15. See Confessions X1, 3, 5; X11, 18, 27; X11, 24, 33 (CCL 27, 196, 229, 233).
General Introduction 15 beings to choose freely between turning to God (conversio ad Deum) and turning away from God (aversio a Deo) and so to determine their own self-fulfillment (formatio). In Augustine's view, creation is destined to find its fulfillment through a return to God. The creator awaits the free response of his creature.
For Augustine, religion is simply the free and deliberate acknowledgment of human beings that as creatures they are ontologically dependent on God. lt is not without good reason that his Confessions ends with an interpretation of the creation story, for it is here that confessio, the human being' s praise of God, finds its real meaning: confessio becomes the acknowledgment, accompanied by praise, of the creative bond that constitutes the nature of the human person at its deepest level. It is in praise of God that the ontological bond (ligamen) is acknowledged and thereby becomes religion (re-ligamen).10
The theological investigation of the mystery ofcreation
Augustine's thinking about creation was thus deeply rooted in his life story. As a theologian who regarded himself as obligated by the motto lntellectum valde ama,n he was inevitably very interested in thinking through what the
Bible had to say about creation. Was not creation, after all, the reality that grounds and also necessitates the religious dimension of human existence? The fact ofcreation was, to his mind, beyond question: "Heaven and earth ... cry out that they were made."12 The question he asked himself was how concretely to understand this fact: "Let me listen, so that l may understand how you made heaven and earth in the beginning."13 He wanted not only to hear but to under stand the biblical message in Genesis. The creation of the world by God was a matter not only of faith but of reason.14 Therefore, the understanding (intellectus) for which he strove had to do with creation not only as a truth of faith but also as something accessible to human reason.
It is characteristic of Augustine's conception of the intellectusfidei that the real object of this "understanding of the faith" was not the biblical text itself but the truth which the text expressed. 15 The text was only an authority that mediated
10. See A. Di Giovanni, "Significato ultimo delle Confessioni di S. Agostino," Giornale di Metafisica 20 (1965) 122-141; idem, "Sul fondamento teoretico della 'religione,'" Filosofia e vita 8 (1967) 46-50. 11. Letter 120, 3. 13 (CSEL 34, 716). 12. Confessions X1, 4, 6 (CCL 27, \91): caelum et terra clamant, quod facta sunt (trans. M. Boulding, The Confessions [Hyde Park, NY: New City Press. 1997] 288. Henceforth: Boulding with page number.).
1 3. 1bid., X1, 3, 5 (CCL 27, 196): Audiam et intellegam, quomodo in principio fecisti caelum et terram (Boulding, 287). 14. 77ie Literal Meaning of Genesis 1, 14, 28: "At the same time Catholic faith prescribes and reason indubitably teaches [this]." 15. See Confessions X1, 3, 5; X11, 18, 27; X11, 24, 33 (CCL 27, 196, 229, 233).