Patterns of Invalidation in Augustine's Pastoral Care

Join the AUP community for a guest lecture entitled "Patterns of Invalidation in Augustine's Therapy of the Emotions and Pastoral Care" by Dagmar Kiesel (University of Erlangen), sponsored by the George and Irina Schaeffer Center for the Study of Genocide, Human Rights and Conflict Prevention,at The American University of Paris on Wednesday, November 20.

Dagmar Kiesel assesses the degree to which ancient philosophical therapeutics imply an invalidation of the patient's experience and compares them with Augustine's therapeutic-pastoral consolation, in particular in De Civitate Dei, addressed to fellow Christians who became victims of violence during the sack of Rome in 411. She argues that Augustine’s consolatory method invalidates the emotional experience of sufferers and shows how such invalidation has continued together with the reception of that famous church father up to the modern day.

Dr. habil. Dagmar Kiesel teaches and researches at the University of Erlangen, Germany, as a member of the “Arbeitsbereich Philosophie der Antiken und Arabischen Welt.” Her research focuses on questions of ethics, personal identity, and gender, especially in the work of Augustine and Nietzsche.