this Trinity is called one God. and that he made and created all the things that are, insofar as
20 On Genesis
But the reception was by no means uncritical or undiscriminating.36 Augus tine did indeed make use of many categories developed by Plotinus in order to supply Christian thought about God and creation with a conceptual basis and a philosophical structure. But that he did not take over the content of the Neoplatonic system can be seen in his rejection of the idea of emanation and his crucial holding to the idea ofcreation from nothing (creatio ex nihilo)." Conversely, the incorporation of the Trinity into the process of creation shows the genuinely Christian orientation of Augustine' s views.38 The same is true of his thought on the world of the angels, which he saw hinted at in the creation of light and viewed as the archetype of every creaturely relationship to the creator.
On the other hand, we may not overlook the fact that Augustine's recourse to philosophy was at the cost of the biblical and salvation-historical conception of creation. The idea of a plan of salvation that began with the very act of creation made way for a metaphysical meditation on the being and order of creation. Because the Neoplatonic system was used as a help and a technique in gaining knowledge of the biblical message, the knowledge obtained was seen primarily in a metaphysical perspective.39 The basic aim of Augustine's interpretation of the Hexaemeron was to grasp the being and structure of creation and not its role in the divine economy of salvation.40 lmportance ofAugustine 's commentaries on Genesis
Augustine's explanations of the opening chapters of Genesis are doubdess overshadowed by his better known works, for example, the Confessions, The
Trinity, and the City of God. Yet these exegetical works, and especially the great commentary on The Literal Meaning ofGenesis, give a valuable insight into the method and self-understanding of his theological activity, but also into central aspects of his thought. The development of his method ofinterpretation from the
36. See W. A. Christian, "Augustine on the Creation of the World," Harvard Theological Review 46 (1953) 1-25; G. Madec, Sam/ Augustin et la philosophie (Collection des etudes Augustiniennes, Serie Antiquite 149: Paris. 1996) 101-106. 37. See N.J. Torchia, Creatio ex nihilo and the Theology ofSt. Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Polemic and Beyond (American University Series, Theology and Religion 205; New York,
1999); idem, "The 1mplications of the Doctrine of Creatio ex nihilo in St. Augustine's Theology," Studio Patristica 33(1 997) 266-273 ; Mayer, "Creatio, creator, creatura" (note 1 , above), 78. 38. See Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis 1, 2: "Catholic teaching bids us believe that this Trinity is called one God. and that he made and created all the things that are, insofar as they are." See Mayer, "Creatio, creator, creatura," 7 1 -74. 39. A. Solignac, "Exegese et metaphysique: Genese 1,1-3 chez saint Augustin," in 1n principio. 1nterpretations des premiers versets de la Genise (Paris: etudes Augustiniennnes, 1973) 153-171. 40. L. Scheffczyk, Schopfung und Vorsehung (Handbuch der Dogmengeschichte, ed. M. Schmaus and A. Grillmeier; Freiburg. 1963) 62-65.