"Augustine and the Doctrine of Universal Restoration"
Ilaria RamelliCatholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan
Cosponsored by the History of Christianity Club
The great theologian Augustine of Hippo (354-430) is known to have condemned the doctrine of universal restoration and salvation (apokatastasis) devised by Origen of Alexandria (255ca.) as heretical. But in his earlier defense of Christian Orthodoxy against Manicheism, Augustine adhered to this doctrine. This lecture will show how Augustine's later polemic against the Pelagians and his ignorance of Greek played a significant role in his eventual rejection of Origen's doctrine.
Ilaria Ramelli is Professor of History of the Roman Near East, and Assistant of History of Ancient Philosophy at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan. She is internationally recognized as one of the foremost scholars of classic and early Christian literature and thought. She is author of textual editions, with notes and commentary, on major ancient texts, both Christian and non-Christian, and has published numerous articles on the influence of Greek Philosophy on Christian doctrine.
