everything as in accordance with Catholic faith."
106 Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis
The composition of the unfinished commentary can hardly have taken more than a year and must have been done between 393 and 395. When revising the work in 426, Augustine returned to the last verse he commented on (Gn 1 :26a) and added a few sentences.4 The addition consists of the final two paragraphs in modern editions. The commentary remained nonetheless incomplete. ln the Revisions, departing from his practice in dealing with his other works, Augus tine did not make any corrections of individual passages in this work; instead he referred to his comprehensive commentary in The Literal Meaning ofGenesis. lt is in the light of this last-named work, with which "that earlier one [the Unfin ished Literal Commentary on Genesis] is in no way to be compared," that the reader is to judge the earlier work.
lntention and hermeneutics
Augustine introduced his commentary by setting down two important method ological principles.5 Any appropriate exegesis presupposes, first, that a distinction is made between probability and certainty and, second, that the norm of faith is not forgotten. This briefly sketched hermeneutics relies, therefore, in equal measure on both ratio andfides. The significance of this position for exegetical practice is as follows: The interpreter of the sacred scriptures must not thoughtlessly propose uncertain and dubious theses in difficult questions about the world created by God and pass these off as definitively true. The only reasonable method is to advance "by asking questions [rather] than by making affirmations."
The uncertainty involved in asking questions should not, however, "exceed the bounds of the Catholic faith." Augustine then compares this approach to ecclesial exegesis with the way heretics interpret the scriptures. The latter subor dinate the understanding of the Bible to their own subjective views. By way of contrast, Augustine prefixes to his commentary a short summary of the Catholic faith,6 in order thereby to establish the framework within which he will investi gate the biblical text in the manner already described.7
His own investiture with an ecclesial office was probably not the least of the reasons why Augustine here explicitly emphasizes the faith of the Church as a hermeneutical principle, in contrast to the approach in his earliercommentary on Genesis.8 At around this same time (on October 8, 393), Augustine, a presbyter, latini dalle origini a Gregorio Magno (Studia Ephemeris Augustinianum 68; Rome. 2000) 225-232. 4. See ibid. 5. See Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis 1,1. 6. See ibid., 1,2-4. 7. See ibid., 2, 5. 8. But see On Genesis: A Refutation of the Manichees 11, 2. 3: "avoid blasphemy . . . and present everything as in accordance with Catholic faith."