Augustine and Gendered Communities

In Confessiones 6.14.24, Augustine describes a dream for living in community with his male friends. Although this particular community never came to fruition, Augustine continued to promote the idea of gendered communities and lived his later years surrounded by men. His biographer and friend Possidius even makes a point of noting that as bishop Augustine was stringent about never being alone with a woman. In this paper I examine Augustine’s Confessiones alongside De Genesi ad litteram to consider why Augustine prefers gendered communities, what he thinks necessitates them, and what potentially misogynistic thinking might be underlying his thought. I suggest that Augustine’s reasoning for gendered communities privileges men’s struggles with chastity over women’s opportunities and treats women as temptresses. I conclude by arguing we should listen to women as we reconsider the usefulness and desirability of creating communities along gendered lines.