Augustine in His Own Words (continued)
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.
The Exegete 171
(1.1) A sign is a thing which, besides the impression that it presents to our senses, causes some other thing to enter our thoughts. For example, at the sight of a footprint, we think of the animal who passed this way and left its track; at the sight of smoke, we recognize that there is a fire beneath it; on hearing a human voice, we turn our attention to the feeling that animates the voice's spirit; at the sound of the trumpet, soldiers know whether to advance or retreat, or whatever else the fight requires them to do.
(1.2) Some signs are natural; others are conventional. Natural signs are those that, independent of any purpose or any desire of being a sign of anything except themselves, cause something else to be recognized. Such is the case when smoke indicates fire. It is not that the smoke has a will to signify that causes this [signifying]. Rather, through observation and attention to our experiences, we learn that fire is near at hand even though only the smoke is visible. The footprint of a passing animal belongs to this same category. The face of an angry or a sad person signals his or her feeling, even if that is not the wish of the one who is angry or sad. And so too any other movement of one's spirit that gets revealed by a facial expression, even when we are not working to bring it out. . . .
(2.3) Conventional signs are those which living creatures give to one another. They thus indicate, as far as possible, either the inner movements of their spirit or anything they have sensed or understood. The only reason we have for displaying things by signs is that we may call forth and transfer to another's mind what we who give the sign have in mind. I intend, therefore, to examine and treat this type of signs insofar as it applies to human beings. This I do because even the God-given signs found in the Holy Scriptures were communicated to us through human beings who wrote them down. Animals too have certain signs among themselves by which they reveal the desires they feel. After a cock finds food, he gives a vocal sign to the hen to hurry over to him; and the dove calls his mate, or is called by her, by cooing. We are used to observing many such signs. Whether some signs, such as the anguished face or the vocal cry of one in pain, simply follow from the spirit's inner movement, or whether they are given for the specific purpose of signifying, is another issue. It has no relevance to the matter under discussion, and so I will set it aside from this work as unnecessary.
(3.4) Some signs by which people communicate to one another involve the sense of sight; most involve the sense of hearing; and a very few involve other senses. When we nod, we give a sign to the eyes alone, to someone whom we want, through this sign, to engage as a participant in our will. Hand gestures can signal a lot of things. Actors, by the way they move every limb, give off signals to those in the know and, in a way, tell stories to viewers' eyes.37 Flags and military standards announce to the eyes, in their winding way, the commander's will. All these signs are, so to speak, visible words. But, as I said, there are many more signs that belong to the ears, notably words. The trumpet, the flute, and the lyre often produce not only a pleasing sound, but also one full of meaning. But all these meanings, when compared to words, are few in number. Words have gained by far a preeminence among human beings for expressing whatever ideas in the mind we might want to make public. The Lord, it is true, gave a sign via the perfume of the ointment that His feet were anointed with (Jn 12:3–7); He made known through taste what He intended in the sacrament of His body and blood; and when the woman was healed by touching "the tassel of His cloak" (Mt 9:21), the act signified something. But words constitute an incalculable number of signs by which people convey their ideas. Now I have been able to enunciate via words a brief discussion of all other categories of signs, but I could in no way have been able to enunciate via those other signs a discussion of words.
(4.5) But because words reverberate through the air, then pass away, lasting no longer than the sounds they make, letters were invented as signs of words. Thus voices are presented to the eyes—not in themselves, but through certain unique signs. Those signs could not be the same for all nations because of the sin of human dissension, when each one sought to seize political control for itself. A sign of this pride is that tower raised up towards heaven where impious humanity merited the just verdict of having not only their minds, but also their voices in dissonant discord (Gn 11:1–9).
(5.6) As a result of this, even divine Scripture—which heals such serious diseases of the human will—began from one language, and from it was able to be spread at an opportune moment across the entire globe, diffused far and wide through the various languages of its translators, and thus became known to the nations for their salvation. Readers, in reading it, seek only to discover the thoughts and will of those who wrote it down and, through them, the will of God, which, we believe, such authors spoke. . . .
(10.15) Now there are two reasons why written texts are not understood: Either they are veiled in unknown signs or in ambiguous ones. Now signs are either literal or metaphorical. They are said to be literal when they are used as signs for those things they were originally intended to point to. For example,
37. "Those in the know": It is not clear who these theater cognoscenti are. In conf. 3.2.2–2.4, Augustine says that soon after arriving in Carthage, he became an enthusiast for theater shows. Had he, at that time, crossed paths with groups of theater critics and connoisseurs? Early Christian moralists were highly critical of ancient theater both for its celebrating of pagan myths and for its frank eroticism. The early thirdcentury North African theologian Tertullian once asserted: "By this they know a man to be Christian: that he has repudiated the shows" (De spectaculis 24.3). Augustine, as bishop, was sharply critical of theater (e.g., De catechizandis rudibus 11.48). Here, however, the reference is neutral: The gestures of the actors are an example of a visual sign-language.