Ad Limina Apostolorum (Blog) | St. Augustine's Library
Friday, July 16, 2004

St. Augustine the Berber 

When Elliot Bougis, who is currently standing in for Mark Shea at 'Not Quite Catholic but Still Enjoying It' (formerly 'Catholic and Enjoying it'), off-handedly made a post claiming that Augustine was 'Black and Catholic,' he got a handful of corrections in response - from Sandra Miesel, myself, and others - noting the complexities involved in calling St. Augustine 'black' (for the record, he was half-Berber, half-Roman).  This touched a nerve for Elliot, who posted in reply:

"But it's precisely this reflexive, I dare say smug, sense of incongruity between Augustine and a black Augustine that led me to post the headline I did. As the comment thread for this dust-up revealed, the explicit claim of most (presumably) white Catholics (at least in the vicinity of CAEI/NQCBSEI) is that Augustine was not black. Well and good. What is not so clearly stated, however, is the ingrained corollary: since he certainly wasn't black, Augustine was white."
Now, as Elliot showed, he knows as well as anyone that Augustine is not 'black' in the modern sense of the term.  But his response touched off another storm of responses, including my own, which I re-post here:
 
"In my study of Church history, one of the problems I frequently come across is the reading of modern academic preoccupations (whether they be Marxist class struggle or racial identity) into ancient modes of thought.  St. Augustine, who spent many years reflecting upon the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire, would have been very confused to hear about the role of the dislocation and disenfranchisement of the plebian class in this fall, and yet that is exactly the light in which many studies read the City of God.  Not that St. Augustine would have disagreed; it just simply wasn't his interest. T he same with Medieval contemplative female monastics and mystics, who, if told that their real motivations involved a struggle for authority and voice in a male-dominated secular realm, would have looked a little confused and left the room.  Now, I'm not claiming that the same thing is involved in feminist/Marxist revisionist history and African-Americans taking pride in the presumed skin color of St. Augustine.  But I do think we have to be very self-conscious of the lenses through which we view the ancient Christians.  Otherwise, these lenses can end up -- through 'zeal without knowledge' -- distorting the reality.  The feminist historian who is frustrated by the actual LACK of interest among Medieval nuns in gender empowerment is often tempted to pretend that it is there.  In the same way, one preoccupied with the skin color of some of the saints might be tempted to pretend that St. Augustine was black when he wasn't.  I'm not interested in claiming St. Augustine for whites. I'm interested in claiming him for St. Augustine."

Again, the whole dispute is quite silly.  The very fact that this discussion is going on reflects an an anachronistic reading of modern concerns into the past, which is precisely the thing I want to avoid.  Most of us are just too touchy for this sort of thing, and should have just let Elliot's comment be taken for what it was -- a joking, tongue-in-cheek reference.  But again, I get involved in discussions on St. Augustine on principle alone.

# posted by Jamie : 9:22 AM

|


Under the Patronage of
St. Augustine of Hippo

Contact me:
adliminaapostolorum
[at] hotmail.com

Ad Limina Apostolorum: An ecclesiastical term meaning a pilgrimage to the sepulchres of St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome, i.e., to the Basilica of the Prince of the Apostles and to the Basilica of St. Paul "outside the walls".


"Augustine of Hippo Refuting Heretic"
(illuminated manuscript,
13th century)

"Jamie . . .
I could kill you in three seconds.
"
-Bishop Sheridan

Books Recently Read or Currently Reading

John Milbank's Theology & Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason (next in stack)

Colson Whitehead's Zone One (reading)

Michael Wyschogrod's Body of Faith: God and the People Israel (reading)

J. B. Schneewind's Invention of Autonomy: A History of Modern Moral Philosophy (reading)

Paul Hacker's Ego in Faith: Martin Luther and the Origins of Anthopocentric Religion (finished: 3 stars)

Edward Peter's Modern Guide to Indulgences: Rediscovering this Often-Ministerpreted Teaching (finished: 1 star)

Blogs I Read

Blogroll Me!

Liturgy

Missale Romanum
Parallel Text of Latin Mass
Order of the Mass
Today's Mass Readings
Collect of the Day
Mass Times
Liturgical Calendar
Liturgical Year
Catholic Calendar Page
Church Year.net
Liturgy of the Hours (Universalis)
Liturgy of the Hours (Apostolate)
Parallel Latin/English Psalter
Psalms in Metre
Pope's Commentary on Psalter
Gregorian Chant
More Gregorian Chant
Schola Cantorum Bogotensis
Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music
Monks of Adoration
Catholic Liturgical Library
Treasury of Latin Prayers
Thesaurus Precum Latinarum
Litany Collection
Novena Prayers
Real Presence Association
Liturgy Q&A (Zenit)

Scripture

Bible Gateway
Unbound Bible
New Testament Gateway
NT Gateway (Greek)
Douay-Rheims
Latin Vulgate
More Vulgate Resources
Nova Vulgata
e-catena

Hagiography

Patron Saints Index
Holypersons.org
Doctors of the Church
St. Thomas More (Litany)
Saint Bonaventure
St. Josemaria Escriva
Saint Gianna Beretta Molla
Saint Padre Pio
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Queen Isabella of Spain
John Henry Newman

Apologetics

Catholic Answers
Biblical Evidence for Catholicism (Dave Armstrong)
Cor ad cor loquitur (Blog)
Nazareth Resource Library (Akin)
Surprised by Truth (Madrid)
Catholic Outlook (Hoge)
Scripture Catholic (Salza)
Defenders of the Faith (Ray)
Envoy Encore (Blog)
Peter Kreeft
Mark Shea
Catholic Apologetics Bible Concordance

Church

Holy See
Pope Benedict XVI Fan Club Catholic Hierarchy
Bishops of the United States
USCCB
Diocese of Arlington

Theology

Catechism of the Catholic Church
Ecumenical Councils and Decrees
Papal Encyclicals
Church Documents (New Advent)
Code of Canon Law
Academic Theology Links (Georgetown)
Modern Theologians (Wabash Center)

MONTHLY ARCHIVES:

03/01/2002 - 04/01/2002
03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004
04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004
05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004
06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004
07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004
08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004
09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004
10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004
11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004
12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005
01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005
02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005
03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005
04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005
05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005
06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005
07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005
08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005
09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005
10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005
11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005
12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006
01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006
02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006
05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006
11/01/2009 - 12/01/2009
08/01/2010 - 09/01/2010
11/01/2010 - 12/01/2010
04/01/2011 - 05/01/2011
09/01/2011 - 10/01/2011
01/01/2012 - 02/01/2012




Buy my Wife's Cabbage Patch Kids!

<< # St. Blog's Parish ? >>

St. Blog's Parish Hall

Weblog Commenting and Trackback by HaloScan.com

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

This site is certified 61% GOOD by the Gematriculator

This page designed by Christopher Blosser
© 2003-2004 Jamie