2009-2011 Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research C

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Augustine’s Understanding and Practice of Poverty in an Era of Crisis

Basic information of the research project

  • Research Project Number: 21520084
  • Research Period: FY 2009–2011
  • Research Area: History of Thought
  • Research Institution: Okayama University
  • Principal Investigator: Prof. Kazuhiko Demura, Okayama University
  • Co-Investigator: Dr. Naoki Kamimura, Tokyo Gakugei University
  • Overseass Collaborator: Prof. Pauline Allen, Centre for the Early Christian Studies, Australian Catholic University

This study deals with Augustine’s theory and practice of the poor and poverty, thereby clarifying and explaining what he takes to be the spiritualisation of the poverty in late-antique North African community. The works of the bishop of Hippo, such as the early treatises, Sermons to the people, City of God, and Expositions of the Psalms, show the consistent and persistent tendency to spiritualise the poverty in an era of crisis. This research has been stimulated by the growth of international exchange among Australian, Korean, and Japanese scholars. Two volumes of the research report were published in February 2012 as follows:

1. Augustine’s Understanding and Practice of Poverty in an Era of Crisis, Research Report 2009–2011 Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research C (2012) 86 p.

Cover Page of 2009-2011 GASR Research Report

  • Abbreviations, p. VII
  • Kazuhiko Demura, ‘Preface’ (in Japanese), pp. 1–10
  • Kazuhiko Demura, ‘Augustine’s Committment to the Poverty and the Cor’ (in Japanese), pp. 11–24.
  • Naoki Kamimura, ‘Rhetorical Approach to the Poor and Poverty: A Case Study of Augustine’s Enarrationes in Psalmos’, pp. 25–40
  • Naoki Kamimura, ‘Poor and Poverty in the Earthly City: A Case Study of Augustine’s De ciuitate dei’, pp. 41–52
  • Naoki Kamimura, ‘Augustine’s Spiritualisation of the Poor in an Era of Crisis’, pp. 53–63
  • Kazuhiko Demura, ‘Christian Ethics of St. Augustine on Poverty’, pp. 65–73
  • Index locorum, pp. 75–79

2. Augustine’s Understanding and Practice of Poverty in an Era of Crisis, Research Report 2009–2011 Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research C, Supplement (2012) 92 p.

Cover Page of 2009-2011 GASR Research Report Supplement

This supplementary volume includes the translation of the following book chapter: Pauline Allen and Edward Morgarn, chap. 4: ‘Augustine on Poverty’, in: Pauline Allen, Bronwen Neil, and Wendy Mayer (eds), Preaching Poverty in Late Antiquity: Perceptions and Realities, Arbeiten zur Kirchen- und Theologiegeschichte 28 (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2009) 119–170.

  • Abbreviations, p. VII
  • Introduction, p. 3
  • 1. Economic context, pp. 4–7
  • 2. Background to the sources, pp. 7–10
  • 3. Models, pp. 10–17
  • 4. Discourse on poverty and almsgiving, pp. 18–39
  • 5. Augusitne’s attitude to voluntary poverty, pp. 39–41
  • 6. Augustine’s social vision, pp. 41–45
  • 7. Rhetoric versus reality, pp. 45–62
  • Conclusion, pp. 62–64
  • Bibliography, pp. 65–75
  • Translator’s Postcript, pp. 77–79
  • Index locorum, pp. 81–85

Other Articles, Chapters, and Translation

  1. Kamimura, Naoki, ‘The Emergence of Poverty and the Poor in Augustine’s Early Works’, Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church, vol. 5 (Strathfield 2009) 283–298.
  2. Demura, Kazuhiko, ‘Poverty in Augustine’s Understanding of his Monastic Life’, Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church, vol. 5 (Strathfield 2009) 299–306.
  3. Demura, Kazuhiko, ‘Poverty and Heart in Augustine of Hippo’ (in Japanese), The bulletin of the Institute for the Study of Christianity and Culture, 28 (Tohoku Gakuin University 2010) 1–17.
  4. Demura, Kazuhiko, ‘On the context and development of Augustine’s early commentaries on the Pauline letters’, SCRINIUM. Revue de patrologie, d’hagiographie critique et d’histoire ecclésiastique, PATROLOGIA PACIFICA SECUNDA (St Petersburg 2010) 120–129.
  5. Demura, Kazuhiko, Augustine’s Philosophy of Heart: A Preface, Publication of the School of Letters, 33 (Okayama University 2011).
  6. Pauline Allen and Edward Morgarn, ‘Augustine on Poverty’, in P. Allen, B. Neil, and W. Mayer (eds), Preaching Poverty in Late Antiquity: Perceptions and Realities, Arbeiten zur Kirchen- und Theologiegeschichte 28 (Leipzig 2009) chap. 4: trans. Naoki Kamimura, in: Augustine’s Understanding and Practice of Poverty in an Era of Crisis, Research Report 2009–2011 Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research C, Supplement (2012) 1–79.

Presented Papers

  1. Kamimura, Naoki, ‘Rhetorical Approach to the Poor and Poverty in Augustine’s Enarrationes in Psalmos’, Annual meeting of the Centre for Early Christian Studies: 31 January 2009, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, Australia.
  2. Demura, Kazuhiko, ‘Poverty and Heart in Augustine of Hippo’ (in Japanese), Institute for Research in Christianity and Culture, Lecture on Christianity and Culture: 30 May 2009, Tohoku Gakuin University, Sendai, Japan.
  3. Demura, Kazuhiko, ‘Church and the Monasticism in Augustine’ (in Japanese), Plenary Lecture, Japan Society of Christian Studies, Tohoku Division Annual Conference: 20 June 2009, Sendai Shirayuri Women’s College, Sendai, Japan.
  4. Demura, Kazuhiko, ‘On the context and development of Augustine’s early commentaries on the Pauline letters’, Asia-Pacific Early Christian Studies Society 5th Conference: 10 September 2009, Tohoku Gakuin University, Sendai, Japan.
  5. Kamimura,Naoki, ‘Spiritual Exercises in the Letters of Augustine’, Asia-Pacific Early Christian Studies Society 5th Conference: 10 September 2009, Tohoku Gakuin University, Sendai, Japan.
  6. Kamimura, Naoki, ‘Christianae vitae otium in Augustine’s De Academicis (or Contra Academicos)’, The 34th International Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies Conference: 17 October 2009, Villanova Conference Center, Pennsylvania, USA.
  7. Demura, Kazuhiko, ‘Christian Ethics of St. Augustine on Poverty’, The First International Conference of the Patristic Society in Korea: 19 March 2010, Presbyterian College and Theological Seminary, Seoul, South Korea.
  8. Kamimura, Naoki, ‘The Use of the Poor and Poverty in Augustine’s City of God’, The First International Conference of the Patristic Society in Korea: 19 March 2010, Presbyterian College and Theological Seminary, Seoul, South Korea.
  9. Kamimura, Naoki, ‘The Evolving View of the “religion” in Augustine’s Early Works’, North American Patristic Society 20th Annual Meeting: 28 May 2010, Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
  10. Kamimura, Naoki, ‘Spiritual Exercises in the Sermons of Augustine’, Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society of Patristic Studies: 30 May 2010, Concordia University, Montréal, Canada.
  11. Demura, Kazuhiko, ‘Politics of Dedicating a Book: A Case of Augustine to Flavius Marcellinus and Manlius Theodorus’, Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church, 6th International Conference: 9 July 2010, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.
  12. Kamimura, Naoki, ‘The exercitatio animi (or exercitatio mentis) of Augustine in the City of God’, Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church, 6th International Conference: 9 July 2010, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.
  13. Demura, Kazuhiko, ‘Augustine’s heart-centered anthropology and the psychological reconfiguration of the community dealing with poverty’, Joint Japanese-Australian Seminar on Crisis in Late Antiquity: 3 March 2011, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, Australia.
  14. Kamimura, Naoki, ‘Augustine’s Spiritualisation of the Poor in an Era of Crisis’, Joint Japanese-Australian Seminar on Crisis in Late Antiquity: 3 March 2011, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, Australia.
  15. Kamimura, Naoki, ‘Augustine’s Spiritualisation of the Poor in an Era of Crisis’, The 18th International Medieval Congress: 12 July 2011, Weetwood Hall, The University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom.
  16. Demura, Kazuhiko, ‘The Concept of Heart in Augustine of Hippo: Its Emergence and Development’, Plenary Lecture, The 16th International Conference on Patristic Studies: 12 August 2011, Oxford, United Kingdom.