The Grace of Christ and the Grace of God in Augustine of Hippo
• lmroduction I J
12 J7Je Gmu o,(Chri.n hod been neglected in the classical histories of clogmn.'" Previously, schol>ll's had been iJ1lere<ted. at most. in the Ouist of The City of Gnd.·" icnl hackground. 1t is :·1lso. and perhaps even more. nccC..\SOII)' lO keep in mind hi> literary education and the Ciceronian odeal of the '·wi>C speaker" (urtl/or wpiens). N04 only his semwn~ but his explanations of the Bible and even hi~ trcatiSC.."i arc profoundly pcm'leitted by thi~ idcal.62 How relevant this is even
Finally. an especially powerful impulse in Chriswlogy came from ,.;hol· nrly WO!"k on the liturgy. In panicular, the .tudics of J. A. Jungmann"' !Unted attention tO the picture of Christ seen in the 1>rayer or the community.'• This for his Clwistology has been shown by. foo· example. the >tudics of Llitcke on muhority,"' Mayer on sign.(;' P. de Lu i~ on exegesis of I he New Testament. M and Drobncr on person.M a~ well as my own c~s.ays on "sacrament and model'' in turn raised the question ol'chc role of Chrisc in Augustinian piety and. IIUJI'C specifically. the question of whether thb piety is Christoccmric or theocen· and OD the formula "tO give pleasure and be Of profit" (tfeleCUI~ Cl prodeSS~)- tric.~ c) The Rounded Approach of More Recent Scholarship
3. Consequences tor Mcthodolog_\'
Patristic studies. which hud b~en pur~ucd much more extcno;ively since the fillies, especially in France and Italy. led. C>pecially after 1975. to a more rounded approach to the in,cstigation of Augustinian Christology. This is true
This historical and critical survey of the -.rudy of Augustinian Christology during the pa<t hundred year< :tlso provides guideline< for tl>e first pan of tl>e lirst and foremost of rhe biblical area." Older studies•' were supplememed (partly in t:unncclion wilh modern edjtions of individual writings of Augus ..
investigation l:1m undertaking here Into tl1c relation~hip between the grnc..: of Christ and the grace of God. The investigation deals with evco-yrhing that Augustine po·cached and t:oughl about Christ, which includes the Christ with tine) b)' a whole series of in-depth studies of the Cbtist of the Psalms. the Christ of John. nnd the ChroM or Paul. The Christ of Augu~tinc 's £.<positions of the Psalms roused panicular interest.•' Tite introductions of ill. F.
he lived his life. My aim is to bring out as clearly a.< possible hO\\. under the in Ouence of his personal ex.periences and encounters, he gave a otew philosophical and biblical depth to the picture of Christ he had received from his mother. 1t is in the light of this developmcut Utat we shall answer the question that is our ultimate concem here. namely. to what extent Augustine is Christoccruric or theoccntric and whether we should ~peak:, in eonnccaion
Beorouard to the 1/omilies 011 the Gospel of .folm are especially good." Fi· nally. d1e word "ground-breaking" must be (lpplicd to A. Vcrwjlghen's comprehen,sivc ~tu<ly or Augustine and the hymn in the Letter to the Philippian~ .'
To this context or connection with the Bible. belong ton large extent the <;ludies, old and new. of the titles which Augustine uses for Christ-physician,"' milk and whey," redeemer;• roerchMt (or trader)!' jurist,"' and cspecinlly rhe funclamenral title or mediator'' as well as studies of the theme with him. of the grace of 01rist or rather of the grace of God. Behind this question."' I poinied out :tt the beginning, lies the an oi thc\i~ between the God of the phihtsophcrs and the God M the Bible.••
' 1Christjuslicc.''52 ln relation to this, \VC should not overlook I he fact that the
In this lio·st pan of the book. f restrict myself to text' in wltich the word ''Christ" nppc.1rs. The limitmion will prove to be hardly n disadvantage. The rca.wn: such t.cxts arc so numerous that the entire Augustanian picture of Chrisr erncrges from them. At the same time, rhis linguistk delimitation philological interest at work in these word studies was awakened by rescareh into Christian Latin."
Catholic scholars. too. increasingly 1ook into accounl the soterjological orientmion of Christology th:u has always been stressed, somclimcs to an ex~ aggerated degree, in E.vangclicnl !<ic.holarship. 5 ~ .~ I have nll·cady noted. the trndilional distinclion betw~n Christology and soteriology wns transcended.'' The re.<ulting more rounded approach hns left its mark c.pecially on a nummakes it possible to discover aspects of Augustiniao Christology thnt would otherwise remain hidden. ror example. Lhc association of Christ~fonnulaN and Christological texts of the Uible, an association that varoe~ according to context. Above nil. this procedure allows the love of the greate<;l of Latin theober of studies dc\'otcd to the incamatjon.56 But it is to be seen also in invcstigmions of the fundamental theme of the grace of Christ."
lof Tians for his Lord and Snvior to emerge fully. • f . Th~ pn.)<.:Cdurc I a1t1 following also yields the division o the pre.scnHUIOn of the grace of Christ into two sections. In the first. more analytic section. I shall study the occurrence and nteaning of "Christ" in the v:orious writings in their chrvnological order. The second M:Ciion will be more ~ystc;matic and deal with Christ who as true God and true human being is both way and goal
For obvious reasons. Christian piety is inseparable from soleriology in Augustine. u.s i~ clear from. for example. the study of Sch.;.tffncr on Chri\tiun humiliry'' or that of Brabant on Christ as the center of Chrbtian morality."' In this contex.l. the ''arious mood~. a.~ it were, of Augu~tini:m piety need to be cc1refu11y con;;.idered. especinlly the i\1-anichcHn<'1 and Ncop1Htonic.6' for individunl believers and for the entire human race and who is consequently the greatesl blessing thal God hns bestowed on God's creatures.
Finally. it has become increasingly clt.!ar in recent years thm in dealing with Augustine'> Christology. it is not enough to consider only his philosoph·