Reconsidering the Vita Augustini by Possidius of Calama: Towards a Meth-od for the Study of Free Speech in the Thought of Augustine

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Published: Oct 11, 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18566/cueteo.v49n112.a03

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Irizar, P. (2022). Reconsidering the Vita Augustini by Possidius of Calama: Towards a Meth-od for the Study of Free Speech in the Thought of Augustine. Cuestiones Teológicas, 49(112), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.18566/cueteo.v49n112.a03
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Vol. 49 No. 112 (2022): July - December|Dossier about Renewed Augustinology: Innovative Methods to Study Augustine of Hippo in the 21st Century
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Dossier
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Pablo Irizar
School of Religious Studies, McGill University
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0667-575X

Abstract

By applying tools of the history of emotions to study the Vita Augustini by Possidius of Calama—a friend, episcopal colleague, and the first biographer of Augustine of Hippo—the present article analyzes parrhesia or fearless speech as an exercise in the regulation of fear, of which authentic martyrdom is the ideal expression in early Christian North Africa. The study accentuates the centrality of parrhesia in Augustine’s life and reflection and challenges current scholarly assumptions about the parameters of parrhesia as a social construct and about the nature of its Christianizing transformations in late Antiquity.

Keywords:
Fearless Speech Parrhesia Martyrdom Emotions Augustine Possidius Hagiography Early Christianity North Africa History of emotions

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Article Details

Author Biography

Pablo Irizar, School of Religious Studies, McGill University

Pablo Irizar is Faculty Lecturer and serves as Kennedy Smith Chair in Catholic Studies at the School of Religious Studies of McGill University, Canada. He has also been serving in the capacity of Director of the Newman Centre of McGill University since 2019. He completed PhDs in philosophy and theology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium and at the Catholic University of Paris, France. Moreover, he received the 2020 Louvain Studies Theological Research Award.