Edmund. II. Rotelle, John E. III. Augustinian
—pt. 3, v. 1. Sermons on the Old Testament, 1–19.
— pt. 3, v. 2. Sermons on the Old Testament, 20–50 — [et al.] — pt. 3, v. 10 Sermons on various subjects, 341–400.
1. Theology — Early church, ca. 30–600. I. Hill,
Edmund. II. Rotelle, John E. III. Augustinian
Heritage Institute. IV. Title.
ISBN 978–1–56548–055–1 (series)
ISBN 978–1–56548–048–3 (pt. 1, v. 11)
ISBN 978–1–56548–049–0 (pt. 1, v. 11, paperback)
ISBN ebook edition: 978-1-56548-410-8
Printed in the United States of America
INTRODUCTION
Structure and Pastoral Theology of
Teaching Christianity
Composition and Structure
Around 396, Augustine, who had been consecrated Bishop of Hippo shortly before, undertook the writing of Teaching Christianity (De doctrina christiana). The first version ended at Book III, 25, 35; in 426–427 he added the end of the third book and the whole of the fourth; he interrupted his work on the revision of all his writings, the Revisions, in order to supply a conclusion to the early books of Teaching Christianity, which he regarded as "incomplete." [1] Everything suggests a long-pondered work, the structure of which is outlined by the author himself: "The first three books help in understanding scripture; the fourth shows how one who has understood it should express himself." [2] The heart of the work, and its driving force, is therefore sacred scripture, understood and adopted "as the sole foundation of a truly Christian education." [3] With this in mind Augustine develops a whole series of questions and topics having to do with the twofold purpose he has already identified: to understand the scriptures and to express them.
Here we have, for the first time, a "program of higher studies that provide a complete formation of the mind and are conceived solely in function of the religious purpose which Christianity assigns to the intellectual life." [4] Visible here is the vast difference between the new education proposed by Augustine and the admittedly analogous purpose of secular classical education: the Christian orator is "the bearer of the word of God, the minister of saving truths." [5] On the other hand, the seemingly encyclopedic range of knowledge required by Augustine in the educational program of Teaching Christianity follows, in fact, the simple line that inspired the grammatical schools of antiquity in its decline, and leads to the demand (one that would be amply met) for the necessary manuals and repertories so that Christians might acquire from them the little they needed without excessive effort.[6] If, then, Teaching Christianity can be regarded as "the fundamental charter of Christian education" by reason of its restrictive program of research and study and its emphasis on the use of repertories, it also shows itself "a very peculiar testimony in the history of decadence." [7]
But it is in the word "teaching" (doctrina) that the very special nature and structure of Augustine's treatise come into view; the word is a pregnant one and has been the subject of a great deal of writing and discussion.[8]
The impossibility of translating the Latin doctrina by a single word is due to the several meanings of a term which Augustine uses now to indicate the activity of teaching, now to designate the content of this activity, and, in certain cases such as the title of this work, to convey both meanings at once.[9] It is to be noted, however, that Augustine's specific purpose, namely, to educate people in a faith which by its nature needs to be "thought out," is implicit in the very word doctrina, which sums up "the entire field of 'Christian knowledge' that is to be gathered from its three sources: scripture, tradition, and the living authority of the Church." [10] To sum up: in the light of Augustine's statement in the Revisions, Teaching Christianity is meant both as a guide in learning the truths of faith contained in scripture and as a methodology for teaching others the truths learned.[11]
As for the structure and contents of the work, let me give a quick outline of the essentials, while referring the reader to the fuller expositions found in various other studies.[12] As Augustine says at the beginning of the first book, the treatise is divided basically into two parts: one, which includes the first three books, deals with "a way to discover what needs to be understood," and another, comprising substantially the fourth book, deals with "a way to put across to others what has been understood."
After the Prologue, in which the purpose of the treatise is defined and some possible criticisms are taken up, the first book is divided into four parts dealing with the contents of the faith: principles and basic distinctions between things and signs, means and ends (1, 1–4); dogmatic contents (1, 5–19); principles of Christian ethics (1, 20–38); principles of biblical exegesis (1, 39–44).
The second book is devoted to studies having to do with the Bible and has three sections: remarks and general principles on "signs" and on the canon of scripture (2, 1–13); knowledge of the biblical languages and an appraisal of the translations of the Bible (2, 14–23); the aid given by the natural sciences, the humanistic disciplines, and philosophy in the study of scripture (2, 24–63).
The third book, likewise in three sections, has for its subject the interpretation of sacred scripture: ambiguities in the text due to problems of grammar (3, 1–8); ambiguities in the scriptures due to a metaphorical use of words, and charity as a hermeneutical criterion (3, 9–41); a discussion of the seven rules of Tychonius (3, 42–56).
The fourth book, which might be entitled "the Christian teacher and preacher," explains, in four sections, how to expound and teach the truths that have been learned: basic principles of oratory (4, 1–10); examples from scripture (4, 11–26); the three aims and corresponding styles of oratory, with examples from Paul and the Fathers (4, 27–50); ten rules for Christian oratory; prayer (4, 51–64).
The way in which Teaching Christianity is arranged has focused attention on some expressions used by Augustine that, along with the pregnant term doctrina, make it possible to define more closely the shape and structure of the treatise.
Press has studied the use of tracto-tractatio ("treatment")[13] and the special character of the rhetorical element in Teaching Christianity; he sees this as being in the line of the classical tradition and he defines it as "an account of tractatio scripturarum," in which "classical rhetorical theory has been transformed to meet the needs and serve the purposes of a new community and a new culture." [14]
Theology and Pastoral Activity
The relationship of theology to pastoral activity, to which only passing references are made in the various studies that analyze Teaching Christianity and pass judgment on it, deserves some further attention. After all, it is a relationship that pervades the whole of Augustine's activity, and it can be said that, unlike our own age, there were no periods of real crisis in this relationship nor did it become especially problematic throughout a large part of the patristic age, when theology and pastoral activity ordinarily collaborated and influenced each other.
The reason for this necessary connection was recently pinpointed by the Church's Magisterium in an Instruction that has given rise to debate. The essentially exegeticotheological activity of the Fathers (it was said) took place in medio Ecclesiae ("in the midst of the Church"); the Fathers were active participants within a setting of liturgy and the Church and they were animated by a genuinely apostolic faith in their thinking and speaking.[15]
In Teaching Christianity Augustine intends to instruct Christians how to practice a "faith that has been thought out" and and to avoid and surmount the obstacle created by a particular educational tradition that had become rigidified in the form of rhetoric. To this end, he skillfully places his pastoral concern within the framework of biblical theology. This fruitful interrelationship, which for centuries nourished the faith and "Christian education," comes down to us in its richly relevant reality and provides the key for reading "a very modern book." [16]
Let us therefore look again at the essential lines and most salient stages of the work.
1) The sections most directly dealing with theology are to be found especially throughout the first book of Teaching Christianity, and Augustine gives the reason for this while at the same time delimiting the scope and extent of what he has to say: "I have wished to talk about things to do with faith, as much as I judged sufficient for the moment; because much has already been said on the matter in other volumes, whether by other people or by myself." [17] What he is offering, then, is a concise review, a "short inventory," of truths in the area of dogma and morality[18] that constitute as it were the essence of Christianity according to biblical revelation[19] and that are here placed in the pedagogical and educational perspective proper to the treatise. In this setting, the area of the "disciplines," rather than being subordinated, is closely connected with the requirements of "doctrine"; thus to know and to teach are two complementary phases of a single theological and pastoral activity.[20]
Fundamental to this pastoral didactics is the assertion of God's absolute transcendence[21] and resulting ineffability.[22]
It follows from this that God is truly sought beyond the ladder of created living things and even beyond the life of the intellect, which by its essence is immersed in the realm of what is mutable. In God, wisdom, which is identified with what is immutable, is infinite.[23] But if God is completely ineffable, then it is impossible to affirm even his ineffability. The only way of escaping from this paradoxical aporia is by silence,[24] but a silence that is swiftly overtaken by the need and compelling desire to speak of God, who "has accepted the homage of human voices," which express praise and thereby bring immense joy.[25]
At the outset, there is a connatural intuition that impels the mind to think of a being "than which there is nothing better or more sublime." [26] In this way, the truth of God that emerges from the bosom of this fruitful silence becomes the object of a joy that eventually leads to the fullness of enjoyment; it offers an exciting prospect that opens upon the "way" of the human being to the homeland; everything else, the res, is simply a means which one "uses" in order to attain to the "enjoyment" of the supreme Good. The dialectical distinction between "using" and "enjoying" (uti—frui) is already anticipated here.[27] The fullness of this enjoyment is to be found in the relationship with the Trinity, the one substance in which the Father is distinct as unity, the Son as equality, and the Holy Spirit as "the harmony of unity and equality." [28] In addition to the repeated emphasis on the equality of nature in the three divine Persons, we glimpse a reassertion of the doctrine of substantial, because immutable, relations that grounds the principle of the trinitarian distinction of Persons. This is the line taken in The Trinity, which, even chronologically, moves in parallel as it were with Teaching Christianity.[29]
All this requires that human beings undertake a journey of enlightenment and purification that would be impossible for them if their weakness were not offset by the very "wisdom" of God, which manifests itself "in mortal flesh" and draws them to itself in a process of assimilation. This wisdom is the Word "who became flesh and dwelt among us." [30]
The identification of Wisdom with the Word made flesh, which is later taken up explicitly,[31] recalls the personification of sophia-sapientia-wisdom in the Book of Proverbs and, in particular, the tortuous Christological exegesis of the famous passage, Proverbs 8:22, an exegesis that had a long life, especially in the East.[32] Augustine develops a sagacious line of reasoning that reveals his pastoral concerns, as in the light of 1 Corinthians 1:21 and John 1:10 he applies the biblical idea of incarnate wisdom to the history of salvation. "Wisdom" was already in the world, but human beings did not recognize him; the resultant impossibility of their knowing God through wisdom became part of the wise plan of God, who sent the Word-Wisdom into the world to save believers "through the folly of preaching." [33] This conception sums up the Augustinian doctrine of the mediation of Christ in its various aspects: it is one, because the mediator, the God-Man, is one;[34] it is the cause of freedom and salvation for human beings;[35] it is universal.[36]
Characteristic of Christological references in Teaching Christianity 1, 11 is the recourse, frequently practiced by Augustine, to the analogy with human thought, the intention being to shed light on the mystery of the Word who became flesh "in order to dwell amongst us" "without being changed in the least." As thought achieves communication by taking the form of sound and yet in the process undergoes no change but remains "undiminished in itself," so the Word of God takes flesh in order to manifest himself, but his nature remains unchanged. This image helped an essential formula of faith enter into and spread through the stream of tradition and thus to become a bit of the patristic riches inherited by the liturgy: Quod fuit permansit, quod non erat assumpsit ("What he was he remained; what he was not he assumed"). [37]
The incarnate Word effects redemption by "curing some of our ills by their contraries, others by homeopathic treatment," just as medicine does, that is, applied to the illnesses of the body. Humanity fell through pride and is cured by humility; the supposed wisdom of the tempter caused humanity's ruin, and the "folly" of God saves it; the corrupted soul of a woman caused the disease, but we are saved from this by "a woman's body preserved intact." Conversely, the man who was led astray by a woman is set free "by one born of a woman"; human beings are saved by a human being, mortals by a mortal, and the dead are redeemed by his death.[38] The ultimate goal of the redemption is assimilation to Christ, the uncreated and ineffable Wisdom of God, which while being our home also becomes the way to that home, the way to the Father.[39] In keeping with Pauline soteriology,[40] Augustine sees in the resurrection and ascension of Christ the source of a great hope that nourishes and sustains the faith of believers. Not only that: the theologically indestructible support of this faith is the fact that the resurrection shows us "how willingly he had laid down his life for us, by having the power in this way to take it up again." [41]
In short, Christ's free choice of the supreme sacrifice (his free will was a subject of lengthy debate before and during the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon) is the act of love that united the death and resurrection of the Lord into a single mystery of salvation.
When seen from a viewpoint dear to Augustine and expressed, here again, by an analogy that links the process leading to resurrection with the interior life of the human person, the resurrection of the flesh is part of the mystery of Christ: After death, which is due to "the chains of sin," the body will be "refashioned for the better" by putting on immortality,[42] just as the soul, in virtue of repentance and conversion, is transformed for the better and renewed.
This line of thought includes an indispensable reference to the nature and final destiny of the Church. The gifts which human beings receive from God on their journey to resurrection are meant for the building up of his Church. Referring explicitly to Saint Paul,[43] Augustine says that the Church is both body and spouse of Christ and gathers into a healing unity the many members who have been purified by numerous temporal trials, "so that, once it has been snatched from this world, he may bind his wife the Church to himself for ever, not having any stain or wrinkle, or any such thing." [44] The unity of the Church as thus conceived implies the reality of a "body" whose members receive a life-giving solidarity from the head, which is Christ.[45] On its journey through time the Church possesses "the keys" of forgiveness and mercy that have been entrusted to it by Christ; faith in this power obtains a forgiveness of sins that is ratified by heaven.
Augustine's explanation delves once again into the intricacies of religious psychology and brings to light a disconcerting aspect of this psychology: those who do not believe that their sins can be forgiven them are trapped in a despair that renders them worse, as though they were convinced that without this faith "nothing better remains for them than to be evil." [46] This paradox expresses Augustine's conviction that for the exercise of the power to absolve that has been granted to the Church there is an essential condition, namely, a heartfelt repentance that is "the habitual practice of every authentic spiritual life." [47]
But the primary and basic task of this power of the keys is to give an authentic interpretation of the scriptures, one that reveals "the kingdom of charity" and guides those who have received the "key" of forgiveness and of the spiritual life.[48] Augustine's thinking thus broadens and extends to the universal mediatory role of the Church, a role mysteriously connected with the universal salvific love of Christ. Augustine's ecclesiology, while taking account of the dynamic co-presence of Christ, the Church, and human beings, lays a greater emphasis on the doctrine of the "birth of God in the heart of the believer," the interiority of the heart, as compared with the rest of the patristic tradition, especially the Greek.[49]
2) The ethical content of Teaching Christianity, which is primarily and closely connected with the truths of faith and therefore with dogma, which forms as it were the basic fabric,[50] is inspired by the key distinction between uti and frui, "use" and "enjoyment," both of which are understood on the decisive ontological level,[51] even though the distinction is situated on the level of "scientific knowledge about res and signa." The use-enjoyment pair is the point of convergence for the fundamental motifs of Augustine's theology of Christian love with its two branches: human love and the love of God for human beings. Augustine locates the relation between the Good and goods, between divine Love and human loves, beyond the realm of "things." At the same time, he limits human use to created things understood as "instruments" for reaching the supreme goal, which is God, who alone is the proper object of enjoyment because he is the only reality that is to be loved "for itself." [52] Augustine uses a fine comparison to explain the dialectic of these relationships: As "exiles in a foreign land," people on the way to our own country, we cannot lose ourselves in "the pleasures of the journey" and stop to "enjoy" what we can really only "use," but "we have to use this world, not enjoy it, so that we may behold the invisible things of God," which are made understandable through created things.[53]
Some have thought to find in the Augustinian conception of love a kind of "egocentrism" and resultant "instrumentalism." [54] Nygren had made a thorough study of this question and formulated a double answer.[55] In its object the Augustinian conception is definitely theocentric, because "no object can vie with God for our love"; but if we consider the kind of love, the conception is clearly egocentric, because "even in God I seek my own good." O'Connor even says: "This, of course, violates the well-known Kantian principle of always treating persons as ends and never merely as means." [56] The weak point of this statement, however, is that it does not take into account the difference in perspective: Kant's is immanent ("the realm of ends"), Augustine's is transcendent and metaphysical.[57] It is in this particular perspective that we must view the hierarchy of ends established by the ordo amoris, in which "the enjoyment of God includes both love of neighbor (and forgiveness as an act of a will that is strengthened by memory and not by forgetfulness) and a virtuous self-love." [58]
The epicenter and full motivation of this "theology of Christian love" are found in God's love for humanity, in the unfathomable depths of the "metaphysics of God as Love." [59] Since God is by nature love, he cannot but love either by way of enjoyment or by way of use. He cannot love human beings with enjoyment, since that would represent an absurdity, inasmuch as God would have to love a being "outside of" himself as an ultimate and finalizing object; in the final analysis he would be not-God.[60] Therefore God, who is the fullness of being, loves human beings insofar as he "uses" them, but not in the way that we "use" others in our love of the neighbor. The analogy brings into focus the vast difference between God and human beings and the absolute ontological divine transcendence: God loves as creator, humans love as creatures; God's love is changeless, the love of human beings is subject to the mutability of their nature; the love of human beings spurs them to the enjoyment of God, while God loves them because they enjoy him.[61] It is this "theocentric perspective" that governs Augustinian anthropology, the original contributions of which enrich the fundamental elements of the patristic tradition.[62]
Having received from God "both their very existence and their love for him," [63] human beings are taken up and elevated to the level of "participation," which makes them be "in the image and likeness" of God; and this elevated "nature" of theirs flows out and finds expression in the dynamic love that is the essence of the image-likeness, which is in constant tension toward the Infinite.[64] What is brought to light here is the true, that is, interior, character of our journey of purification, in the footsteps of Christ, toward the beatifying union with the changeless Truth.[65]
The complex subject of the Christian freedom that presides over this journey of purification and salvation is the subject of a rapid but important reference in connection with signs,[66] that is, with "things" that signify other things and refer to these. Among these signs are the sacraments, such as baptism and the eucharist, "so awesome to understand and so pure and chaste to celebrate." These we venerate "not in a spirit of carnal slavery, but rather of spiritual freedom," so that we will not be slavishly bound to the letter and will avoid substituting the "signs" as such for the things signified. [67] The reference to and broad distinction between sign and thing signified are an indispensable element in any discussion of the sacramental teaching of Augustine, in which sacramentum is normally connected with sign.[68]
A further original touch is to be found in the context of the subject under discussion: freedom thus understood is also a liberation that is expressed in and made a reality by the resurrection of the Lord,[69] which thus advances and guides the eschatological journey of sacramental grace.[70]
A subtle and widespread snare endangers human freedom: the superstitious practices more or less connected with magic. An especially harmful practice is astrology with its resulting astrological fatalism.[71] Writers before or contemporary with Augustine attacked the foolishness of this "birthday science," which imagined that it could predict the fate of the newborn child on the basis of mysterious calculations of the position of the stars at the moment of its birth.[72] But, using the well-known and widespread argument of Carneades, they attacked more explicitly the disturbing results of astrological fatalism, which strangled personal freedom and destroyed the foundation of social life.[73]
With the dialectic of freedom and with the theology of Christian love is connected the theme of love of self and of one's own body, as part of the problematic relationship of body and soul.[74] In dealing with this problem here Augustine remains "closer to the Pauline reading of it than to the dualistic presuppositions of Neoplatonism" [75] that are to be seen in other Augustinian contexts. The view expressed here is a reasonable balance in which the writer asserts the positive value of the body but at the same time its subordination to the life of the spirit in a relationship of integration and harmony that is pursued in this life and rendered complete and comprehensive in eternity after the resurrection.
In this view there is implicit a theological perspective involving creation and the incarnation and resurrection of Christ, and, at the same time, the theology of the mystical body.[76] The theology of the incarnation, in particular, brings out the positive value of the human body and the unsustainability of any depreciation of and attack upon the body.[77] The resurrection will renew the substantial union of body and soul, ensuring an indestructible existence for both; but it will bring death to the wicked and eternal life to the just. In the first case, there is a clear reference to the "second death" that definitively and permanently separates the soul from God. This death is due to the attitude of those who do not renounce the world or undertake the journey of conformity to the truth and are therefore "dragged down by the death of the body into a more grievous death still." [78]
These are the most important "fragments" of theology that are strewn especially throughout the first book of Teaching Christianity; but the fragments are solidly connected with the dominant idea, namely, "the theology of Christian love" that is revealed in the scriptures.
Dogmatic Exegesis
In a short essay entitled "Exegesis and Dogmatic
Theology," [79] Karl Rahner brought into focus the not always peaceful relationship between exegetes and dogmatic theologians and pointed out the attitude of mutual coldness and distrust and even, at times, of resentment that prevailed between them. The result was a certain distance between the two camps of exegesis and dogmatic theology. To bridge this gap Rahner proposed a method and a basic objective, namely, to do both exegesis and dogmatic theology as a "service" to the Magisterium and therefore to all human beings, to whom the gospel message is addressed. This is a very pastoral outlook, in which tasks of a rather overwhelmingly scientific and technical nature are directed to facilitating the teaching of the faith to modern human beings.[80]
As in the case of the earlier-mentioned relation between theology and pastoral practice, the problem of exegesis and dogmatic theology calls for a return to the experience of the Fathers, for whom exegesis and dogmatic theology normally worked hand in hand. Augustine is a typical example of this collaboration: his dogmatic works show a solid basis in biblical exegesis, and in his specifically exegetical works, especially those that are wide-ranging, we see exegesis firmly directed to the service of a dominant doctrinal concern.[81] But a critical appraisal of Augustinian exegesis in its various aspects, on which a great deal has been written, is a complicated matter, since it must take into account, first and foremost, a vast activity that was carried on over a lengthy period of time and thus made room for a succession of understandable second thoughts and nuanced changes of view.[82]
From the viewpoint of the long-lasting controversy between literalists and allegorists Augustine's exegesis is quite balanced: while he gives a sometimes exclusively literal interpretation of many pages of scripture, his predilection for the spiritual meaning makes him an exegete who is "ready to engage in allegorizing, but in moderation," all the more so since he understands allegory in a broad sense as "an interpretation based on figures" and usually uses such words as "figure" in referring to the idea.[83]
Teaching Christianity is a basic text for understanding the methodology and motifs that are typical of Augustinian exegesis. A foundational principle is the superiority of the scriptures over every other rich text and even over the very treasures of pagan culture,[84] the reason being that the scriptures "contain everything that a Christian, whether layperson or cleric, needs to know." [85] But the scriptures often put difficulties of various kinds in the way of understanding, although, on the other hand, these are providential means of overcoming pride through committed toil and of refreshing the mind when it experiences boredom. [86] Augustine had had personal experience of these difficulties: the bare simplicity and great modesty of the scriptures, which intellectual pride rejected as "unworthy of being compared with the dignity of Cicero";[87] embarrassment at inconsistencies in the text, or the "disagreement" between some narratives, such as the two genealogies of Christ in Matthew and Luke.[88]
A further difficulty is due to the polysemy, or plurality of senses, in the scriptures, a problem that engaged Augustine in various forms and for a long time and that finds definitive formulations and "real progress" in Teaching Christianity.[89]
The "different" sense extracted from a biblical passage is legitimate if it is confirmed by other passages of scripture and is therefore "in agreement with the truth": this falls under the action of God's Spirit and of providence, which thus reveals the full, generous fruitfulness of the scriptures. [90] Only a person "well equipped and well furnished" will be able to discuss and resolve the obscurities and many ambiguities contained in the scriptures.[91]
In dealing with signs, the ambiguities of which are due to sin,[92] it will be necessary above all to distinguish between the "proper" and "metaphorical" senses[93] and to allow oneself to be guided by the Spirit who gives life and to avoid being enslaved by the letter that kills.[94] Even the seven exegetical "rules" set down by Tychonius for the allegorical interpretation of difficult or ambiguous biblical passages— rules which Augustine acknowledges to be of great help in understanding the scriptures—are used under the standard and with the attitude of spiritual freedom that allows the person to rise above the rigid formulations of these rules and to find new "rules" beyond them. In any case, it will be useful and even necessary to have recourse at every moment to the authority of the Church, to which Christ has entrusted the Bible as a "sign." [95]
Charity is the essential and supreme hermeneutical criterion in Augustinian exegesis. Exegesis is thus linked to the central theology of love, and Augustine can, even as an exegete, be called the "Doctor of charity." [96] The study of scripture must be done with a diligent and unremitting attention, "until your interpretation of it is led right through to the kingdom of charity." [97] This is accomplished in the light of five fundamental principles involving the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity; while the first two fade away in eternal life, charity "will abide, more vigorous and certain than ever." [98]
In this way, every error will be avoided, especially the error of loving one's own interpretation to the detriment of the scriptures themselves, the result then being a vacillating faith and a consequent drying up of charity. Augustine's insight sees in this process an evangelical paradox: those who have firm possession of the three theological virtues have no need of the scriptures except "as a means of forming others." Many, in fact, are able to live in solitude "without books," because what the apostle says[99] in an eschatological perspective that applies to the here and now has already come to pass in them: "As for prophecies, they shall be done away with, as for tongues, they shall cease, as for knowledge, it shall be done away with." [100]
Scripture is thus "the means by which we are carried along" and is destined to disappear when we have reached the final goal.[101] The image of a journey, which has already been applied to the ongoing ethical tension in human life, returns now as an exegetical journey through the seven degrees or stages of love:[102] fearful knowledge of the divine will; modesty and piety in the presence of scripture; true knowledge that teaches us to love God for his own sake and the neighbor for the sake of God; fortitude; "counsel which goes with mercy"; love of neighbor with eyes purified; and, finally, "wisdom," the last and most important stage on a journey that starts with fear of God[103] and reaches the joy of a full and serene contemplation of changeless love.[104] Love thus guides and coordinates all the stages of this biblical ascent in accordance with a dynamic that becomes exemplary for the relationship between knowledge and charity.
Augustine devotes a lengthy section, in which he also takes up difficulties and deviations, to the role of knowledge in relation to the scriptures, knowledge being seen both as careful study and as a necessary store of wide-ranging information.[105] Knowledge inspired by love builds up; otherwise it is empty, as the apostle says: Knowledge puffs up, love builds up (1 Cor 8:2). Only when accompanied by love does knowledge pierce the mystery and reach a level that is "existential and experiential." Paul's profound words to the Ephesians supply the key to this kind of knowledge, [106] for they enable us to glimpse and "know" the mystery of the cross, the dimensions of which embrace the universe.[107]
Two inseparable elements form the center and high point of this "existential experience": the hearing of the word and the Eucharist.[108] It is chiefly in the privileged area of the New
Testament dispensation that Augustine's exegesis, which is characteristically Christocentric and ecclesial, forms a solid biblical theology.[109]
Apart from the limitations noted and the reservations voiced by critics,[110] these are the most important and original results of Augustinian exegesis. It is these that the few references to Teaching Christianity were meant to set forth and reconfirm.
Theology of Oratory
The fourth book of Teaching Christianity is devoted, as Augustine himself says, to "a way to put across to others what has been understood" [111] or, to put it even more briefly, to the subject of Christian eloquence. While prescinding from the properly rhetorical aspects, which will be considered separately, it seems appropriate to call attention here to the underlying theology that characterizes and defines Augustine's explanation.
First of all, the basic assertion Augustine makes is that rhetoric, whose devices are useful but not indispensable, must serve the truth, defend it against error, and advance it. [112] Following this line of thought, we reach a close relationship, even a kind of unification, of eloquence with "wisdom," [113] but a union in which "content controls form." [114] On the other hand, the supreme and unquestionable source of truth and "wisdom" is the scriptures. Consequently, the contents, the very form, and the explanatory tools will be modeled on what the scriptures dictate, since these proclaim the great truths of salvation. Thus for the Christian orator everything he says will always be of great importance. [115]
The three functions of eloquence—to teach, to delight, to sway[116]—will also draw their substantial inspiration from the requirements of the scriptures. Teaching, which is a response to the Lord's categorical command,[117] predominates and justifies the other two. But, as has been said elsewhere, all this, once again, presupposes and requires love as guide and standard of pedagogy.[118] Moreover, the determining motif in which the true teaching—oral or written —of a Christian "orator" is summed up and brought to completion is prayer; this is the last and most important of the ten rules governing Christian eloquence:[119] let the preacher trust more in "the piety of prayer" than in oratorical resources; "let him be a pray-er before being a speaker." [120]
This final exhortation, which "certainly does not sound like a mere passing thought," [121] is evidence once again of the typical Augustinian linking of theology and pastoral practice with exegesis; it also sums up what may be called the vertical and transcendent theological orientation of Teaching Christianity.
Mario Naldini
Notes
[1]. Revisions II, 4, 1. On the reasons for the long interruption see A.
Pincherle, "Sulla composizione del De doctrina christiana di S. Agostino," Studi in onore di E. Dupré Theseider 2 (Rome, 1974) 541–559.
[2]. Revisions II, 4, 1.
[3]. M. Simonetti, Lettera e/o allegoria. Un contributo alla storia dell'esegesi patristica (Rome, 1985) 338.
[4]. H. I. Marrou, S. Agostino e la fine della cultura antica (Milan,
[6]. Teaching Christianity II, 39, 59.
[7]. Marrou, S. Agostino, 342.
[8]. See E. Kevane, "Augustine's De doctrina christiana: A Treatise on Christian Education," Recherches Augustiniennes 4 (1966) 122– 133; I. Opelt, "Doctrina und doctrina christiana," Der altsprachliche Unterricht 9 (1966) 5–22; G. A. Press, "The Subject and Structure of Augustine's De doctrina christiana," Augustinian Studies 11 (1980) 101–107; idem, "Doctrina in Augustine's De doctrina christiana," Philosophy and Rhetoric 17 (1984) 98–120.
[9]. Press, "Doctrina," 103; L. M. J. Verheijen, "Le De doctrina christiana de saint Augustin," Augustiniana 24 (1974) 12. [De doctrina christiana can mean either "On the teaching professed by Christianity" or "On the activity of teaching Christianity." —Tr.]
[10]. L. Alici, S. Agostino d'Ippona, La doctrina christiana (Milan, 1989) 31; Marrou, S. Agostino, 314.
[11]. Press, "Doctrina," 114.
[12]. See Kevane, "Augustine's De doctrina christiana," 112–117; Press, "The Subject," 112–116; idem, "The Content and Argument of Augustine's De doctrina christiana," Augustiniana 31 (1981) 165–182; Alici, S. Agostino d'Ippona, 33–41.
[13]. Prologue 1; 1, 1; 4, 1.
[14]. Press, "The Subject," 113–124; idem, "Doctrina," 115.
[15]. Instruction on the Study of the Fathers in the Formation of Priests, issued by the Congregation for Catholic Education (November 10, 1989), in Origins 19 (1989–90) 549–561. See also Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian, isued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (May 24, 1990), in Origins 20 (1990– 1991) 117–126. In the present situation this latter document calls for a close collaboration between the Magisterium and theology. See the description of the true theologian in Gregory of Nazianzus, Or. 27, 7 (PG 36:20B; ed. Gallay, SC 250:286).
[16]. P. Brown, Augustine of Hippo: A Biography (Berkeley, 1967) 267.
[18]. Marrou, Saint Augustine, and his influence through the ages (London, New York, 1957)
[19]. Verheijen, "Le De doctrina christiana," 12–14.
[20]. Alici, S. Agostino d'Ippona, 23.
[21]. Prologue, 8–9.
[24]. Order II, 16, 44: "of that supreme good that is better known by not knowing"; Ans. Adimant. 11: "before which [the majesty of God] a respectful silence is more fitting than any human words." See E.
Gilson, The Christian Philosophy of Saint Augustine, trans. L. E. M. Lynch (New York, 1960), Part III.
[26]. I, 6, 7. On this probable source of Saint Anselm of Aosta's ontological argument see Alici, S. Agostino d'Ippona, 109, note 1.
[27]. See Marrou, S. Agostino, 288; G. Istace, "Le livre 1er du De doctrina christiana de saint Augustin," Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 32 (1956) 292–301; W. R. O'Connor, "The Uti-frui Distinction in Augustine's Ethics," Augustinian Studies 14 (1983) 45–62.
[29]. See Trinity V, 5, 6.
[30]. See John 1:14.
[32]. See M. Simonetti, Studi sull'arianesimo (Rome, 1965) 9ff.
[34]. Confessions. 10, 43, 68; City of God IX, 15, 2; Sermon 47, 1.
[35]. Trinity IV.
[36]. City of God X, 32, 2; X, 47.
[37]. Liturgia Horarum I. Octava Nativitatis Domini, Ant. ad Bened. [In the English translation of the Liturgy of the Hours the verse is translated: "He remains what he was and becomes what he was not." — Tr.] See the comparable formula in the so-called "Faith of Damasus": "He did not lose what he was, but began to be what he was not" (DS 72; trans. in J. Neuner and J. Dupuis [eds.], The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church [rev. ed.; Staten Island, NY, 1982] no. 15, p. 11). The analogy with thinking recalls Augustine's teaching on the verbum cordis (Sermon 119, 7). See Leo the Great, Sermon 27, 1; H. Rahner, L'ecclesiologia dei Padri (Rome, 1971) 19.
[39]. I, 11, 11 and 34, 38. See Istace, "Le livre 1er," 312.
[40]. 1 Cor 15:1ff.
[42]. See 1 Cor 15:50–53.
[43]. Eph 1:23; 5:23–32; Rom 12:4.
[45]. This is the well-known Augustinian conception of "the whole
Christ." See Sermon 45, 5; S. Grabowsky, "Saint Augustine and the Doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ," Theological Studies 7 (1946) 72–125.
[47]. H. Chadwick, Augustine, (Oxford, 1986) 60.
[48]. III, 15, 23; see II, 8, 12.
[49]. Rahner, L'ecclesiologia dei Padri, 97.
[50]. See Istace, "Le livre 1er," 298.
[51]. See O'Connor, "The Uti-frui Distinction," 43–62.
[53]. I, 4, 4 and 1, 22, 21. See Marrou, S. Agostino, 288; A. Di Giovanni, La dialettica dell amore. "Uti-frui" nelle Preconfessioni do S. Agostino (Rome, 1965) (on the origin of the uti-frui distinction in Augustine). On the special relevance of this doctrine for ethics see O'Connor, "The Uti-frui Distinction," 43.
[54]. K. Holl, "Augustins innere Entwicklung," Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Kirchengeschichte 3 (1938) 54–116.
[55]. A. Nygren, Agape and Eros, trans. P. S. Watson (Philadelphia, 1953) 449–562.
[56]. O'Connor, "The Uti-frui Distinction," 45.
[57]. See O. O'Donovan, The Problem of Self-Love in Saint Augustine (New Haven, 1980) 158–159; in the author's view the criticism of Augustine's opponents is directed against the hedonism which they find in the Augustinian conception.
[58]. R. Bodei, "Ordo amoris." Conflitti terreni e felicità celeste (Bologna, 1991) 153. See Augustine, Sermon 301/A, 6.
[59]. A. Di Giovanni, "Metafisica del Dio-Amore nel De Doctrina
Christiana," Augustinianum 6 (1966) 294–300.
[61]. I, 31, 34—32, 35. See Di Giovanni, "Metafisica del Dio-Amore,"