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.
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Mark J. Boone (Ph D, Philosophy, Baylor University) is Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Hong Kong Baptist University.He is (as of mid-2024) the author of twenty-four published articles and the author or editor of seven books in philosophy and religion. Mark also has a You Tube channel, Teacher Of Philosophy, with hundreds of videos introducing the history of philosophy. (There is also a sister channel on Rumble.)Mark likes things like his wife, Tolkien books, the theory of hylomorphism, and a nice cup of tea.