City of God 2010: Augustine on Jesus the Jew

Thursday, February 4th, 7 p.m. in Cascia Hall

Renowned speaker and author Dr. Paula Fredriksen, Aurelio Professor of Scripture at Boston University, will present this year's City of God lecture as she discusses "Augustine on Jesus the Jew."

Modern New Testament scholars are not the first to discover the Jewishness of Jesus of Nazareth. Almost sixteen centuries ago, arguing against Manichaean opponents on the one hand and the Catholic Jerome on the other, Augustine made a similar discovery. Against the anti-Jewish principles of the heretics, Augustine asserted that Jesus had worshiped the God of Israel through purifications, sacrifices and Sabbath observance. Against the Catholic anti-Judaism of an irate Jerome, Augustine insisted not only that Jesus had lived as a Torah-observant Jew, but also that his disciples, and most especially his apostle Paul, had also lived their whole lives according to Jewish law. Even more sweepingly, Augustine insisted that current Jewish practice was supervened and protected by God. If Christianity were anti-Jewish, argued Augustine, it would undermine its own commitment to the central doctrines of the Church: Creation, Incarnation, Resurrection. 

Come hear how three centuries of Christian theology made the Messiah anti-Jewish, and how Augustine made him Jewish again.

Each year, the City of God lecture addresses the College community on a topic of Augustinian spirituality, of pastoral practice, or theology.  The City of God is St. Augustine's great work, written between the years 413 and 427, on the relationship among faith, culture, society and political power.

All are welcome and refreshments will be served. Dr. Fredriksen’s latest book will be available for purchase. For more information, contact the Augustinian Center for Study and Legacy at Merrimack College, 978-837-5217.

The annual lecture is presented by the Augustinian Center for Study and Legacy at Merrimack College, and is made possible by the Joseph A. and Rose M. Lorusso Visiting Augustinian Scholar Endowment Fund. The Center for Augustinian Study and Legacy at Merrimack College ensures that the College will continue to draw on the intellectual and spiritual legacy of St. Augustine and of the Augustinian Order. The Center also provides opportunities for members of the College and visiting scholars to access, research and explore the works of St. Augustine and his continuing influence on thought and culture.

The Center is grateful to the Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations for their help with this year’s lecture.