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Articles

No. 2(25) (2023): The Unbearable Lightness of Free Time

Augustine of Hippo and the Social and Asocial Dimension of christianae vitae otium

Submitted
1 October 2024
Published
08-05-2025

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the concept of leisure time in the thought of Augustine of Hippo. With Christianity, which was still tinged with Neo-platonism, the connotation of the term otium took on a more positive meaning. Augustine, as a thinker standing at the crossroads of two eras, is thus a particularly interesting subject for reflection. Early Christianity was gradually establishing a new kind of universal community, and Augustinian otium is worth examining specifically from the perspective of its relation to communality as such. Beyond the apparent inconsistency – which is not unusual in Augustine’s thought – two opposing poles emerge within the Christian understanding of leisure time. On the one hand, it has a social dimension; on the other, it is inherently asocial. Leisure time, as a period of contemplation and prayer, is essential for the proper functioning of the Church as a whole. Yet for the individual, it also serves as a foretaste of eternal, timeless rest in the Kingdom of Heaven – a state that has not yet arrived but that, in its promises, differs radically from earthly existence (much like the seventh day of creation in the Book of Genesis). This article will therefore seek to demonstrate how these opposing forces are contained within the Augustinian otium, giving it distinct and multifaceted meanings.

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