Research
CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS
1) "Reconstructing the Demonology of St. Augustine"
Funded by the SSHRC Insight Development Program (2014-2017)
Description: Augustine never wrote an extended treatise on demonology; the closest he came to such was his De divinatione daemonum [On the Divination of Demons], and the De agone Christiano [On the Christian Combat]. Nevertheless, scattered throughout many of his works on sundry topics one finds many short discussions, brief descriptions, passing comments, and relatively longer excursuses concerning demons. Despite the lack of an extended treatment on the topic, the numerous places where Augustine writes on demonology attest to the importance that he placed on demonological concerns. How we understand Augustine鈥檚 demonology affects our interpretation of his ontology, his understanding of nature and creation, divine and human agency, miracles, the problem of evil, and divine/human mediation.
The project aims to reconstruct Augustine鈥檚 overall understanding of and position on the nature and role of demons as Augustine himself presents it, through a thorough examination of the the texts relating to demonology throughout Augustine鈥檚 works. The project also explores how Augustine鈥檚 Platonism affects his demonology by looking at how it influences and shapes this thought, and contributes to his understanding and explication of Christianity. This will shed further light on how we interpret the Platonic content of Augustine鈥檚 successors, who rely on Augustine as an authority for their own demonological questions.
PUBLICATIONS
Edited Volumes
1. 2018: Brisson, Luc, Seamus O鈥橬eill, and Andrei Timotin, eds. . Studies in Platonism, Neoplatonism, and the Platonic Tradition. Leiden: Brill, 2018.
Refereed Journal Articles
10. 2024: "Angels and Henads: How Aquinas' Angelology Draws Upon Proclus' Henadology." Dionysius 39 (2024): 36-71. Link to PDF
9. 2018: "Why the Imago Dei is in the Intellect Alone: A Criticism of a Phenomenology of Sensible Experience for Attaining an Image of God." The Saint Anselm Journal 13. no 2 (Spring 2018): 19-41. Link to PDF
8. 2017: "Privation, parasite, et perversion de la volont茅: Une 茅tude ontologique et psychologique de la doctrine augustinienne du mal." Laval th茅ologique et philosophique 73. no. 1 (f茅vrier 2017): 31-52. Link to PDF
7. 2016: "Augustine and Aquinas on Demonic Possession: Theoria and Praxis.鈥 Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 90 (2016): 133-147.
6. 2016: "'aequales angelis sunt': Demonology, Angelology, and the Resurrection of the Body in Augustine and Anselm." The Saint Anselm Journal 12, no. 1 (Fall 2016): 1-18. Link to PDF
5. 2014: "Augustine and Boethius, Memory and Eternity." Analecta Hermeneutica 6 (2014): 1-20. Link to PDF
4. 2014: "'How does the body depart?': A Neoplatonic Reading of Dante's Suicides." Dante Studies 132 (2014): 175-200.
3. 2012: "In Defense of Hierarchy: A Response to Levi Bryant's 'A Logic of Multiplicities: Deleuze, Immanence, and Onticology." Analecta Hermeneutica 4 (2012): 1-36. Link to PDF
2. 2011: "Porphyry the Apostate: Assessing Porphyry's Reaction to Plotinus's Doctrine of the One." The Heythrop Journal 52 (2011): 1-10. Link to PDF
1. 2011: " 'You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive': Demonic Agency in Augustine." Dionysius 29 (2011): 9-27. Link to PDF
Chapters in Books
4. 2018: In Neoplatonic Demons and Angels, Studies in Platonism, Neoplatonism, and the Platonic Tradition, edited by Luc Brisson, Seamus O鈥橬eill, and Andrei Timotin, 160-189. Leiden: Brill, 2018.
3. 2018: 鈥淎 Double-Edged Sword: Porphyry on the Perils and Profits of Demonological Inquiry.鈥 In , edited by John F. Finamore and Danielle A. Layne, 93-123. Gloucestershire, UK: The Prometheus Trust, 2018.
2. 2017: In Philosophical Approaches to Demonology, edited by Benjamin McCraw and Robert Arp, 39-58. New York and London: Routledge, 2017.
1. 2016: "The Church Fathers: Augustine." In The Finest Room in the Colony: The Library of John Thomas Mullock, edited by 脕gnes Juh谩sz-Ormsby and Nancy Earle, 66-67. St. John鈥檚: 糖心视频 University Libraries, 2016. Link to PDF
Book Reviews
6. 2016: "Well-Being: Happiness in a Worthwhile Life (review)." Philosophy in Review 36.2 (2016): 47-49. Link to PDF
5. 2014: "Free to Say No? Free Will and Augustine's Evolving Doctrines of Grace and Election (review)." Analecta Hermeneutica 6 (2014): 1-7. Link to PDF
4. 2013: "The Metaphysics of the Incarnation (review)." Philosophy in Review 33.1 (2013): 49-53. Link to PDF
3. 2011: "Plato: Ancient Philosophies, 8 (review)." Mouseion 11.1 (2011):122-126. Link to PDF
2. 2011: "Philosophy in the Middle Ages: the Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Traditions. 3rd ed. (review)." Teaching Philosophy 34.4 (2011): 439-44. Link to PDF
1. 2009: "Cynics: Ancient Philosophies, 3 (review)." Mouseion 9.3 (2009): 376-79. Link to PDF