Augustine in His Own Words
road or felt about the vehicles or other sorts of tools (it may be possible to express this more appropriately) so that we love the means that carry us along for the sake of the end towards which we are being carried.
(36.40). So whoever, in his own view, thinks he has understood the divine Scriptures, or some part of them, and yet does not, by his interpretation, build up the twofold love of God and neighbor, then that person has not yet understood the text.35
Later Augustine refers back to this discussion and pinpoints its application to biblical interpretation in a series of definitions and aphorisms. From On Christian Teaching, Book 3:
(10.14) I must first point out the method of discovering whether a passage is literal or figurative. Generally, the method is this: anything in the divine words which cannot be referred either to moral integrity or to true faith you should understand as figurative. Moral integrity refers to our loving God and neighbor; true faith, to our understanding of God and neighbor. . . .
(10.15) Now Scripture commands nothing but love (caritas) and censures nothing but lust (cupiditas), and in that manner moulds people's morals. . . .
(10.16) I define "love" as any movement of the soul to enjoy God for God's own sake, and to enjoy one's self and one's neighbor for God's sake. "Lust," on the other hand, is any movement of the soul to enjoy one's self or one's neighbor or any bodily thing, not for God's sake. . . .
(15.23) So when dealing with figurative expressions, follow this as a basic rule: that the text being read should be turned over and over, considered diligently for a long while, until your interpretation can be led over into the kingdom of love. If the text already rings true in the literal, then no figurative meaning needs to be probed for.36
Theory of Signs
One focus of contemporary philosophy (and linguistics) is semiotics, that is, the theory of signs. Augustine was one of its pioneers. Book 1 of On Christian Teaching focused on "things"; Books 2 and 3 focus on "signs." Signs, by their very nature, are things that point to other things; they show us which direction to look and to go toward. Augustine's concern is the Bible. The Bible is made up of words, and words are "things that signify": they point to and reveal deeper or unseen realities. From On Christian Teaching, Book 2:
35. Doc. Chr. 1.26.27–36.40 (Green, 36–48); my trans., based on Gavigan, FOTC 2:41–60. 36. Doc. Chr. 3.10.14–15.23 (Green, 146–56); my trans. Cf. De catechizandis rudibus 3.6. See William S. Babcock, "Caritas and Signification in De doctrina christiana 1–3," in Arnold and Bright, De doctrina: A Classic, 145–63.