St. Augustine on Love for Confused Lovers I Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P.

The Thomistic Institute

Christianity, Society & Culture, Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Catholic, Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality, Thomism, Catholicism

4.8 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

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Summary

Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., delves into St. Augustine's understanding of love for "confused lovers," drawing from the Confessions to explore the transformative power of God's grace and the ordering of human loves toward divine union.

This lecture was given on April 4th, 2025, at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speaker:

Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., (Ph.D. Notre Dame) is professor of patristics and ancient languages at the Pontifical Faculty of the Dominican House of Studies where he serves as the director of the doctoral program. He authored Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus (Oxford University Press, 2013) and The Power of Patristic Preaching: The Word in Our Flesh (Catholic University of America, 2023). He co-authored A Living Sacrifice: Guidance for Men Discerning Religious Life (Vianney Vocations, 2019). Editor-in-chief of the academic journal The Thomist, Hofer is editor or co-editor of several volumes including The Oxford Handbook of Deification, The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's Sermons, and Thomas Aquinas and the Greek Fathers. He enjoys speaking with students about their theological and spiritual questions.

Keywords: Augustine’s Confessions, Christian Friendship, Divine Grace, Disordered Love, Eucharist Theology, Grace and Conversion, Incarnational Love, On Christian Teaching, Restless Heart

Transcript

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0:00.0	As of July 1st, 2025, applications are open for the Thomistic Institute's Rome Study Abroad program for spring 2026.
0:08.7	Emmerse yourself in the Catholic intellectual tradition and experience profound opportunities for spiritual formation in the heart of the church.
0:17.0	Applications close August 15th. Learn more and apply at www.comistic institute.org
0:23.6	forward slash Rome.
0:28.0	Welcome to the Tomistic Institute podcast. Our mission is to promote the Catholic intellectual tradition in the university, the church, and the wider public square.
0:37.3	The lectures on this podcast are organized by university students at Temistic Institute
0:41.9	chapters around the world.
0:43.8	To learn more and to attend these events, visit us at to mystic institute.org.
0:50.0	Leading from Luke 15, Luke 15, 11 through 24, it's a portion of the parable of the prodigal son,
0:56.3	and then I'll lead us in a prayer. Then Jesus said, a man had two sons, and the younger son said to
1:02.9	his father, Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me. So the father divided the
1:08.5	property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country,
1:15.6	where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.
1:19.6	When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the
1:29.7	local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the
1:36.7	paws on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses, he thought,
1:43.1	how many of my father's hired workers have more than
1:46.1	enough food to eat?
1:47.6	But here am I dying from hunger.
1:49.7	I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, Father, I have sinned against
1:54.1	heaven and against you.
1:55.6	I no longer deserve to be called your son.
	...

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