Christian Identities and Their Relationship with Monasticism in the Works of Augustine
Research outcomes
Basic information of the research project
- Research Project Number: 26370077
- Research Period: FY 2014–2016
- Research Area: History of Thought
- Research Institution: Tokyo Gakugei University
- Principal Investigator: Dr. Naoki Kamimura, Tokyo Gakugei University
- Overseass Collaborator: Prof. Pauline Allen, Centre for the Early Christian Studies, Australian Catholic University
From the Preface of the Research Report
This research report is based on a series of papers, during past three years, presented at a workshop, or a conference, or a seminar, on early Christian studies and Patristics, then revised and enlarged from the original ones. As referred to below in a footnote marked with an asterisk immediately after the title of each paper, the reader can know detailed information about these papers. They bring vivid and pleasant memories of the meetings and discussions at Melbourne and Chicago (paper 1); of Yokohama and San Pawl, Malta Island (paper 2); Oxford workshop (paper 3); Calgary and my first travel to Southern Taiwan and National Pingtung University (paper 4); and St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theological College, Sydney (papers 5 and 6); and of gatherings in Brisbane, Iowa City and St Petersburg. The papers can be grouped into three categories partially overlapped, respectively, with the focus shifting from dealing with questions concerning Christian/pagan identity/ies, spiritual training and the perfection of human beings to studies dedicated to the Church Fathers in the Western and Eastern Mediterranean: from the beginning to the climax of North African Christianity and its relation to the Eastern Christianity in the fourth century. I hope that the order in which these papers are presented in this report would associate with the fertility and possibility of the past, present and future contributions to the field of Patristics and Late Antique studies.
This present report may be considered a sequel to the report The Theory and Practice of the Scriptural Exegesis in Augustine, which was published in 2014 as a report of the previous research project and collected the contributions to the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research project funded by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS: Grand ID 2352009).
I am grateful to the financial support of JSPS, in the form of a Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), on the theme ‘Christian Identities and Their Relationship with Monasticism in Augustine’ (April 2014–March 2017: Grant ID JP26370077). For their skilled assistance in performing this project, thanks are due, respectively, to the members of Academic Service Office for the Humanities and Social Sciences Area, Tokyo Gakugei University, Tokyo. In Brisbane, Professor Pauline Allen, FAHA, FBA, and Director of the Centre for Early Christian Studies at Australian Catholic University, made all process smooth. I would be the poorer if it were not for her expert suggestions and encouragement. My special thanks to her.
This project was undertaken in communication with colleagues and friends from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Japan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, UK and USA, who work in the fields of ancient history, classics, archaeology, philosophy, theology and patristics. In Particular, this report benefited greatly from the support and warmth of graduate and post-doc students and scholars belonging to Asia-Pacific Early Christian Studies Society. In 2014 this incomparable society which grew out of the informal and interpersonal interactions between scholars of the Pacific Rim region celebrated the tenth year anniversary. I am looking forward to continued and enhanced collaboration with all of them during the next ten years.