:8 where john says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us,” they said the Bible writers who admitted sin weren't just being humble, as Celestius argued. The Council rejected the idea we're in control of the good & bad in us, and so, the idea that we can perfect ourselves.3)  The Council took a stand on the power & scope of God's grace. Pelagius had said, or at least, his later followers said, that God's grace had bestowed on people a natural, that is a HUMAN ability, to overcome sin. The Council said God's grace isn't simply a tool people use to conform behavior; it's how God changes them from the inside out by empowering them to love & obey Him rather than sin. God's grace is something He gives, not something we choose.The Council of Carthage was conducted without the political shenanigans that marked some of the other councils. The exception was the work of Pope Zosimus, who was impressed by Pelagius and Celestius piety. He urged the African Bishops to declared Pelagius's party as orthodox. They refused, politely and after several months, Zosimus agreed with their findings.But because The Council of Carthage had been a local synod, its decisions weren't accepted in the East. Several theologians questioned its canons. The Council's pessimism about human freedom alarmed those who concluded the Africans had gone to an extreme in rejecting Pelagianism. They called for a moderate position that could serve the same purpose without falling into fatalism. So, a 2nd council was called a century later to resolve some of the more controversial issues left by Carthage in a way that was binding.You see, most theologians opposed Pelagius, and were glad Carthage put down his ideas. But they were also concerned that the Council had been influenced by Manichaeanism, one of those dualistic religions we looked at recently. Manichaeanism said humanity is trapped in an utterly evil material world. The only escape is through the spiritual realm. That Augustine had once been a Manichaean and that his ideas were central to the Carthaginian Council heightened the suspicions. Theologians like John Cassian argued while the aim of the bishops at Carthage had been laudable, they'd left no room for human choice; at least choices that had any real meaning. Carthage made Christianity as fatalistic as Manichaeanism.Those who questioned Carthage thought . . .1) The idea that the unredeemed are unable to choose good is self-evidently false.2) The fatalism in Carthage's ideas about predestination is contrary to Scripture.The most famous of the theologians who challenged Carthage was John Cassian. He argued that human freedom is not in conflict with God's grace and that predestination is based on God foreknowing who'll freely but by grace, come to faith in Christ.Cassian cited the story of Zacchaeus, Jericho's despised tax-collector. Zacchaeus was desperate to see Jesus. Being short and unable to see through the crowd, he climbed a tree and waited till Jesus passed by. Cassian argued that God did not cause Zacchaeus to climb the tree; he decided to do so of his own accord, and Jesus rewarded this act of faith.So, a 2nd Council was called in 529 at Orange in S Gaul, today, SE France, to deal with these questions. It decided once again in favor of Augustine's views. Augustine's influence was so strong in the Council, many of Orange's rulings used his language word for word.25 canons passed ruling out the arguments of men like Cassian. They accused those bishops who refused to accept the canons of being influenced by Pelagius. But it wasn't an all-clear for everything Augustine taught. Room is left in Orange's canons for the mystery of human free will. Augustine's doctrine of double-predestination was declared heretical.Today, calling someone Pelagian, or accusing them of spouting Pelagianism, effectively shuts them up because it's saying they deny The Gospel and have turned the distinctive Christian doctrine of salvation by grace through faith into the something someone can earn by their good works which don't require the enabling of God's grace.I'd be remiss in this review of Pelagianism to not mention Semi-Pelagianism.A dictionary definition of semi-Pelagianism is that it is a mid-way position between Augustinianism, with its emphasis on predestination and man's total inability, and Pelagianism, with its insistence on man's ability to obey God apart from divine grace. Semi-Pelagians claim human beings, though broken by sin, aren't totally ruined. They retain a measure of freedom by which they're able to cooperate with God's grace. Man's will is weakened by the Fall; his nature has fallen, but it's not utterly depraved. God's grace comes to people through the conviction of the Spirit and persuasion that Jesus is the only answer to our need. While God's Spirit brings grace through many means, the primary means by which grace is activated is in and through The Gospel message. The Spirit's dual work of conviction & persuasion is God's grace, which the person who is saved surrenders to and is born again. This work of grace that leads to salvation is called prevenient grace. But advocates of this position believe it's possible to resist this work of grace and remain in s a state of unbelief. The Calvinist believes in irresistible grace; that it cannot be resisted.Among those that would be classed Semi-Pelagian there's a wide array of understanding on what role the grace of God does in drawing and wooing the lost INTO Saving Faith. Some believe the message of The Gospel by itself has the power to save. Other would say it's God's grace working through The Gospel that convicts the sinner of both their need and the realization that the remedy is in Christ.Sadly, in the discussions that all too often turn into acrimonious debates between Calvinists and non-Calvinists, the charge of being semi-Pelagian is often tossed out as a kind of theological trump card. If Pelagianism is a heresy, being Semi-Pelagian is being a half heretic and a half heretic is still a heretic.Theological discussions aren't going very far when one side calls the other heretical. And if the dictionary's definition of Semi-Pelagianism is accurate, why not call it Semi-Augustinianism?It might be wise to question if either Augustinianism or Pelagianism are Biblical before we set some position as a mediating stand between them.What if BOTH Augustine and Pelagius were wrong? If that were the case, we don't want to find some middle ground between them. Being halfway between wrong and wrong is doubly wrong.

This episode of CS is titled “Augustine – Part 1.”Late have I loved You, O Beauty so ancient yet so new; Late have I loved you. You were within while I was without. I sought You out there. Unlovely, I rushed heedlessly among the lovely things You made. You were with me, but I was not with You. These things kept me far from You; even though they'd not even be unless You made them. You called and cried aloud, and opened my deafness. You gleamed and shined, and chased away my blindness. You breathed fragrant odors and I drew breath, and now I pant for You. I tasted, and now I hunger and thirst. You touched me, and I burned for Your peace.Wrote Augustine of Hippo in his classic Confessions.We turn now to the life and work of a man of singular importance in the history of the Church due to his impact on theology. I'll be blunt to say what it seems many, maybe most, are careful to avoid when it comes to Augustine. While the vast majority of historians laud him, a much smaller group are less enthused with him, as I hope becomes clear as we review the man and his impact.Augustine is the climax of patristic thought, at least in the Latin world. By “patristics,”  I mean the theology of the Church Fathers. If you've ever had a chance to look through collections of books on theology or church history, you've likely seen a massive set of tomes called the Ante & Post Nicene Fathers. That simply means the Church Fathers that came before the Council of Nicaea and those who came after and helped lay the doctrinal foundation of the Church. Augustine was THE dominant influence on the Medieval European; so much so, He's referred to as the Architect of the Middle Ages. Augustine continues to be a major influence among Roman Catholics for his theology of the church and sacraments, and for Protestants in regard to his theology of grace & salvation.Augustine's back-story is well-known because there's plenty of source material to draw from. Some say we know more about Augustine than any other figure of the ancient world because—not only do we have a record of his daily activities from one of his students; Possidius, Bishop of Calama; we also have a highly detailed record of Augustine's inner life from his classic work, Confessions. We also have a work titled Retractions where Augustine chronicles his intellectual development as he lists 95 of his works, explains why they were written, and the changes he made to them over time.Let me begin his story by laying the background of Augustine's world . . .The end of the persecution of the first 2 centuries was a great relief to the church. No doubt the reported conversion of Emperor Constantine seemed a dream come true. The apostle Paul told the followers of Christ to pray for the king and all those in authority. So the report of the Emperor's conversion was a cause of great rejoicing. It was likely only a handful of the wise who sensed a call to caution in what this new relationship between church and state would mean and the perils it might bring.During the 4th Century, churches grew more rapidly than ever. But not all those who joined did so with pure motives. With persecution behind them, some joined the Church to hedge their bets and add one more deity to their list. Others joined thinking it would advance their social status, now that being a Christian could earn them points with officials. Some sincere Christians witnessed the moral and spiritual dumbing down of the faith and fled to the wilderness to pursue an ascetic lifestyle as a hermit or into a monastery as a monk. But most Christians remained in their cities and towns to witness the growing affiliation between the church and earthly institutions. The invisible, universal or catholic church began increasingly to be associated with earthly forms and social structures.I need to pause here and make sure everyone understands that the word Catholic simply means UNIVERSAL. Historically, this is the Age of Catholic Christianity – not ROMAN Catholic Christianity. Historians refer to this time and the Eastern Orthodox Church as Catholic, to differentiate it from the several aberrant and heretical groups that had split off.  Groups like the Arians, Manichaeans, Gnostics, and Apollinarians, and half a dozen other hard to pronounce sects. But toward the end of the 4th Century, the Institutional replaced the Communal aspects of the Faith. The Gospel was supplanted by dogma and rituals in many churches.Jesus made it clear following Him meant a call to serve, not be served. Christians are servants. They serve God by serving one another and the world. During the first 3 centuries when the church was battered, the call to serve was valued as a priority. The heroes of the faith served by offering themselves in the ultimate sense-with their lives. But when the Church rose out of the catacombs to enter positions of social influence and power during the 4th Century, being a servant lost priority. Church leaders, who'd led by serving for 300 years, began to position themselves to be served. Servant-leaders became leaders of servants.This change escalated with the disintegration of the Western Empire during the 4th & 5th Centuries. As foreigners pressed in from the North and East, and civil authorities fled from the frontiers, people look more and more to the bishops and church leaders to provide guidance and governance.We've already seen how the Church and Bishop at Rome emerged as not only a religious leader but a political leader as well. The fall and sack of Rome by the Vandals in 410 rocked the Empire, leaving people profoundly shaken. One man emerged at this time to help deal with their confusion and anxiety over the future.Augustine was born in 354 in Tagaste, a small commercial city in North Africa. His father Patricius was a pagan and member of the local ruling class. His mother Monica was a committed Christian. Though far from wealthy, Augustine's parents were determined he should have the best education possible. After attending primary school in Tagaste he went to Carthage for secondary education. It was there, at the age of 17, he took on a mistress with whom he lived for 13 years & by whom he had a son named Adeodatus. While this seems scandalous, realize it was not all that uncommon for young men of the upper classes to have such an arrangement. Augustine seems to have had a genuine love for this woman, even though he fails to give us her name. It's certain he did love their son. And even though Augustine loved his girlfriend. He later wrote throughout these years he was continually hammered by sexual temptation and often despaired of overcoming it.Augustine pursued studies in philosophy in general; picking no specific school as the focus of his attention. When he was 19 he read the now lost Hortensius by the Roman orator Cicero & was convinced he should make the pursuit of truth his life's aim. But this noble quest battled with what he now felt was a degrading desire toward immorality. For moral assistance to resist the downward pull, he defaulted to the faith of his mother's home and turned to the Bible. But being a lover of classical Latin, the translations he read seemed crude and unsophisticated and held no appeal.What did appeal to Augustine was the Manichaeans with whom we've already treated.  By way of review, Mani was a teacher in Persia in the mid-3rd Century who mashed a Gnostic-flavored religion together with ancient Persian ideas as embodied in Zoroastrianism. Augustine was an intellectual, the kind of person Manichaeanism appealed to. They disdained faith, saying they were the intellectual gate-keepers of reason and logic. They explained the world in terms of darkness and light. Light and Spirit were good, darkness and the physical; evil. The key to overcoming sin was an early form of the campaign used on public school campuses in the US years ago regarding drugs: “Just say no!” Augustine was told if he just employed total abstinence from physical pleasure he'd do well. He was a Manichaean for 9 yrs until he saw its logical inconsistencies and left.His record of this time reveals that while he remained within their ranks, he had problems all along. Assuming he just needed to learn more to clear up the problems, the more he studied, the more problems popped up. When he voiced his concerns, other Manichaeans told him if he could just hear the teaching of Faustus, all his concerns would dissolve. Faustus was supposed to be the consummate Manichaean who had all the answers.Well, Faustus eventually arrived and Augustine listened in the expectation that everything he'd been doubting would evaporate like dew in the morning sun. That's not what happened. On the contrary. Augustine said while Faustus was eloquent of speech, his words were like a fancy plate holding rotten meat. He sounded good, but his speech was empty.Augustine spent time with Faustus, trying to work through his difficulties but the more he heard, the more he realized the man was clueless. So much for Manichaeanism being the gate-keeper of reason.At the age of 20, Augustine began teaching. His friends recognized his intellectual genius and encouraged him to move to Rome. In 382, closing in on 30, he and his mother moved to the Capital where he began teaching.As often happens when someone's religious or philosophical house is blown over like a stack of cards, Augustine's disappointment with Manichaeanism led to a period of disenchantment & skepticism. Remember; he'd given himself to the pursuit of truth and had assumed for several years Mani had found it. Now he knew he hadn't. Once bitten, twice shy works for philosophy as well as romance.Augustine was rescued from his growing skepticism by Neo-Platonism and the work of Plotinus who fanned to flame his smoldering spark of longing for truth.In 384, Augustine was hired as a professor of rhetoric at the University of Milan where his now widowed mother Monica and some friends joined him.More out of professional courtesy as a professor of rhetoric than anything else, Augustine went to hear Milan's bishop Ambrose preach. Augustine was surprised at Ambrose's eloquence. It's not like this was his first time in church. He'd attended the churches of North Africa while growing up there. But he'd never heard anyone speak like this. Ambrose showed Augustine that the Christian faith, far from being crude and unsophisticated, was both eloquent & intelligent.An elder named Simplicianus made Augustine his personal project. He gave Augustine a copy of a commentary on Paul by Marius Victorinus, who'd converted from Neo-Platonism to Christianity 30 years before. Being a Neo-Platonist himself, Augustine went through something of an intellectual conversion, if not a spiritual transformation.Augustine's future was bright. He had a prestigious job, committed friends, wealth, influence and he was still young and healthy. But inwardly he was miserable. His mother Monica suggested what he needed was a normal family. Of course, she was against his long-time but illicit affair with his girlfriend, the mother of his son. She'd followed him on all his various moves; to Tagaste from Carthage to Rome, then Milan. Monica told Augustine his girlfriend was keeping him from finding a suitable wife, someone more fit for his social standing. Though Augustine loved her, his mother's constant urging to put her away eventually moved him to locate his inner unrest with his mistress. So he ended their relationship. He then proposed to a young woman of wealth and society. Problem is, she was too young to marry so a far-off date was set. Augustine couldn't master his lust, and only a short time after breaking up with his mistress, he found another. From Augustine's own account of his struggle in the Confessions, we might describe his problem as a sexual addiction. His inner battle between the higher call of virtue and the lower pull toward vice threatened to tear him apart in a mental breakdown.It was then, as he devoured material in his quest for truth that he heard of Christian hermits like Anthony of Egypt who'd mastered their fleshly desires. Their example shamed Augustine. Until then he'd considered Christians as intellectually inferior -- yet they were able to accomplish a victory over sin he'd been powerless to attain. He began to wonder if maybe Christianity possessed a power he'd missed.Conversion became for Augustine, as it was for so many at this time, not so much an issue of faith as action. He was persuaded of the intellectual strength of Christianity; he just did not want to give up his sin, though he knew he should.One day in 386, while walking in the garden of his house, his soul seething in confusion and moral anguish, he carried a Bible hoping to draw guidance from it. But he could make no sense of it. He dropped it on a bench and paced back and forth; his mind in torment. From somewhere nearby, he heard a child's voice calling out the line of what must have been a game though Augustine did not know it. The voice said, “Tolle lege (tawlee Leggy) = Take up and read.” He reached down and picked up the Bible he'd just dropped. The page fell open to Romans 13 where his eyes fell on words perfectly suited to his current mindset. He read àLet us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.Augustine later wrote, “As I read those words, instantly it was as if the light of peace poured into my heart and all the shades of doubt departed." The following Easter, Augustine and his son Adeodatus were baptized by Bishop Ambrose. A few months later Augustine returned to North Africa. On the way, his mother Monica died and not long after he returned to Tagaste, his son also passed. Augustine lost interest in living and longed to leave the world he once longed for.His friends rallied round and gave him a purpose to carry on. They formed a monastic community, out of which would come the famous Augustinian Order and Rule.While Augustine would likely have been content to live out his life in the monastery, the North African church desperately needed a leader with his gifts. In 391 the church at Hippo ordained him as 1 of their priests. He did the preaching because their bishop was Greek and could speak neither Latin nor the local Punic. He became co-bishop 4 years later, then a year after that, sole bishop at Hippo. He served in that capacity for the next 33 years.He kept up the monastic life throughout his tenure as Bishop at Hippo. His was an extremely busy career; divided between study, writing and general oversight of church affairs.We'll pick it up at this point in our next episode as we consider some of his more important writings. Then we'll get into Augustine's career as a theologian.