Ebook: Augustine's early thought on the redemptive function of divine judgement

Introduction -- Cassiciacum: the discipline of fortune and dialogue -- God's pedagogy of the embodied soul: Augustine before his ordination (387-391) -- Reappropriating Paul and exercising discipline: Augustine during his presbyterate (391-397) -- Confessions: God's lawsuit with Augustine between the deferral and the reception of baptism -- Conclusions.;"Augustine's Early Thought on the Redemptive Function of Divine Judgement considers the relationship between Augustine's account of God's judgement and his theology of grace in his early works. How does God use his law and the penal consequences of its transgression in the service of his grace, both personally and through his 'agents' on earth? Augustine reflected on this question from different perspectives. As a teacher and bishop, he thought about the nature of discipline and punishment in the education of his pupils, brothers, and congregants. As a polemicist against the Manichaeans and as a biblical expositor, he had to grapple with issues regarding God's relationship to evil in the world, the violence God displays in the Old Testament, and in the death of his own Son. Furthermore, Augustine meditated on the way God's judgment and grace related in his own life, both before and after his conversion."--