Augustine in His Own Words
called in respect to themselves, they are spoken of together not in the plural, but in the singular. But they are three in that they mutually refer to each other. And if they are not equal, not only each one to each one, but each one to all, they would certainly not comprehend each other. For not only is each one comprehended by each one, but all are also comprehended by each one. For I remember that I have memory and understanding and will; and I understand that I understand and will and remember; and I will that I will and remember and understand; and at the same time I remember my whole memory and understanding and will. For what I do not remember of my memory is not in my memory. But nothing is so much in the memory as the memory itself. Therefore, I remember my whole memory. I likewise know that I understand whatever I understand, and I know that I will whatever I will; but whatever I know, I remember. Therefore, I remember my whole understanding and my whole will. Similarly, when I understand these three, I understand them as a whole at the same time. For there is nothing of intelligible things that I do not understand except what I do not know. But what I do not know, I neither remember nor will. Therefore, whatever of intelligible things I do not understand, it follows that I also do not remember them nor will them. On the other hand, whatever of intelligible things I do remember and will, it follows that I also understand. My will also comprehends my whole understanding and my whole memory, if only I make use of the whole of what I understand and remember. That is why, when all are mutually comprehended by each one and are comprehended as wholes, then each one as a whole is equal to each other one as a whole, and each as a whole is equal to all [three] together as wholes; and these three are one life, one mind, one essence.43
Women as Images of God
In Book 12, Augustine rejects the idea that a trio of persons—husband, wife, and child— can be used as an image of God as trinity, noting that two biblical texts, Gn 1:26–27 and 1 Cor 11:7, refer to the individual person as an image of God. The Corinthians text, however, might be read—and, in fact, was read by some Christians—to imply that women are not truly made in God's image. Augustine disputes this and is committed to the equal human dignity of women, but, in a complex exegesis, accepts also that Scripture sees some subordination in the symbolic function of women, that is, as analogous to the lower realm of human consciousness which deals with the earthly affairs. Feminist
43. Trin. 10.11.17–11.18 (CCL 50:329–31); trans. McKenna, FOTC 45:311–12 (modified). Augustine also discussed this with a popular audience in s. 52.19–23; see Lewis Ayres, " 'Remember That You Are Catholic' (serm. 52.2): Augustine on the Unity of the Triune God," Journal of Early Christian Studies 8 (2000): 39–82.