University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Supervised Undergraduate Student Research Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects and Creative Work 5-2014 Augustine, Wannabe Philosopher: The Search for Otium Honestum Allen G. Wilson University of Tennessee Knoxville,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_chanhonoproj Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Ancient Philosophy Commons, Christianity Commons, Classical Literature and Philology Commons, History of Christianity Commons, History of Philosophy Commons, History of Religion Commons, Intellectual History Commons, and the Other Classics Commons Recommended Citation Wilson, Allen G., "Augustine, Wannabe Philosopher: The Search for Otium Honestum" (2014). Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_chanhonoproj/1722 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Supervised Undergraduate Student Research and Creative Work at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Augustine, Wannabe Philosopher: The Search for Otium Honestum Honors Thesis By: Allen Wilson Faculty Advisor: Dr. Maura Lafferty University of Tennessee Knoxville 1 Abstract On the path from teacher of rhetoric to bishop of Hippo three important milestones present themselves: Cassiacum, Thagaste, and Hippo. At each of these places Augustine led his own Christian community. Cassiacum marks the beginning of a momentous journey where Augustine, having quit his rhetorical position in Milan, retires with some friends and students (along with his mother Monica) to discourse on philosophy and Christianity before he and his friend Alypius are to be baptized.