Augustinianism in Renaissance Thought

It is hard to overestimate the enduring impact that St. Augustine of Hippo (b. 354–d. 430) has exerted on the development of Western thought, from its most personal expressions to its broadly cultural reflections. Theology, philosophy, literature, visual arts, even politics—all were pervasively influenced by the Church Father’s thought and its reverberations through the ages. Situated at the crossroads of two hard-to-define descriptors, Renaissance Augustinianism (not to be confused with Heiko A. Oberman’s anti-Pelagian “Augustinian Renaissance”) in essence, but not unambiguously, refers to the reception and development of that thought in Europe from around the mid-14th to the mid-17th century. Such a broad definition naturally invites scrutiny—“Augustinianism” in se is an imprecise term that brings to mind a range of (sometimes conflicting) meanings—but, fundamentally, this entry concerns the ways in which Augustine was reappropriated and reconstructed in the transition to early modernity. The result is multifaceted by its nature: the bishop’s prolific output on a plethora of topics led to an equally diverse readership, from the early Italian humanists to the followers of John Calvin. A “late-classical” author in the eyes of many, Augustine, too, was the object of the ad fontes attitude thought of as characteristic of the Renaissance; and as many of his more neglected works were rediscovered, he proved a singular authority that was thought to embody the harmonization of antiquity with Christianity. The variety of interpretations—and opposition from certain circles—notwithstanding, the Church Father’s doctrines of trinitarianism, original sin, illumination, and the nature of the soul and of knowledge were widely prevalent; as was his conception of the City of God opposite to the city of man. In many ways, the friars that belonged to the mendicant Ordo Eremitarum Sancti Augustini (OESA) laid the foundation for this widespread awareness of his writings. No wonder that many scholars consider the Renaissance to constitute a “rebirth” of Augustine—and of Augustinianism—as well. For a general overview of patristics in the Renaissance, see the separate Oxford Bibliographies in Renaissance and Reformation article “The Church Fathers in Renaissance and Reformation Thought.”

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