Creating Augustine: Interpreting Augustine and Augustinianism in the Later Middle Ages

The term 'Augustinianism' has been used by scholars for over a century to refer to trends in medieval philosophy, theology, and politics, which had a major effect on the transformations of European culture and society from the Middle Ages to the onset of modernity. Yet in each of these three disciplines 'Augustinianism' means something different, and the lack of clarity only increases when the debates over the relationship between a late medieval Augustinianism and Martin Luther are considered as well. Based on historical, philological, and iconographic analysis, this study adopts a hermeneutical approach drawn from philosophical hermeneutics, religious studies, and literary and sociological theory to argue for a historical, as distinct from a philosophical or theological referent for the term 'Augustinianism'. The interpretation of Augustine and of a late medieval Augustinianism can only be based historically on the newly created image of Augustine discerned in the writings of the Augustinian Hermits in the early fourteenth century. Recognising the diverse dimensions of this created image is requisite to a historical understanding of Augustine's late medieval reception and impact. Understanding Augustine as a 'created' saint has implications for a wider understanding of Augustine's influence stretching on beyond the later Middle Ages up until the present day.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1: A Renaissance of Augustinianism? The New Augustine Scholarship The Campaign Contra Pelagianos Modernos Religio-Politics and the Return to Augustine 2: The Rebirth of Augustine 3: The Sermones ad fratres in eremo 4: Augustine Imagined The Metrum pro depingenda vita Sancti Augustini of Jordan of Quedlinburg The Erfurt Stained-Glass Cycle (1316-1324) Guariento di Arpo: The Padua Cycle (1338) The Arca Cycle (1362) Ottaviano Nelli: The Gubio Cycle (1410-1420) Di Lorenzo: A Minaturist s Cycle (1433) The Historia Augustini (1430-1440) The Vita Sancti Augustini Imaginibus Adornata (1450-1500) Benozzo Gozzoli: The San Gimignano Cycle (1465) The Image and Its Public Augustine and Augustinianism 5: The Religio Augustini Religionization and Augustinian Monasticism Imitatio Augustini and the Embodiment of Augustine Conclusion: Augustine, the Augustinian, and Augustinianism in the Later Middle Ages

Review :
Saak does some fine work in identifying how library holdings in Augustine's writings figure in the renaissance, shows the social function and fluidity of the Sermones ad fratres in eremo, and tracks the iconography of Augustine ... in image and text through the turn of the sixteenth century.