Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Plot Summary of “On Christian Doctrine” by Augustine of Hippo. Moreover, if those who are called philosophers, and especially the Platonists, have said anything that is true and in harmony with our faith, we are not only not to shrink from it, but to claim it for our own use from those who have unlawful possession of it.
on November 16, 2019. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Some of them, again, are said to be untranslatable into another tongue, of which the other two I have mentioned are examples. This imitation of Cicero’s Orator for Christian purposes sets out a theory of the interpretation of Scripture and…, …his own book on exegesis, Christian Doctrine (books 1–3 396/397, book 4 426). interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures, according to the analogy of faith.The first three books were written A. D. 397; the fourth was added 426. Drawing on….
But hasty and careless readers are led astray by many and manifold obscurities and ambiguities, substituting one meaning for another; and in some places they cannot hit upon even a fair interpretation. Edited by Philip Schaff. Now which of these is the literal translation cannot be ascertained without reference to the text in the original tongue. For two books, one called Wisdom and the other Ecclesiasticus, are ascribed to Solomon from a certain resemblance of style, but the most likely opinion is that they were written by Jesus the son of Sirach. Please try again. Accordingly here, as understanding consists in sight, and is abiding, but faith feeds us as babes, upon milk, in the cradles of temporal things (for now we walk by faith, not by sight); 2 Corinthians 5:7 as, moreover, unless we walk by faith, we shall not attain to sight, which does not pass away, but abides, our understanding being purified by holding to the truth — for these reasons one says, If you will not believe, you shall not understand; but the other, If you will not believe, you shall not abide. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. And so in regard to minerals and plants: knowledge of the carbuncle, for instance, which shines in the dark, throws light upon many of the dark places in books too, where it is used metaphorically; and ignorance of the beryl or the adamant often shuts the doors of knowledge. 31. And except by knowledge of and reflection upon the number, the difficulty of explaining the figure involved in this action cannot be got over. Romans 1:21-23. And at this stage, too, a man so purges the eye of his affections as not to place his neighbor before, or even in comparison with, the truth, and therefore not himself, because not him whom he loves as himself. 41. Those which are reached by the bodily senses we either believe in testimony, or perceive when they are pointed out to us, or infer from experience. Accordingly, in regard to all these branches of knowledge, we must fear and shun the fellowship of demons, who, with the Devil their prince, strive only to shut and bar the door against our return. The first three books of On Christian…, …influential De doctrina christiana (On Christian Doctrine), which provides practical guidance for interpreting the faith. If, then, he does not discover the difference when he examines the constellations, which must, of course, be the same whether he is consulted about Jacob or his brother, what does it profit him that there is a difference in the heavens, which he rashly and carelessly brings into disrepute, when there is no difference in his chart, which he looks into anxiously but in vain? There are other books which seem to follow no regular order, and are connected neither with the order of the preceding books nor with one another, such as Job, and Tobias, and Esther, and Judith, and the two books of Maccabees, and the two of Ezra, which last look more like a sequel to the continuous regular history which terminates with the books of Kings and Chronicles. Not a few things, too, are closed against us and obscured by ignorance of music. But before I enter upon this undertaking, I think it well to meet the objections of those who are likely to take exception to the work, or who would do so, did I not conciliate them beforehand.
For in this frame of mind he extricates himself from every form of fatal joy in transitory things, and turning away from these, fixes his affection on things eternal, to wit, the unchangeable Trinity in unity.
But to desire to predict the characters, the acts, and the fate of those who are born from such an observation, is a great delusion and great madness.
The Latin texts, therefore, of the Old Testament are, as I was about to say, to be corrected if necessary by the authority of the Greeks, and especially by that of those who, though they were seventy in number, are said to have translated as with one voice. As, then, valid conclusions may be drawn not only from true but from false propositions, the laws of valid reasoning may easily be learned in the schools, outside the pale of the Church.
We wish, then, to consider and discuss this class of signs so far as men are concerned with it, because even the signs which have been given us of God, and which are contained in the Holy Scriptures, were made known to us through men — those, namely, who wrote the Scriptures.
For even falsehood itself is defined when we say that falsehood is the declaration of a state of things which is not as we declare it to be; and this definition is true, although falsehood itself cannot be true. 8. And men rather found out that these things are so, than arranged that they should be so. Many, again, by reason of their ignorance of hyssop, not knowing the virtue it has in cleansing the lungs, nor the power it is said to have of piercing rocks with its roots, although it is a small and insignificant plant, cannot make out why it is said, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. For the life consists of three parts, whence also God is to be loved with the whole heart, the whole soul, and the whole mind; and it is very clear that in the body there are four elements of which it is made up.
Source. But nevertheless, as I said above, a comparison of those translators also who have kept most closely to the words, is often not without value as a help to the clearing up of the meaning. For though the bugle and the flute and the lyre frequently give not only a sweet but a significant sound, yet all these signs are very few in number compared with words. For, when the readers and admirers of Plato dared calumniously to assert that our Lord Jesus Christ learned all those sayings of His, which they are compelled to admire and praise, from the books of Plato— because (they urged) it cannot be denied that Plato lived long before the coming of our Lord! authority of the Old Testament is contained within the limits of these forty-four books,'(3) I used the phrase 'Old Testament' in accordance with ecclesiastical usage. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. 52. But take, on the other hand, the saying of the apostle: Quod stultum est Dei, sapientius est hominibus, et quod infirmum est Dei, fortius est hominibus.
Nor is it to the point to say that the very smallest and briefest moment of time that separates the birth of twins, produces great effects in nature, and in the extremely rapid motion of the heavenly bodies. 22. What, then, some men have done in regard to all words and names found in Scripture, in the Hebrew, and Syriac, and Egyptian, and other tongues, taking up and interpreting separately such as were left in Scripture without interpretation; and what Eusebius has done in regard to the history of the past with a view to the questions arising in Scripture that require a knowledge of history for their solution — what, I say, these men have done in regard to matters of this kind, making it unnecessary for the Christian to spend his strength on many subjects for the sake of a few items of knowledge, the same, I think, might be done in regard to other matters, if any competent man were willing in a spirit of benevolence to undertake the labor for the advantage of his brethren. 54. This shopping feature will continue to load items when the Enter key is pressed. We must take care, however that they do not at the same time make it more inclined to mischief or vanity — that is to say, that they do not give those who have learned them an inclination to lead people astray by plausible speech and catching questions, or make them think that they have attained some great thing that gives them an advantage over the good and innocent. '"(6), Book one: Fundamentals of Christian doctrine: things and signs, Book 2: Interpretation required by ignorance of the meaning of signs, Book III: Interpretation required by the ambiguity of signs. Rights: Public Domain. In On Christian Doctrine, St. Augustine helps readers discover, teach, and defend the truths of Scripture. A masterpiece of the greatest genius among the Latin Fathers, and the best known and most read of Augustins works. Matthew 22:37-40 And on these two commandments I touched in the previous book when I was treating about things.
But why I view them with greater delight under that aspect than if no such figure were drawn from the sacred books, though the fact would remain the same and the knowledge the same, is another question, and one very difficult to answer. Contact information. And in this matter memory counts for a great deal; but if the memory be defective, no rules can supply the want.