Blessed Augustine’s formation and philosophy: an Orthodox perspective

As the second article of a proposed four-part treatment of the Latinwriting authors on the meaning of the Transfiguration of Christ, this present article discusses Augustine’s formative influences and his philosophy as background toward a future third article which will provide Augustine’s doctrine on the vision of God and his reception of the Transfiguration. Ss Monica and Ambrose equip Blessed Augustine with fundamental aspects which give the latter a means by which his mindset and outlook were organized. Manichaean materialism and Neoplatonic prejudice against corporeality cast Augustine’s approach to theology as fundamentally problematic. This will show up in his treatment of the Transfiguration and the possibility of theophany.