Saint Augustine and the Fall of the Soul: Beyond O'Connell and His Critics

Augustine's understanding of the origin of the soul and the nature of its fall looms as one of the most important and controversial questions among Augustinian scholars since Robert J. O'Connell first began publishing on the topic. O'Connell argued that Augustine embraced Plotinus's doctrine that the soul existed before the body and only fell into bodily life as the result of sin. Such a position, however, is fundamentally incompatible with Christian anthropology: bodily life is intrinsically corrupted; physical existence is regrettable. The supposition that the most influential Christian theologian after St. Paul maintained such a position generated sharp division between scholars who were convinced by O'Connell and those who were not. A scholarly consensus on the subject has not yet developed. __Saint Augustine and the Fall of the Soul: Beyond O'Connell and His Critics__ provides first a critical examination of O'Connell's theses in a readable summary of his work that spanned over thirty years. Secondly, a diachronic study of Augustine's writings traces the development of his understanding of the soul's fall, mapping the limits of Plotinus's influence. The study recognizes the extent to which Augustine embraced Plotinus's ontology and anthropology and the point at which he abandoned Plotinus. The young Augustine was significantly influenced by Plotinus, and there is substantial evidence that he held a Plotinian doctrine of the soul's fall. But as the anthropological implications that follow from the Christian doctrine of creation __ex nihilo__ became apparent to him, Augustine departed from Plotinus. Augustine ultimately took the soul's fall to be a moral lapse, retaining Plotinus's imagery vocabulary as a way of expressing a psychology of sin, not an ontological fall. Augustinian scholars and students in theology and patristics will find the text an invaluable resource on the topic. Ronnie J. Rombs is assistant professor of theology at St. Joseph Seminary College in Louisiana. He is the coeditor of __Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.__ PRAISE FOR THE BOOK: "This book deals with an important issue, one that Robert J. O'Connell made his life's work in his study of Augustine. He believed that the theme of the fallen soul is at the center of Augustine's thought, and Ronnie J. Rombs correctly adds that this is because of the importance of salvation to Augustine. The study is well written--complex, flexible, and subtle. There is no similar book in the field."--Eugene TeSelle, Professor Emeritus, Vanderbilt University "Rombs makes a major contribution to Augustinian studies by his endeavor to clarify O'Connell's position and to qualify it, especially by distinguishing the cosmogenic, ontological, and psychological/moral senses of the fall of the soul."--Roland J. Teske, S.J., Marquette University "[A]ny student of Augustine will find this work illuminating for its analysis of O'Connell's legacy and for Rombs' own sifting through much of the fourth- and fifth-century questions on the human soul and then showing how Augustine came to understand the nature of the soul, its origin, and its sanctification in Christ." -- David Meconi, S.J., __Theological Studies__ "Rombs' little book is divided into two parts. The first provides an invaluable service to students in its lucid and sympathetic account of the development of O'Connell's important and rolling arguments that, while often tortured, seemed to sweep everything in front of them. For this alone the book is worth having. But then, in the second half, Rombs goes much further and joins the many critics of O'Connell who have argued for a less uncompromisingly Plotinian understanding of Augustine's work. Here he moves the scholarly argument forward at least one notch." -- Colin Starnes, __Philosophy in Review__ "Ronnie Rombs has written Contents 6 Preface 8 Relevant Works of Augustine 12 A Note on Translations 14 Introduction 16 Part I. Robert O’Connell and the Soul’s Fall in Augustine 30 1. Behind the Question 32 2. Robert O’Connell on the Fall of Soul in Augustine 52 3. The Hallmarks of Plotinus’s Doctrine of Soulin the Young Augustine 71 4. Robert O’Connell on Augustine’s Rejection ofthe Fall of Soul 96 5. Robert O’Connell on Augustine’s Final Theoryof Man 120 Part II. The Fall of Soul as a Psychology of Sin 136 6. Augustine’s Early Assimilation of Plotinus 138 7. The Narrowing of the Plotinian Assimilation 164 8. The Origin of the Soul in the Late Augustine 192 9. Solidarity with Adam and Augustine’sLater Anthropology 210 Conclusion 236 Bibliography 244 Index 256 Behind The Question -- Robert O'connell On The Fall Of Soul In Augustine -- The Hallmarks Of Plotinus's Doctrine Of Soul In The Young Augustine -- Robert O'connell On Augustine's Rejection Of The Fall Of Soul -- Robert O'connell On Augustine's Final Theory Of Man -- Augustine's Early Assimilation Of Plotinus -- The Narrowing Of The Plotinian Assimilation -- The Origin Of The Soul In The Late Augustine -- Solidarity With Adam And Augustine's Later Anthropology. Ronnie J. Rombs. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 215-225) And Index.