35. 1bid., 1, 19,38.
162 The Literal Meaning ofGenesis
In another passage Augustine emphasizes a further criterion of a valid exegesis: the "absolute certainty"33 that is identical with the "scientific argu ments" (certissima ratio) and experiments (experientia) of the scholar.34 Augus tine was thinking here of philosophical considerations and scientific observations. Where the unambiguous results of these cannot be harmonized with the view ofexegetes, then the latter "is not what divine scripture contained, but what human ignorance had opined."35 Augustine was convinced that in this case the exegete must include scientific results in his quest of an interpretation and respect them in the name of reason.
Structure
In his exegesis Augustine did follow the text of Genesis verse by verse, but his primary concern was to use the scriptures in his theological reflections on the basic truths of the faith (intellectusfidei). Therefore he brought to the text his own ques tions and favorite problems (significance of the seven days; simultaneous or progressive creation; distinction between creation and providence; origin of evil; and so on). ln addition, he had to take into account the concerns and difficulties of his readers, whether believing Christians, heretics, or pagans. As a result, he dwelt at length on subjects or biblical passages that were of special interest to him; he raised the most varied questions in connection with one and the same verse; and he looked for answers to these in numerous digressions and excursuses.
This approach, which combined detailed examination of each biblical verse with theological syntheses, meant that the space allotted in the commentary corresponded only partially to the character of the text. For example, books 6 and 7 comment on only a single verse of Genesis, while book 1 1 comments on twenty-five verses. Books XI and XII offer autonomous theological treatises on subjects that are only distantly connected with the texts of Genesis but were of special interest to Augustine or his readers. Thus the exegete interrupted his commentary in order to dwell in Book X on a question that occupied him throughout his life: the origin of the soul. At the beginning of Book XlI he explicitly admits the excursive character of his reflections: "In this twelfth book ... no longer engaged in the business of interpreting the sacred text which has claimed our attention hitherto, we will be freer to tackle in more detail the ques tion of Paradise, because we do not wish to give the impression that we have shirked the problem raised by the apostle's apparently locating Paradise in the third heaven."36 His reflections here are of fundamental importance for Augus-
33. 1bid., 1. 19,38. 34. See ibid.. 1, 19,38-39. 35. 1bid., 1, 19,38. 36. 1bid.. X11, 1, 1; see 2 Cor 12:2-4.