7. 1bid., 1, 19,39.
1 56 The Literal Meaning of Genesis of other Christian exegetes such as Ambrose and Basil of Caesarea, though their names often go unspoken.5
It hardly needs saying that the exegesis of the bishop of Hippo always has a catechetical and pastoral character as well. Augustine wanted his commentary on Genesis to provide a solid biblical basis for the Church's preaching on God the creator and on the origin of humanity. His work thus looked to a broad and diversified circle of readers; Christians, heretics, and intellectual pagans were all to be addressed. Yet Augustine's primary reason for composing the commen tary was scientific. He wanted to derive from the opening chapters of Genesis information on the origin of the world and humanity.
The relation between faith and science
It was a special concern of Augustine not to block the way of unbelievers to faith by presenting to them as binding matters of faith any interpretations of the Bible that contradicted the certain knowledge offered by the sciences. He expressly condemned the self-satisfied attitude of many Christians who appealed to the Bible in order to challenge truths that were attested as beyond doubt by both reason and experience. Such an attitude threatened to discredit the Bible in the eyes of pagans: "Whenever . . . they [non-Christians] catch out some members of the Christian community making mistakes on a subject which they know inside out, and defending their hollow opinions on the authority of our books, on what grounds are they going to trust those books on the resurrection of the dead and the hope of eternal life and the kingdom of heaven, when they suppose they include any number of mistakes and fallacies on matters which they themselves have been able to master either by experiment or by the surest of calculations?"6
Augustine showed a really modern awareness of problems when he rejected interpretations of the Bible that encroached on the realm of the sciences and tried to challenge that which was established by "experiment or the surest of calcula tions."7 To his mind the Bible was not a manual on the natural sciences. He inter preted the account of creation in such a way that even when the biblical text raised questions proper to the natural sciences, he always focused his answers on theological aspects of the matter. For example, when the question arose of the shape and form of the heavens, he answered: "Many people . . . have many argu ments about these points, which our authors with greater good sense passed over as not holding out the promise of any benefit to those wishing to learn about the
5. See ibid., 11, 1, 2; 11, 9, 20-22; V1, 12, 21. On the author's use of sources see A. Penna, Sant'Agostino, La Genesi 1 (Nuova Biblioteca Agostiniana 9/1; Rome, 1988) LV111-LX. 6. The Literal Meaning of Genesis 1, 19, 39; see 11, 9, 20; V, 8, 23. 7. 1bid., 1, 19,39.
Introduction 1 57 blessed life. . . .The Spirit of God who was speaking through them [the scrip tures] did not wish to teach people about such things that would contribute nothing to their salvation."8
In the course of his commentary Augustine repeatedly tells the reader his principles on the relationship between faith and science. Particularly program matic are his statements in l, 21, 41, where he emphasizes two requirements. If there are scientific positionsjustified by sure arguments, the exegete has the task of showing that these positions do not in any way contradict the sacred scrip tures. lf, on the contrary, there are unambiguous truths of faith that contradict the theses of science, the exegete must, as far as he can, show the falsity of such theses or at least be convinced of their falsity. Unfortunately, Augustine's reflections are limited to cases in which there is clear certainty on the side of faith or on the side of science. The situation in which neither theologian nor scientist has clear certainty, but each has available only more or less plausible arguments, is unfortunately not considered. Augustine's position is nonetheless clear: there can be no opposition between two certainties; true science cannot be in conflict with a true interpretation of the scriptures. Even with regard to creation he was convinced that there was no contradiction between "the truth of faith and sound understanding (veritas fidei et sanitas intelligentiae)."9 In these positions of principle Augustine distanced himself equally from both "the chatter of false philosophy" and "the superstitions of false religion."10
These reflections of the bishop of Hippo on the nature ofknowledge were to be taken over in later centuries. To a large extent Thomas Aquinas made the Augustinian position his own in his Summa contra gentiles ( 1 , 7). A year before Galileo was condemned by the Holy Office (1516), he cited key passages from The LiteralMeaning ofGenesis (especially 1, 18, 36— 19, 39) in a letter to Grand Duchess Christine of Lorraine." ln these passages Galileo found not only argu ments in favor of his scientific theses, but at the same time a witness to the char acter of patristic exegesis, which, he emphasized, was unwilling to draw from the Bible any conclusions in the area of the natural sciences which might one day be refuted by experience or contrary proof.
Exegetical method
In the Revisions Augustine gives a pithy summary of the exegetical approach taken in his commentary: "The title of these books is The Literal Meaning of Genesis; that is, not the allegorical meanings of the text, but the proper assess
8. 1bid., 11, 9, 20. 9. 1bid., X11, 14, 30. 10. 1bid., 1, 21, 41.
1 1. See Galileo Galilei, Opera 1 (Naples, 1970) 198-236.