Contemplation and Classical Christianity: A Study in Augustine by John Peter Kenney (review)

John Kenney's new study, Contemplation and Classical Christianity, disputes an interpretation of Augustine's theology as reducible to Platonic philosophy, specifically on the topic of Christian contemplation. As a Platonic philosopher himself, writing his dissertation on Plotinus and the Via Antiqua and publishing on topics related to Platonism and theology, Kenney's scholarly work disrupts an established trend in Augustinian studies, as exhibited by fellow Platonic philosopher John Rist, to regard Platonism not merely as a source but as the foundation of Augustine's theology. As Kenney ultimately states in his conclusion:

Perhaps we may be better served, therefore, as readers of Augustine not to regard Platonism as simply a rival to his emerging Christian theology or, anachronistically, as its philosophical foundation. We might instead consider it as an alternative transcendentalist tradition, one that Augustine explicitly valued for that aspect of its thought, but which he also regarded as superseded by the more adequate transcendentalism of Catholicism.

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Contemplation and Classical Christianity traces the development of Augustine's theology of Christian contemplation from its nascent form in his writings at Cassiciacum while a catechumen to its full stature in his autobiography, the Confessions, especially as portrayed in his vision at Ostia. Chapters one and two of Kenney's study lay the foundation for the remainder of the work. Chapter 1 explicates the content of Platonic theology for the reader unfamiliar with Platonism, and chapter 2 recounts the impact Augustine attributes to Platonism for his conversion to Christianity, while also emphasizing the distinct differences between the Platonic philosophy he encountered and the Christian theology he developed. The final three chapters of Kenney's study detail the development of Augustine's theology of contemplation from 386–400 AD as distinct from the Platonic philosophy of ascent.

Chapter 3 focuses on two treatises from Cassiciacum: De ordine and Soliloquia. De ordine, according to Kenney, expresses great confidence in the ability of reason to ascend from material reality to contemplation in this life. Such an accomplishment, however, similar to Platonic philosophy, is available only to the elite (those educated in the liberal arts). The rest of humanity advances in this world through obedience to authority and achieves contemplation only in the next life. By contrast, in Soliloquia, Augustine places emphasis on the necessity of divine grace to reach contemplation and to remain in such a state permanently. Even within De ordine, the apparent wisdom of uneducated Monica suggests the possibility of a pathway to contemplation other than the study of the liberal arts. The emphasis on divine intervention in his theology of contemplation within Soliloquia distinguishes Augustine's theology as thoroughly anti-Platonist and, ultimately, develops into full maturation within the Confessions.

Chapter 4 covers the development of Augustine's theology of contemplation following his baptism in 387, up to the writing of his Confessions. In De quantitate animae, Augustine records the seven levels of the soul. While De quantitate animae maintains that a soul may fall back into moral decadence along the path of its ascent, it remains Augustine's most optimistic text on the permanency of the highest state of the soul, the state of contemplation (101). In Augustine's monastic writings, De Genesi contra Manichaeos and De vera religione, he transitions from discussing the pathway to contemplation in the context of levels of the soul to ethical advancement. De vera religione develops Augustine's thought beyond De quantitate animae, as contemplation is presented as never permanent in this life. The human soul is always beset with the temptation to abuse human freedom by turning from the highest good. In Augustine's texts following his ordination as a minister of the Church, including De utilitate credenda, De sermone Domini in monte, Ad Simplicianum, and De doctrina Christiana, he emphasizes the universal effects of the Fall and, thus, especially, the universal necessity of grace as mediated through the Church, particularly through Sacred Scripture.

The fifth chapter of...