Tractates on the Gospel and Epistles of St. John," Classical Philology 12(1917)
INTRODUCTION 23 (32) The richness in doctrinal content for these Tractates should be quite clear from the foregoing. For his pastoral purposes Augustine combined scriptural exegesis, the refutation of false teachings, and theological reflections with the spiritual and moral instruction of his people. Moreover his teachings herein come from his mature years and hence represent his mature thought on these many topics, as will be seen from the dating of the sermons. A thoroughgoing account of this vast content, even in summary form, is beyond the scope of this Introduction.
The Dates of the Tractates
(33) Much effort has been expended in attempting to date these Tractates. In the famous Maurist Benedictine edition of the works of Augustine, the editors dated both the 124 Tractates on the Gospel of John and the 10 Tractates on the First
Epistle of John in or shortly after 416, although they considered it possible that the series of sermons could have been initiated at an earlier time.^^ They viewed the Tractates as a single, complete series; it seems not to have occurred to them that they might fall into groups delivered at different times. Later scholars either confirmed the Maurist date, adding additional argumentation,^^ or slightly modified it.^^ In the
72. See PL 3513751378. Migne's text is basically a reprinting of the Maurist edition; for the Tractates he included the essay, De Subsequentibm in lohannem Tractatibus, from that edition.
73. For example, Le Nain de Tillemont, Memoires pour servir a I'histoire ecclesiastique 13 (Venice, 1732), 708, cited by S. Zarb, "Chronologia Tractatum S. Augustini in Evangelium primamque Epistulam loannis Apostoli," Angelicum 10 (1933) 52. He would prefer the year 412 because of the conflict with the Donatists and the appearance of Pelagianism in North Africa; but the reference to the discovery of the remains of St. Stephen in Tractate 1 20.4 could only be justified as a later addition by Augustine and this is unlikely, so he retains 416. M. Comeau, Saint Augustin, exegete du quatrieme evangile (Paris, 1930), 2-5, adds the argument that De Trinitate 15.27.48 which she dates in 416 reproduces Tractate 99.8—9, and from internal evidence argues that the sermons were delivered between early January and December of 416.
74. R. Deferrari, "On the Date and Order of Delivery of St. Augustine's Tractates on the Gospel and Epistles of St. John," Classical Philology 12(1917)