The Conversion And Therapy Of Desire [Hardcover]

The first fruits of the literary career of St. Augustine, the great theologian and Christian philosopher par excellence, are the dialogues he wrote at Cassiciacum in Italy following his famous conversion in Milan in 386 AD. These four little books, largely neglected by scholars, investigate knowledge, ethics, metaphysics, the problem of evil, and the intriguing relationship of God and the soul. They also take up the ancient philosophical project of identifying the principles and practices that heal human desires in order to attain happiness, renewing this philosophical endeavor with insights from Christian theology. Augustine's later books, such as the Confessions, would continue this project of healing desire, as would the writings of others including Boethius, Anselm, and Aquinas. Mark Boone's The Conversion and Therapy of Desire investigates the roots of this project at Cassiciacum, where Augustine is developing a Christian theology of desire, informed by Neoplatonism but transformed by Christian teaching and practices. In this age when 'desire' is defined in ways that are destructive to souls and families, we could hardly do better than to retrieve understandings of the word from Augustine, perhaps the greatest Christian thinker ever. Dr. Boone's fine study is both historically rich and eminently timely. --Gerald R. McDermott, Anglican Chair of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School Meticulously researched and well argued, Mark Boone presents a lucid account of the early Augustine's theology of desire. After situating Augustine's moral theory in the context of competing pagan descriptions of the good life, Boone walks the reader through each of the Cassiciacum dialogues to show how, at every turn, Augustine's faith in the Trinitarian and incarnate God has prompted him to adapt and to transform this central moral category. --Ryan Topping, Fellow of Thomas More College, New Hampshire What is a human being? Mark Boone, a courageous young scholar who is leading lCž