By Lian Bunny
Assignment News Editor
Gerald Boersma, St. Bonaventure professor of theology, is publishing his book, “The Origins of Augustine’s Early Theology of Image: A Study in the Development of Pro-Nicene Theology.”
The Oxford University Press will release it in 2015.
Boersma began writing the book as his Ph.D. dissertation in Durham, England, where he attended the University of Durham. He continued the project while working at St. Bonaventure, devoting a total of five years to the work.
“I was initially interested in how Augustine uses the philosophy of Plato to articulate human participation in the life of God,” Boersma said. “From there my focus narrowed to examine Augustine’s theology of the ‘image of God.’ That the human person is the ‘image of God’ underwrites the anthropology of the entire Judeo-Christian tradition and is laden with ethical, social and theological implications.”
According to Boersma, he is most productive when he writes in the morning. During the times of the year in which he is not teaching, he tries to dedicate two or three hours each morning to his writing.
After completing his book, Boersma made a formal proposal to the editor of the press. This meant submitting a ten-page document that included a synopsis of his argument and situated his work within the context of other relevant contemporary publications. The purpose was to explain how the book’s concept was something new.
In Boersma’s case, the editor then requested the entire manuscript to send to anonymous external readers who are experts on the book’s subject. The readers made critiques and suggestions for improvement, as well as deciding the book warranted being published.
Boersma’s interest in St. Augustine was first sparked when he was an undergraduate at Trinity Western University.
“For one of my classes, I read (Augustine’s) book On Christian Teaching. I was fascinated by Augustine’s discussion of the nature of “signs” in this book; all of finite existence has a signatory quality for Augustine. What especially struck me was how he understood words to be signs.”
This experience led him to believe that it is important for people to study St. Augustine, whether they are theologians or not.
“Much of Christian civilization finds its footing in Augustine’s thought. Augustine is the axial figure in this period; he inaugurates the medieval world,” Boersma said. “Augustine’s immense corpus engages, at a profound level, with perennial human questions about God, the human person, creation, sexuality, war, and the relation of church and state. His contribution to Christian theology (topics such as grace, original sin and free will) is unmatched. It is only a slight exaggeration to apply to Augustine the adage once given about Plato: Western thought is ‘a series of footnotes’ to Augustine.”
