Participation in the Divine Life in St. Augustine's De Trinitate and Selected Contemporary Homiletic Discourses

grantor: University of St. Michael's CollegeThe notion that humans are to become divine because God first became human has been a part of Christian theology throughout the centuries. Today the concept is more familiar to the Eastern than to the Western Christian world. Yet in the Latin patristic world, it is not unknown Evident in the theology of St. Augustine is the notion that humans are destined to participate in divine life, and that this ultimate destiny deeply affects human life on earth. Recent scholarsh has given serious attention to the concept in his thought; but not all agree that a real concept of deification is compatible with Augustine's theology in particular, or Western theology in general This dissertation contributes to that work by examining the concept of participation in divine life in Augustine's De Trinitate. The concept is thoroughly part of his exposition, in this work, of the trinitarian God, and the human relationship to the divine Trinity. Divine-human participation is the goal reached in eternal life, but already begun on earth for those who receive it; major components of the notion, and its particularly trinitarian dimension, are examined. The dissertation also examines this concept in some homiletic discourses contemporary to De Trinitate, to delineate the shape and contours of the notion in Augustine's work over this period The homiletic discourses, unlike De Trinitate, show some explicit use of the term “deification.” Findings from all these texts show that participation in divine life is an important element of Augustine's thought during this time, of which the characteristics and dimensions can be determined. This work should help to identify and place the concept within Latin Christian theology, and therefore within the broader context of East-West relations.Ph.D