Augustine and the Transcendent Vision of Other Souls

In this paper, I examine the transcendent vision of other souls that appears in some of Augustine's works. Perhaps influenced by Plotinus, Augustine, in div. qu. 47, describes the fleeting anticipation in the eyes of the perfect mutual transparency in heaven. This transcendent vision reflects Augustine's struggle with the issue of how embodied souls can be transparent to one another. It is a vision that does not involve the use of signs. In the Reconsiderations, he links the div. qu. 47 treatment of the transcendent vision to his discussion of the transparency of the saints in heaven in the City of God (civ. 22.29), which employs a notion of 'everything is in everything.' Although the brevity of div. qu. 47 places limits on my argument, I maintain that the transcendent vision in this passage is inspired by Augustine's encounter with Plotinus.