“I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine…”

Publication Type

Book Chapter

Year of Publication

2004

Author

Springsted, Eric O.

Editor

Doering, E. Jane Springsted, Eric O.

Book

The Christian Platonism of Simone Weil

Pages

209-27

Publisher

University of Notre Dame Press

Place Published

Notre Dame, Indiana

Language

English

Chapter

11

Keywords

Augustine
Christianity
knowledge
love
metaxu (intermediaries)
Plato

Annotation

Springsted begins by acknowledging Weil’s apparently limited knowledge of Augustine, and then goes on argue that she nevertheless shares a form of Christian Platonism with him. He next briefly defends Augustine as being misinterpreted and misunderstood in his notion of an inner self, before going on to consider Weil’s Christian Platonism. He argues Weil shares much with Augustine. A careful reading and subsequent understanding of Weil’s Christian Platonism demonstrates its importance and relevance to the modern world. An acknowledgement of the affinities between Weil’s and Augustine’s Platonism, could thus lead to a better, more accurate understanding of Augustine’s thought, defending it against its misrepresentation and rejection by some modern thinkers.