attempts at cracking open and exploring the divine writings (index . . . non inutilis
110 Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis repetitions, additions, omissions, and variations in the text.29 In keeping with his programmatic statement at the beginning: non affirmando, sed quaerendo tractandum est,30 he continually asks questions of the biblical text and subjects every nuance of what it says to a detailed analysis. The words quaerere or quaestio run like a refrain throughout Augustine's commentary on Genesis.31 ln the practice of the ancient commentators the explanation of the words used was supplemented by an explanation of the realities mentioned in the text. Using various complementary sciences, a practice he later recommended in the second book of Teaching Christianity, Augustine, too, endeavored to explain problems of content in the biblical text. The fact that he acquired information about ques tions in physics, astronomy, and other natural sciences can be seen from places in the commentary on Genesis where he speaks about the cycle of the planets, the phases of the moon, and the origin of clouds, springs, and rivers.32 Further refer ences to the opinions of others (who are left anonymous) show that this exegete tried to acquaint himselfwith the "state ofscholarship" in regard to Genesis.33 lmportance of the work
Augustine's meticulous interpretation of the text of Genesis shows how the commentary respected the programmatic principles formulated at the beginning of the work. The many questions which the exegete puts to the biblical text and the abundance of his suggested answers attest that he was indeed determined to advance non affirmando, sed quaerendo,M that he distinguished carefully between opinions and certainties, and that he had equal respect for both reason and faith.
The reason why Augustine preserved and published this commentary despite its incompleteness may have been to leave behind him a document that would reveal an important phase of his theological and intellectual development.35 As compared with his early work, On Genesis against the Manichees, the unfin ished commentary on Genesis shows Augustine's effort to get beyond a primarily allegorical interpretation of the scriptures to an exegesis that was directed toward the literal meaning and made use both of the grammatical and
29. See ibid.. 4, 12 and 13; 5, 25; 8, 30-9, 30; 10, 32; 1 1, 34 and 35; 13, 38-39 and 42; 14, 47; 15, 48-49 and 51-53; 16,54. 30. 1bid., 1,1. 31. See ibid., 2, 5; 3, 6-8 and 10; 5, 19, 21 and 24; 6, 26 and 27; 9, 30; 14, 44. 32. See ibid.. 8, 29; 12, 37; 13, 38 and 40; 14, 44 and 47. 33. See ibid., 3. 7; 8, 29; 13,40; 14, 46 and 47; 16,62. 34. 1bid., 1,1. 35. Revisions 1 , 1 8, 1 (CCL 57. 54): "A pointer that will not, 1 think, be without its use, to my first attempts at cracking open and exploring the divine writings (index . . . non inutilis rudimentorum meorum in enucleandis atque scrutandis divinis eloquiis)."
Introduction 111 rhetorical tools of textual explication and of the information supplied by the various auxiliary sciences. The results may clearly fall short ofwhat is achieved in the latercommentary on The LiteralMeaning ofGenesis, but the present work nonetheless does show Augustine's continual effort to achieve a perfection of his exegetical methods that would satisfy the demands ofscience and criticism.
Extract from Revisions (1, 18)
The two books on Genesis which I composed against the Manichees1 treated of the words of scripture according to the allegorical sense, because I did not dare expound in their literal meaning such great mysteries of the natural order; that is to say, how what is said there can be taken as strictly historical. So later on l wished to test what I was capable of in this most laborious and difficult work as well; but tyro that I was in the business of expounding scripture, l soon collapsed under the weight of such a burden. And without having completed one book, I laid aside a task I was unable to keep up.
But when in this work l am engaged in here I was revising my minor works, this one, unfinished as it was, came into my hands. l had never published it and had decided to suppress it, since later on I wrote a work in twelve books, of which the title is The Literal Meaning ofGenesis. ln them indeed there seem to be many more questions asked than answers found, but still this one is in no way to be compared with them. However, I preferred to keep this one too after I had revised it, as a pointer that will not, I think, be without its use, to my first attempts at cracking open and exploring the divine writings; and I have decided its title is to be an Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis.
I found in fact that I had dictated it as far as these words: "Only the Father is Father, nor is the Son anything else but Son; because even while he is called the likeness of the Father, although this shows there is no unlikeness between them, still the Father is not alone if he has a likeness."2 After that I repeated the words of scripture that needed to be considered and discussed over again, And God said, Let us make man to our image and likeness (Gn 1 :26). Having dictated it all up to that point, I had left the book unfinished. What follows l decided to add when I was revising it, though even so I did not complete it by doing this, but even with this addition I have left it unfinished. If I had completed it, after all, I
Written between 388 and 390, while Augustine was still living as a layman in his community at his home town, Thagaste; O. Perler, Les Voyages de Saint Augustin, 433. See 1 6, 60; and then, as he says, the opening words of section 6 1 , repeating the scripture text. See notes 74 and 75 below. From what he says at the end of this paragraph, 1 think we may infer that he had intended this work to be a commentary just on the days of creation. Gn 1 : 1—2:4, whereas the 12 books of the later and major work go on to cover Gn 2 and 3, the stories of paradise and the fall.
Extractfrom Revisions (l, 18) 113 would at least have discussed all the works and words of God that belong to the sixth day.
To make a note of the things I find unacceptable in this book, or to defend things that may be unacceptable to others when they are not well understood, seems to me to be unnecessary. l prefer in a word to advise people to read those twelve books which l composed long afterward as a bishop, and to pass judg ment on this one in their light. This book begins with these words: "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."