10/26 – Villanova Augustine and Culture Lecture: Love in Augustine’s Confessions
Each year, the Villanova ACS Augustine & Culture Lecture is delivered by a renowned Augustine scholar-teacher. It is intended especially for first-year undergraduate students and new readers of Augustine’s Confessions.
This year’s lecture is entitled “Love in Augustine’s Confessions,” and it will take place on Thursday, October 26, from 7–8:00pm in the Driscoll Auditorium at Villanova University. The talk will also be livestreamed.
This year’s lecture will be given by Dr. Erika Kidd, Associate Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas (MN). Dr. Kidd studied philosophy, Latin, and Great Texts at Augustine College and Baylor University and received her PhD in philosophy from Villanova University. Kidd writes and speaks on Augustine and the Augustinian tradition, and teaches courses on happiness, conversion, and taking the Incarnation seriously.
Dr. Kidd has provided the following description of her talk:
Augustine’s Confessions is a book about love. Augustine famously writes “my weight is my love, and wherever I am carried, it is this weight that carries me” (13.9.10). The entire book expresses God’s love for Augustine and Augustine’s desire to love God in return. Yet love remains something of a mystery for Augustine. Though he believes his heart is made for love, he is keenly aware of his many failures of love. He confesses being “in love with loving” (3.1.1), clinging to perishable beauties, (4.10.15), and being “late” in his love of God (13.27.38). In this talk, I’ll examine key relationships in Augustine’s life–with his mom, with his son, with his longtime partner, and, of course, with God–to uncover what Augustine tells us about the strange movements of the human heart.
This event is open to the public and can also be accessed via a livestream! Use this link to watch the lecture!