Attached Paper Annual Meeting 2024

Pilgrim Alterity and 'Forma Servi' Christology: Assessing Augustine’s Slave Christology in relation to the Pereginatio Motif

Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

In Conf. 7.9, Augustine describes how Platonism gave him the ‘forma dei’ but not the ‘forma servi’, or ‘the form of the slave’. Recent commentators such as Matthew Ella (2020) have explored the way in which the ‘form-of-a-slave’ rule from Phil 2:5–11 deeply shaped Augustine’s Christology. This paper will explore  the connection between the pilgrimage motif and Augustine's use of the forma servi or slave imagery in order to undo or problematise any ultimate affirmation of slavery due to its subversive connection to the ideal pilgrim who humbly follows the order of God's love in the form of Jesus Christ.