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Socrates and DiotimaSaint Augustine and Concupiscence of the Flesh

Socrates and Diotima: Saint Augustine and Concupiscence of the Flesh [Like Phaedra in Euripides’s Hippolytus, Augustine had passions not easily denied. His struggle to tame the bad horse of the Phaedrus was prolonged, painful, and never completely successful. In his Confessions, he traced every agonizing humiliating step and misstep of the drama in colorful self-absorbed prose. As a child he was subjected to the demanding Christianity of his mother Monica, but her faith in the love of Christ and insistence on moral rectitude had little power over his youthful impulses, especially after puberty when he experienced a strong upsurge of sexual appetite. Dutifully, he read Paul’s letters advising Christians on proper sexual conduct, but Paul’s praise of the superior virtue of continence was no match for an energetic young man’s passion. Encouraged by his father, Augustine gave in, as he put it, to “vile lust.”] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

Socrates and DiotimaSaint Augustine and Concupiscence of the Flesh

Part of the Breaking Feminist Waves Book Series
Nye, Andrea
Socrates and Diotima — Dec 1, 2015
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14 pages

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Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan US
Copyright
© Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Nature America Inc. 2015
ISBN
978-1-349-57292-2
Pages
116 –130
DOI
10.1057/9781137514042_8
Publisher site
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Abstract

[Like Phaedra in Euripides’s Hippolytus, Augustine had passions not easily denied. His struggle to tame the bad horse of the Phaedrus was prolonged, painful, and never completely successful. In his Confessions, he traced every agonizing humiliating step and misstep of the drama in colorful self-absorbed prose. As a child he was subjected to the demanding Christianity of his mother Monica, but her faith in the love of Christ and insistence on moral rectitude had little power over his youthful impulses, especially after puberty when he experienced a strong upsurge of sexual appetite. Dutifully, he read Paul’s letters advising Christians on proper sexual conduct, but Paul’s praise of the superior virtue of continence was no match for an energetic young man’s passion. Encouraged by his father, Augustine gave in, as he put it, to “vile lust.”]

Published: Dec 1, 2015

Keywords: Wild Horse; Passionate Love; Love Object; Sexual Appetite; Rational Soul

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