understanding"; ibid., V11, 24, 35: "if there is no scriptural authority or evident argument of
16 On Genesis between God as speaker and the human being as hearer. For this reason, the struggle to understand could not and ought not stop at an understanding of the text of Genesis but had to go beyond the text in order to grasp by reason the reality and truth of which the words of the Bible were speaking. This explains why Augustine's commentaries on Genesis not infrequently depart from the underlying text and discuss in detail problems that do not spring directly from the wording but from a speculative study of the truths implicit in the text.
Augustine's search for a deeper understanding of the mystery of creation was guided by two complementary principles. On the one hand, it had to respect the rule of faith or the authority of the text; on the other, it was necessary to respect the claims of reason.16 But although these principles marked out the path to be followed in the search for knowledge of the truth, Augustine knew that his efforts at interpretation would always produce only an approximation to the truth and never a complete grasp of it: "The obscure mysteries of the natural order, which we perceive to have been made by God the almighty craftsman, should rather be discussed by asking questions than by making affirmations. This is supremely the case with the books which have been entrusted to us by divine authority, because the rash assertion of one's uncertain and dubious opin ions in dealing with them can scarcely avoid the charge of sacrilege."17
Augustine's repeated efforts to interpret the account in Genesis tell us, on the one hand, how very aware this theologian was of the limits of his concrete results, and, on the other, how greatly his intellectual drive was inspired rather than discouraged by the difficulty of the material. Since in his understanding of it exegesis could not be reduced to a skill in interpreting texts but was, in the final analysis, one form of the search for God, no commentary on scripture could ever claim to be definitive. God allows himself to be found only inasmuch as he is sought constantly anew.18 lf Augustine's commentaries on Genesis left many questions open, ifthey could only discuss many problems but not give definitive answers to them, and if they intended only to offer solutions as hypotheses and not to demand their acceptance as categorically true, the deepest reason is to be found in his awareness that the questions which the sacred scriptures raised to the inquiring mind converged ultimately in the unfathomable mystery of God.
Augustine was neither the first nor the only early Christian thinker who devoted himself to the interpretation of the creation story. lf, then, we are to appreciate properly his theological achievement in this area we must glance briefly at the history of the interpretation of these first chapters of the Bible.
16. See The Literal Meaning of Genesis X11, 14, 30: "the truth of the faith and sound understanding"; ibid., V11, 24, 35: "if there is no scriptural authority or evident argument of reason against it."
1 7. Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis 1 , 1 ; see The Literal Meaning ofGenesis 1, 1 8, 37; 1, 20, 40; 1V, 28, 45; V11, 28, 42; 1X, 1, 1. 18. See The Trinity XV, 2. 2 (CCL 50A, 460-62).