35. See A. H. Armstrong, St. Augustine and Christian Platonism (Villanova, 1967) 15.
General Introduction 19 exists today only in fragments.31 So too it can be shown that he was acquainted with Basil of Caesarea's Homilies on the Hexaemeron, which Eustathius had translated into Latin, and which were frequently used by Ambrose.32 Of Latin authors it was chiefly Ambrose who shaped Augustine's thinking on creation; Ambrose's allegorical interpretation of scripture made a new understanding of the Hexaemeron possible for Augustine and gave him extensive information on the subject from the most varied sources.33
As a result, the currents of tradition in both western and eastern theology flowed together in Augustine's several commentaries on Genesis and combined therein to form a new whole marked by a marvelous richness and intellectual depth. lf, then, the literary genre of Hexaemeron interpretation reached its high point in Augustine, the reason was to be found not least in the fact that he was able skillfully to incorporate contemporary philosophy into his theological thinking.
The philosophical background ofAugustine 's interpretation ofGenesis
Augustine's solid knowledge of the philosophy of his age enabled him to delve into the problems of the origin of the world and humanity in a speculative way, to translate his thoughts on heaven, the light, time, and eternity into formulas of almost scholastic precision, and to find theologically and metaphys ically satisfying answers to problems in the face ofwhich his predecessors could only retreat into allegorism.34
The theological reception of philosophical ideas was facilitated by the fact that the Neoplatonic conception of the universe, in particular, had a fundamen tally religious cast. To the minds of the Neoplatonists the universe was not only good, it was holy. According to Plotinus the universe was one great sacrament.35
31 . See B. Altaner, "Augustinus und Origenes," in idem, Kleine patristische Schriften (Texts und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 83; Berlin, 1967) 224-52, especially 229-236. 32. See B. Altaner, "Augustinus und Basilius der Grosse," ibid., 269-276, especially 270-272; idem, "Eustathius, der lateinische ubersetzer der Hexaemeron-Homilien Basilius des Grossen," ibid., 437-447, especially 438-443; Vannier, "Creatio" (note 1, above) 71-73. 33. See Vannier, "Creatio, " 69-71. 34. See C. J. OToole, The Philosophy of Creation in the Writings of St. Augustine (Washington, DC, 1944); J. De Blic, "Platonisme et christianisme dans la conception augustinienne du dieu createur," Recherches de science religieuse 30 ( 1 940) 1 721 90; J. Wytzes, "Bemerkungen zu dem neuplatonischen Einfluss in Augustins De Genesi ad litteram," Zeitschrift fur die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 39 ( 1 940) 137-151; A. Perez De Labordas, "El Mundo como creacidn. Comentarios filos6ficos sobre el pensamiento de san Agustfn en el De Genesi ad litteram" Ciudadde Dios 307 (1994) 365-417. 35. See A. H. Armstrong, St. Augustine and Christian Platonism (Villanova, 1967) 15.