19. S. 301A.1–2 = Denis 17 (MA 1:81–82); my trans.
for shepherds; something else is relevant for us sheep." But He was speaking to the crowds following Him. And so He said it to all, all of them and all of us. No, just because we weren't there, that doesn't mean it wasn't said to us. We, too, believe in the One whom they were able to see. We hold on in faith to the One whom they gazed upon with their eyes. . . .
(2) Let's go, therefore, and let's listen to what He said, and, as I said, let us take a hard look at ourselves, and, whatever we find missing in ourselves, let us refine things with great diligence to the standard of beauty which is pleasing in His eyes. And because we are not self-sufficient, let us call upon Him for help. May the One who formed us re-form us. May the One who created us re-create us. May the One who constructed us re-construct us, that we may come to integrity. . . .
If it were only those people back then who could be called disciples, then the Gospel would not be spoken to us. But because, as the Scriptures bear witness, all Christians are disciples of Christ ("for," as it says, "One alone is your teacher: Christ" [Mt 23:10]), let those who claim Christ as teacher not deny that they're Christ's followers. Now just because I speak to you from this elevated place [in the basilica], that does not mean that I am your teacher. That One—Christ—is the teacher of us all, the One whose professorial chair sits above all the heavens. Under that One we come together, convening as a single school. And you and I—we are fellow students. But I'm here to advise you, just the way older students tend to do.19
Scriptures' Mysteries
Around 411, Augustine was encouraged by Flavius Marcellinus,20 a high-ranking imperial official, to write to a circle of pagan aristocrats who strongly objected to Christianity. Augustine was conscious that such a highly educated group looked down on the Bible's inelegant prose, much as he had done as a young man. In a letter to the circle's leader, Volusianus, Augustine makes some poignant remarks about how he now viewed the Bible's surface style and its hidden depths. From Letter 137:
(1.3) The depth, the profundity, of Christian literature is so great that I might have made some day-to-day progress in it if I had tried to apply myself to it exclusively from my earliest childhood to extreme old age, spending all my free time on it, all my effort, and if I had had a better gift of mind. I
19. S. 301A.1–2 = Denis 17 (MA 1:81–82); my trans. 20. On Flavius Marcellinus, see Chapter 3, note 32.