‘Caelum’ in St. Augustine’s Texts

This project will provide a comprehensive analysis of the word ‘caelum’ from linguistic and extralinguistic points. I will define the place and the function of this notion in Augustine’s philosophical and spatial view of the world. It will be a systematic study of the whole of Augustine’s writings that could be certainly achieved during the period of the scholarship. I will also look to contemporaries as well as predecessors. The most important writings to focus on are Confessiones and ‘De civitate Dei’. Also, I will need to pay particular attention to his exegetical works (e.g. ‘Enarrationes in Psalmos’) because the phrase ‘caelum caeli’ has a biblical origin. Investigating the whole semantic profile of ‘caelum’, I will analyze the strong conceptual relation between ‘caelum’ and God and a human person.