MIHI QUAESTIO FACTUS SUM (“I HAVE BECOME A QUESTION TO MYSELF”, AUGUSTINE: CONFESSIONS X. XXXIII):
This article explores a suggested radical instability of knowing human persons – selves and others – and the perennial undecidability of claims about what may be true with respect to them, by employing the novels of Philip Roth and E. L. Doctorow. If persons fundamentally are construed as questions...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of the Free State
2019-06-01
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| Series: | Acta Theologica |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/3857 |
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| author | F. England |
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| collection | DOAJ |
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This article explores a suggested radical instability of knowing human persons – selves and others – and the perennial undecidability of claims about what may be true with respect to them, by employing the novels of Philip Roth and E. L. Doctorow. If persons fundamentally are construed as questions to themselves, as Augustine says, then definitive assertions of what is true about being human are profoundly problematic. Within the history of both philosophy and theology, declarations of an or the irrefutable truth about inceptive and final purpose and ultimate meaning often have been asserted. A reflection upon Lambert Zuidervaart’s (2017) recent “critical retrieval of truth” prompts invoking Shakespeare’s Lear to intimate that, at least within theology, oracular and peremptory pronouncements upon the conclusive and objective intention and telos of being human and of the created order, may themselves undermine the essential vocation of Christian theology.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9d5129edc21a4bfca2904b66f2a1ab1c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1015-8758 2309-9089 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-06-01 |
| publisher | University of the Free State |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Theologica |
| spelling | doaj-art-9d5129edc21a4bfca2904b66f2a1ab1c2025-02-11T09:48:10ZengUniversity of the Free StateActa Theologica1015-87582309-90892019-06-0139110.38140/at.v39i1.3857MIHI QUAESTIO FACTUS SUM (“I HAVE BECOME A QUESTION TO MYSELF”, AUGUSTINE: CONFESSIONS X. XXXIII):F. England0University of Cape Town This article explores a suggested radical instability of knowing human persons – selves and others – and the perennial undecidability of claims about what may be true with respect to them, by employing the novels of Philip Roth and E. L. Doctorow. If persons fundamentally are construed as questions to themselves, as Augustine says, then definitive assertions of what is true about being human are profoundly problematic. Within the history of both philosophy and theology, declarations of an or the irrefutable truth about inceptive and final purpose and ultimate meaning often have been asserted. A reflection upon Lambert Zuidervaart’s (2017) recent “critical retrieval of truth” prompts invoking Shakespeare’s Lear to intimate that, at least within theology, oracular and peremptory pronouncements upon the conclusive and objective intention and telos of being human and of the created order, may themselves undermine the essential vocation of Christian theology. https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/3857FictionTruthSelfUnknowingness |
| spellingShingle | F. England MIHI QUAESTIO FACTUS SUM (“I HAVE BECOME A QUESTION TO MYSELF”, AUGUSTINE: CONFESSIONS X. XXXIII): Acta Theologica Fiction Truth Self Unknowingness |
| title | MIHI QUAESTIO FACTUS SUM (“I HAVE BECOME A QUESTION TO MYSELF”, AUGUSTINE: CONFESSIONS X. XXXIII): |
| title_full | MIHI QUAESTIO FACTUS SUM (“I HAVE BECOME A QUESTION TO MYSELF”, AUGUSTINE: CONFESSIONS X. XXXIII): |
| title_fullStr | MIHI QUAESTIO FACTUS SUM (“I HAVE BECOME A QUESTION TO MYSELF”, AUGUSTINE: CONFESSIONS X. XXXIII): |
| title_full_unstemmed | MIHI QUAESTIO FACTUS SUM (“I HAVE BECOME A QUESTION TO MYSELF”, AUGUSTINE: CONFESSIONS X. XXXIII): |
| title_short | MIHI QUAESTIO FACTUS SUM (“I HAVE BECOME A QUESTION TO MYSELF”, AUGUSTINE: CONFESSIONS X. XXXIII): |
| title_sort | mihi quaestio factus sum i have become a question to myself augustine confessions x xxxiii |
| topic | Fiction Truth Self Unknowingness |
| url | https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/3857 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fengland mihiquaestiofactussumihavebecomeaquestiontomyselfaugustineconfessionsxxxxiii |