From pagan to Christian oracle. Divination in Christian daily life in the writings of St. Augustine of Hippo

从异教到基督教神谕。

• 批准号: 323295293
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Andreas Hoffmann
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Seminar für Katholische Theologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2015-12-31 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/323295293?language=en
• 关键词: pagan; Christian; oracle.; Divination; daily

This research project will examine the different kinds of divination that occur in Christian daily life at the time of Augustine. In Greek-Roman antiquity divination was a widespread phenomenon both in public and in private life. It was used to interpret the signs which gods or deities give spontaneously or through an oracle after being asked specific questions and which are taken as guidance in decisionmaking, during problematic times and crises. Since it is deeply rooted in polytheism and belief in demons the Ancient Church in principle rejected divination and the Christian emperors passed laws against it. But nonetheless divination still played a role in the life of individual Christians and was even sometimes accepted in a slightly modified form by the church. Augustine of Hippo is an important witness to this sophisticated process of its reception. Based upon his writings, especially the homilies and letters, this project will show that divination was very much alive and practiced both in the society Christians lived in and in their daily life. The project is centered around three main lines of questioning: 1. Which kinds of pagan divination still existed at the time of Augustine? 2. How are these practices judged by theologians and ecclesiastical policy-makers (i. e. bishops, synods, councils) and in what way(s) did Christians practice them both inside and outside of ecclesiastical norms? 3. Which kinds of divinatory practices were received positively by the church, how were they modified and theologically legitimized and for which aspects of (Christian) life did they hold relevance? This research project will therefore fill a void in the field of Augustine-related research. Because of its focus on individual everyday religious practice it will furthermore be able to provide further contributions to the ongoing academic discourses on the individualization of religious practices, lived ancient religion and construction of individual identities in Late Antiquity. Thus the project both confirms and broadens the model of a plural identity (Markschies) of ancient Christianity. Lastly the project will contribute a still missing chapter to the history of divinatory practices: about divination during Christian Late Antiquity in the Western part of the Roman Empire.

这个研究项目将考察奥古斯丁时期基督徒日常生活中出现的各种占卜。在古希腊罗马时代，占卜在公共和私人生活中都是一种普遍的现象。它被用来解释神或神灵在被问及特定问题后自发或通过神谕给出的信号，这些信号在困难时期和危机期间被视为决策的指导。由于它深深植根于多神教和对恶魔的信仰，古代教会原则上拒绝占卜，基督教皇帝通过法律反对占卜。但尽管如此，占卜仍然在基督徒个人的生活中发挥着作用，甚至有时被教会以一种稍微修改的形式接受。河马的奥古斯丁是这个复杂的接受过程的重要见证人。根据他的作品，尤其是讲道和书信，这个项目将展示在基督徒生活的社会和日常生活中，占卜是非常活跃和实践的。该项目围绕着三个主要的问题：1。哪些异教占卜在奥古斯丁时代仍然存在？2. 神学家和教会决策者（即主教、主教会议、理事会）如何判断这些做法？基督徒在教会规范内外以何种方式实践这些做法？3. 哪些占卜实践被教会积极接受，它们是如何被修改并在神学上合法化的，它们与（基督徒）生活的哪些方面有关？因此，该研究项目将填补奥古斯丁相关研究领域的空白。由于其对个人日常宗教实践的关注，它将进一步为正在进行的关于宗教实践个性化、古代生活宗教和古代晚期个人身份建构的学术论述提供进一步的贡献。因此，该项目既确认并扩大了古代基督教的多元身份模式（Markschies）。最后，该项目将为占卜实践的历史贡献一个仍然缺失的章节：关于基督教晚期罗马帝国西部地区的占卜。