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The One Christ: St. Augustine's Theology of Deification
Provocative passages on deification abound in St. Augustine of Hippo. He relies on the term "deification" far more than other Latin fathers do. Even more important, the reality of the deified life runs throughout every major aspect of Augustine's presentation of Christianity.
By tracing how deification and related metaphors appear throughout Augustine's writings, David Meconi corrects generations of faulty readings on this crucial patristic theme. For Augustine, the Christian life is essentially an incorporation of the elect into the very person of Christ, forming his mystical body inchoately now in via and perfectly
in patria. This is the "whole Christ," the totus Christus, where Christ and Christian become one through the charity of the Holy Spirit and the church's sacraments that elevate and enable men and women to participate in God's own life. This work opens by showing how the metaphysic of deification are set in principio, as all creation is an imitation of the Logos. Among all creatures, though, the human person alone bears
the imago Dei, and emerges as the one called to appropriate God's life freely. For this purpose, the Son becomes human.
By treating Augustine's passages on deification both chronologically and constructively, Meconi situates Augustine in a long chorus of Christian pastors and theologians who understand the essence of Christianity as the human person's total and transformative union with God.
ABOUT THE
David Vincent Meconi, SJ, is assistant professor of theology at Saint Louis University.
PRAISE FOR THE
"In recent years, many Western Christians have shown growing interest in what is usually thought of as a theme peculiar to the works of the Eastern that committed participation in the life and prayer of the Church can open up for a believer the path to 'divinization' - to a geniune share by human creatures, through Christ and in the power of the Spirit, in the life of God himself. Fr. David Meconi's new book reveals, by careful analysis of many texts, that this kind of transformation is also a major theme in the thought of St. Augustine, even though it is not always expressed in the same terms that his Greek contemporaries used, and that divinization thus also lies at the source of mainstream Western Christian theology and spirituality. This is an original and important piece of scholarship on a largely neglected subject, and should be welcomed by all who are nourished by Augustine's thought"
- Father Brian Daley, SJ, the Catherine F. Huisking Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame
"For decades scholars have debated Augustine's theology of deification. David Meconi culminates that debate with a clear and persuasive account of the evidence. Of particular importance is Meconi's attention to the full implications of Augustine's insistence that Christians live and are transformed within the totus Christus , the 'whole Christ.' The book opens new avenues for students of Augustine himself, and also for all who want to see increased understanding between the Church's eastern and western 'lungs.'"
- Lewis Ayres, Bede Professor in Catholic Theology, Durham University
"Meconi goes to the heart of Augustine's life and we are called to become Christ. Much has been written about the human condition as if Augustine only saw its downside. This book invites us to revel in the many ways that Augustine highlights human destiny as deification. It is a must-read for anyone who is 'stuck' on Augustine's supposed pessimism and―even more so―for those who want to explore what Augustine is really saying about God's plan for us."
―Allan Fitzgerald, OSA, The Augustinian Institute, Villanova University
By tracing how deification and related metaphors appear throughout Augustine's writings, David Meconi corrects generations of faulty readings on this crucial patristic theme. For Augustine, the Christian life is essentially an incorporation of the elect into the very person of Christ, forming his mystical body inchoately now in via and perfectly
in patria. This is the "whole Christ," the totus Christus, where Christ and Christian become one through the charity of the Holy Spirit and the church's sacraments that elevate and enable men and women to participate in God's own life. This work opens by showing how the metaphysic of deification are set in principio, as all creation is an imitation of the Logos. Among all creatures, though, the human person alone bears
the imago Dei, and emerges as the one called to appropriate God's life freely. For this purpose, the Son becomes human.
By treating Augustine's passages on deification both chronologically and constructively, Meconi situates Augustine in a long chorus of Christian pastors and theologians who understand the essence of Christianity as the human person's total and transformative union with God.
ABOUT THE
David Vincent Meconi, SJ, is assistant professor of theology at Saint Louis University.
PRAISE FOR THE
"In recent years, many Western Christians have shown growing interest in what is usually thought of as a theme peculiar to the works of the Eastern that committed participation in the life and prayer of the Church can open up for a believer the path to 'divinization' - to a geniune share by human creatures, through Christ and in the power of the Spirit, in the life of God himself. Fr. David Meconi's new book reveals, by careful analysis of many texts, that this kind of transformation is also a major theme in the thought of St. Augustine, even though it is not always expressed in the same terms that his Greek contemporaries used, and that divinization thus also lies at the source of mainstream Western Christian theology and spirituality. This is an original and important piece of scholarship on a largely neglected subject, and should be welcomed by all who are nourished by Augustine's thought"
- Father Brian Daley, SJ, the Catherine F. Huisking Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame
"For decades scholars have debated Augustine's theology of deification. David Meconi culminates that debate with a clear and persuasive account of the evidence. Of particular importance is Meconi's attention to the full implications of Augustine's insistence that Christians live and are transformed within the totus Christus , the 'whole Christ.' The book opens new avenues for students of Augustine himself, and also for all who want to see increased understanding between the Church's eastern and western 'lungs.'"
- Lewis Ayres, Bede Professor in Catholic Theology, Durham University
"Meconi goes to the heart of Augustine's life and we are called to become Christ. Much has been written about the human condition as if Augustine only saw its downside. This book invites us to revel in the many ways that Augustine highlights human destiny as deification. It is a must-read for anyone who is 'stuck' on Augustine's supposed pessimism and―even more so―for those who want to explore what Augustine is really saying about God's plan for us."
―Allan Fitzgerald, OSA, The Augustinian Institute, Villanova University
296 pages, Paperback
First published May 8, 2013
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About the author
David Vincent Meconi
33 books6 followersIn 1992, David Meconi entered the Jesuit novitiate. He was sent to Xavier University to teach Classics and Philosophy, and then to the University of Innsbruck to obtain a pontifical license in Patrology. There he wrote a thesis on the apologetic nature of the Christian cento.
He was missioned to Oxford, studying Augustine under one of Henry Chadwick's last students. His dissertation was on Augustine’s use of deification and the Christian’s call to become Christ.
He was missioned to Oxford, studying Augustine under one of Henry Chadwick's last students. His dissertation was on Augustine’s use of deification and the Christian’s call to become Christ.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 5, 2019
A brilliant piece of Augustinian scholarship. I would highly recommend for anyone interested in Augustine. It challenges some of the prevailing narratives about Augustine that I would argue are wrong but at the very least simplistic.
December 14, 2018
Seriously incredible work. While the purpose was to combat the claim that deification played a minor role in Augustine's theology, I found it incredibly enlightening and nourishing spiritually. Meconi frames his work by first examining Augustine's understanding of creation with its inherent purpose to be joined to its creator, especially in the image bearers' longing for union with its exemplar. "Augustine argues that an image possesses a natural propensity to become its truest self through union with its paradigmatic exemplar." Satan utilized this natural propensity by distorting the means. Thus, "Augustine gave the metanarrative of evil a deifying stamp...He (Satan) falsely promised them by right what they could have had by grace: divinity." Meconi then examines Augustine's understanding of the incarnation and the pouring out of the Spirit, both crucial steps in the economy of salvation to not only justify man, but vivify and deify. "Augustine's understanding of adoptive filiation is such that the believer does not merely receive the status of sonhood, but becomes a son of God. A real change in man's being, and not merely his status, is envisaged in his justification, so that he becomes righteous and a son of God, and is not merely treated as if he were righteous and a son of God." Augustine always was careful to distinguish between the christian's divinization and Christ's own divinity in the Godhead, characterizing our own solely as participatory, brought about through clinging to God and enjoying his deifying grace, while the Son of God possesses divinity in and of Himself through the eternal begetting of the Father. This work is littered with gems of Trinitarian and Christological utterances worthy of a setting down of the book to consider and chew on. Finally, Meconi explore's Augustine's "totus Christus" or the enlargement, reproduction, and wholeness of Christ found in the Body with the exalted Head. Augustine's understanding of deification centered on his ecclesiology. "In this way, we can say that Christian deification is always communal and sacramental for Augustine." All in all, this book was a joy to read and gave me much to consider about the nature and means of Christian salvation.
May 31, 2024
Great survey of Augustinian sotieriology through the lens of deification. The arguments span from creation to the fall to the roles of each Person of the Trinity to Augustine's idea of the totus Christus and make an incredibly strong and clear argument that deification is at the center of Augustine's idea of justification. I found the arguments in the first and second chapters especially creative and compelling. The book took me quite a while to read as a lay person with very little knowledge of Latin, and I think it is worth revisiting.
September 1, 2021
Another brilliant book from Meconi. So spot on, all the time. Measured, diligent scholarship, which is also fairly readable for the interested non-theologian. I'm a bit of a superfan.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews