For precise schedule of offerings see department catalog during pre-enrollment week each semester.

The seminar will focus on Augustine of Hippo’s City of God. We will use this monumental (long) work to examine the extent to which Augustine used economic concepts when developing the highly innovative theological ideas that were to make him famous. Specifically, we will focus on his notion of original sin. When formulating this notion, peccatum per originem, Augustine drew on late Roman labor practices, especially changes in the status of the coloni. But he was also influenced by the new realities of captivity and redemption, prompted by warfare in the Western Roman empire and in North Africa. Equally central were late Roman practices of enslavement. We will discuss different methodological approaches to the study of the late Roman economy, including behavioral economics. Recent research on labor regimes, climate, safety zones, trade routes, and taxation in late Roman North Africa will be central. We will utilize the insights gained as our basis for reading Augustine’s City of God.

Repeat Rules