'Beginning from Jerusalem': Luke 24.47 in Augustine's anti-Donatist Ecclesiology

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Research scopeThe programmatic core of the proposed DPhil work is a re-evaluation of Augustine of Hippo's ecclesiological thought through a close analysis of certain features of his anti-Donatist works. What will be particularly assessed is the function, pre-history, and implications of his arguments around the importance of transmarine churches. What will be especially highlighted and studied is his long-neglected but often-employed argument on the necessity of communion with the Jerusalem Church, through an appeal to the origins of the Church using Luke 24.47To what ends does Augustine employ arguments for the necessity of communion with transmarine churches, especially Jerusalem (citing repeatedly a particle of Lk. 24.47) and the Pauline churches? How does Augustine's ecclesiology fit within and interact with his predecessors in the North African tradition (Cyprian, Optatus, and Tertullian), particularly on the question of transmarine churches?What is the role of local churches in Augustine's ecclesiology? How does a renewed appreciation of Augustine's thinking around the necessity of communion with transmarine churches disrupt or challenge confessional and traditional accounts of his ecclesiology? Research contextAugustine's legacy, in ecclesiology as in many other aspects of his thought, has a broad and deep influence in Western Christendom, making his works subject to routine misreadings on behalf of both his partisans and detractors. The emphasis of this research lies in recovering a repeated and prominent note (the role of transmarine churches, especially Jerusalem) in his ecclesiological work that has been singularly neglected. This has the goal of contributing fresh insights into Augustinian scholarship, and of offering a much-needed corrective to certain confessional readings that see him offering either an ultra-spiritualised Church divorced from institutional constraints (e.g. Bouyer, Cary) on the one hand, or a proto-papal system on the other (e.g. Chapman). Some of the more contemporary pieces of Augustine research that are relevant include the works of Merdinger (1997), Ployd (2015), and Burns and Jensen (2014). In a period of increasing engagement with Augustine from Orthodox theologians, this research hopes to work in this trajectory, opening up resonances of Augustine's thought with issues in contemporary Orthodox ecclesiology. Research methodAs is to be expected for Augustinian work, the bulk of the primary source material is available in modern editions; the CSEL and CCL contain all the required works. Systematic literary study of Augustine's key sources and works will form the main focus of research undertaken. The scope of my proposed research is on the more mature period of Augustine's dedicated anti-Donatist activity, roughly from the De baptismo at the turn of the 5th century until just after the failed colloquium of Catholic and Donatist bishops in Carthage of 411. The key sources, in descending order of importance, would be divided into Augustine's polemical anti-Donatist works, his associated homiletic programmes, and his letters and conciliar activity. The main touchstone of this study would be on Augustine's De unitate ecclesiae, in which the appeal to the Jerusalem church using Luke 24.47 is most prominent. Additionally, close study of the sources and predecessors of his ecclesiology (Cyprian, Optatus, and Tertullian) will be required to help understand his thought and role within his own tradition. Because the question of ecclesiology concerns political and social relationships, study of Augustine's epistolary material (the most relevant being Epp. 49, 54-55, 76, 87, 141, 185, 198-9) and the canonical tradition in North Africa and abroad will require close attention.