Few thinkers have had so great an influence on the development of Christian theology and the Catholic tradition as St Augustine of Hippo. His significance in the Latin West is unrivalled.

His prolific preaching and commentary on Sacred Scripture is supplemented by his explicit and sustained theorising on the exegete’s task and methods. His defences of Nicene trinitarianism and Catholic ecclesiology established a Western gold standard. His distinctive models of sin and grace, of sacramentology and signification, and of election and ecclesial unity provided both the framework and the fault-lines for more than a thousand years of theological reasoning. Thanks to his voluminous correspondence and his carefully curated Confessions we have a richer appreciation of his biography and intellectual development than virtually any other figure from Late Antiquity. Indeed, thanks to the work of Peter Brown, St Augustine seems almost to embody that historical period.

Speakers will explore his life and historical context, his theology and Scriptural interpretation, and the long story of how subsequent theologians and thinkers have found in the Bishop of Hippo a model for emulation, an authority to follow, and a conversation partner with and through whom to reason.

As usual at Pusey House, this conference will bring together research from both the Academy and the Church, and will be ecumenical in both composition and outlook.

In particular, and following on from last year’s successful Nicaea conference, there will be a particular emphasis on sharing the very best contemporary research with current undergraduate and postgraduate students from Oxford and further afield, and with those engaged in Christian ministry.