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9 - Happiness and Friendship

from Part II - Main Themes and Topics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2020

By
Anne-Isabelle Bouton-Touboulic
Edited by
Tarmo Toom
Tarmo Toom
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
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Summary

In the ancient world, friendship is taken to be essential to happiness. This paper aims to study what role friendship plays in Augustine’s account of his conversion in his “Confessions.” In this work, the relation between friendship and happiness is actually embedded in the narrative. Friendship seems ambivalent, but Augustine redefines it as a contributing to a shared progress toward God.

Keywords

friendshiphappinesswisdomancient philosophy
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's 'Confessions' , pp. 138 - 153
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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References

Further Reading

Bouton-Touboulic, A.-I. “Body Language in Augustine’s Confessions and De doctrina christiana.” Augustinian Studies 49/1 (2018), 1–23.Google Scholar
Bouton-Touboulic, A.-I. “Alypius, l’ami sceptique d’Augustin?” In Augustin philosophe et prédicateur. Hommage à Goulven Madec: actes du colloque international organisé à Paris les 8 et 9 septembre 2011, ed. Bochet, I.. Colletion des Études Augustiniennes, Série Antiquité 195. Paris: Institut d’études Augustiniennes, 2012, 295–314.Google Scholar
Bouton-Touboulic, A.-I. L’ordre caché. La notion d’ordre chez saint Augustin, Collection des études augustiniennes, Série Antiquité 174. Paris: Institut d’Études Augustiniennes, 2004.Google Scholar
Courcelle, P. Recherches sur les Confessions de saint Augustin. Paris: Boccard, 1968.Google Scholar
Folliet, G. “‘Deificari in otio’, Augustin, Epistula 10, 2.” RechAug 2 (1962), 225–236.Google Scholar
Fuhrer, T. “Contro I Platonici con Epicuro. Agostino sulla fisiologia del corpo umano.” Eikasmos 26 (2015), 303–318.Google Scholar
Hadot, I. “Amicitia.” In Augustinus-Lexikon, ed. Mayer, C.. Basel: Schwabe, 1986–, vol. 1, 287–293.Google Scholar
Konstan, D. “Problems in the History of Christian Friendship.” Journal of Early Christian Studies 4/1 (1996), 87–113.Google Scholar
Lane Fox, R. Augustine: Conversions to Confessions. London: Penguin Books, 2016.Google Scholar
MacNamara, M. A. Friendship in Saint Augustine. Studia Friburgensia 20. Fribourg: The University Press, 1958.Google Scholar
Nawar, T. “Augustine and the Dangers of Friendship.” The Classical Quarterly 65/2 (2015), 836–851.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Daly, G. P. “Friendship and Transgression: Luminosus limes amicitiae (Augustine, Confessions 2.2.2) and the Theme of Confessions 2.” In Reading Ancient Texts, Aristotle and Neoplatonism, eds. Stern-Gillet, S. and Corrigan, K.. Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History 162. Leiden: Brill, 2007, vol. II, 211–223.Google Scholar
Pépin, J. “Le problème de la communication des consciences chez Plotin et saint Augustin.” Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale 55/2 (1950), 128–148.Google Scholar
Pétré, H. Caritas: Étude sur le vocabulaire latin de la charité chrétienne. Études et documents 22. Louvain: Spicilegium Sacrum Lovaniense, 1948.Google Scholar
Pizzolato, L. F. “L’amicizia in S. Agostino e il “Laelius” di Cicerone.” Vigiliae Christianae 28 (1974), 203–215.Google Scholar
Pizzolato, L. F. L’idea di amicizia nel mundo classico e cristiano. Turin: G. Einaudi, 1993.Google Scholar
Testard, M. Saint Augustin et Cicéron. Paris: Études Augustiniennes, 1958, vol. 1.Google Scholar
Touboulic, A.-I. “De la mort de l’ami à la présence divine (Conf. IV, 4, 7–12, 19).” Vita Latina, 153 (1999), 58–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Bavel, T. J. “The Influence of Cicero’s Ideal of Friendship on Augustine.” In Augustiniana Traiectina: communications présentées au colloque international d’Utrecht, 13–14 novembre 1986, eds. den Boeft, J. and van Oort, J.. Paris: Études Augustiniennes, 1986, 59–72.Google Scholar

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