Tolkien’s Augustinian Vision of Reality
February 2nd, 2006
St. Augustine was decidedly not a "Medieval philosopher"…but….interesting thoughts nonetheless about Tolkien’s vision of reality influenced by St. Augustine.
The Temptation of the Earthly City: Tolkien’s Augustinian Vision | Dr. Jose Yulo | February 1, 2006.
However, there exists in The Lord of the Rings a subtle yet quite detectable call to the thought of the medieval philosopher St. Augustine. This call is particularly resonant today, an age where there appears to prevail an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Augustine, as a student of the ancients (in particular of Plato), knew well that knowledge was not synonymous with wisdom. Often, the quest for the former entailed the preclusion of the latter.
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Categories: Books
In most philosophical texts that treat of the medieval period, Augustine is included, usually as the first or one of the first medieval philosophers. This is both because much of his philosophical & theological method is formative for the medieval period, but also because many of his concerns and issues were as well. This isn’t complete consensus on this point, of course, but I don’t think that it is out of line to describe Augustine as a medieval thinker. A very early medieval thinker, true, but still a medieval thinker.
McCain: I would vigorously protest any such description of Augustine as a Medieval thinker, “philosophical textbooks” not withstanding. First, he was not a “philosopher” he was, first and foremost, a pastor of souls, a theologian, a bishop. I eschew any attempt to turn Augustine into a “philosopher.”
The fact that Augustine was a theologian does not detract from the fact that he was also a philosopher — indeed, prior to the Reformation, there was no bright line between the two professions. Augustine’s day job was as a bishop — his academic credentials were in Rhetoric. He wrote masterworks of theology, but also did a good deal of philosophical work, for example, his exposition of sign theory in On Christian Teaching. My point is simply this: to say he was a theologian is not to exclude his work as a philosopher, or visa versa.
Well, McCain, I think that
O’Reilly would probably say
that Augustine was a philosopher. After all, that’s how he describes (whenever the topic comes up on “The Factor”) our faith: a Christian philosophy! For what it’s worth (not much!)
Well, McCain, I think that
O’Reilly would probably say
that Augustine was a philosopher. After all, that’s how he describes (whenever the topic comes up on “The Factor”) our faith: a Christian philosophy! For what it’s worth (not much!)