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Augustine of Hippo, On Christian Doctrine
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Augustine of Hippo. On Christian Doctrine
Chapter 2.—What a Thing Is, and What A Sign.
Chapter 3.—Some Things are for Use, Some for Enjoyment.
Chapter 4.—Difference of Use and Enjoyment.
Chapter 5.—The Trinity the True Object of Enjoyment.
Chapter 6.—In What Sense God is Ineffable.
Chapter 7.—What All Men Understand by the Term God.
Chapter 8.—God to Be Esteemed Above All Else, Because He is Unchangeable Wisdom.
Chapter 9.—All Acknowledge the Superiority of Unchangeable Wisdom to that Which is Variable.
Chapter 10.—To See God, the Soul Must Be Purified.
Chapter 11.—Wisdom Becoming Incarnate, a Pattern to Us of Purification.
Chapter 12.—In What Sense the Wisdom of God Came to Us.
Chapter 13.—The Word Was Made Flesh.
Chapter 14.—How the Wisdom of God Healed Man.
Chapter 16.—Christ Purges His Church by Medicinal Afflictions.
Chapter 17.—Christ, by Forgiving Our Sins, Opened the Way to Our Home.
Chapter 18.—The Keys Given to the Church.
Chapter 19.—Bodily and Spiritual Death and Resurrection.
Chapter 20.—The Resurrection to Damnation.
Chapter 21.—Neither Body Nor Soul Extinguished at Death.
Chapter 22.—God Alone to Be Enjoyed.
Chapter 23.—Man Needs No Injunction to Love Himself and His Own Body.
Chapter 24.—No Man Hates His Own Flesh, Not Even Those Who Abuse It.
Chapter 25.—A Man May Love Something More Than His Body, But Does Not Therefore Hate His Body.
Chapter 26.—The Command to Love God and Our Neighbor Includes a Command to Love Ourselves.
Chapter 27.—The Order of Love.
Chapter 28.—How We are to Decide Whom to Aid.
Chapter 29.—We are to Desire and Endeavor that All Men May Love God.
Chapter 30.—Whether Angels are to Be Reckoned Our Neighbors.
Chapter 31.—God Uses Rather Than Enjoys Us.
Chapter 32.—In What Way God Uses Man.
Chapter 33.—In What Way Man Should Be Enjoyed.
Chapter 34.—Christ the First Way to God.
Chapter 35.—The Fulfillment and End of Scripture is the Love of God and Our Neighbor.
Chapter 37.—Dangers of Mistaken Interpretation.
Chapter 38.—Love Never Faileth.
Chapter 39.—He Who is Mature in Faith, Hope and Love, Needs Scripture No Longer.
Chapter 40.—What Manner of Reader Scripture Demands.
Chapter 1.—Signs, Their Nature and Variety.
Chapter 2.—Of the Kind of Signs We are Now Concerned with.
Chapter 3.—Among Signs, Words Hold the Chief Place.
Chapter 5.—Scripture Translated into Various Languages.
Chapter 6.—Use of the Obscurities in Scripture Which Arise from Its Figurative Language.
Chapter 8.—The Canonical Books.
Chapter 9.—How We Should Proceed in Studying Scripture.
Chapter 10.—Unknown or Ambiguous Signs Prevent Scripture from Being Understood.
Chapter 12.—A Diversity of Interpretations is Useful. Errors Arising from Ambiguous Words.
Chapter 13.—How Faulty Interpretations Can Be Emended.
Chapter 14.—How the Meaning of Unknown Words and Idioms is to Be Discovered.
Chapter 15.—Among Versions a Preference is Given to the Septuagint and the Itala.
Chapter 17.—Origin of the Legend of the Nine Muses.
Chapter 18.—No Help is to Be Despised, Even Though It Come from a Profane Source.
Chapter 19.—Two Kinds Of Heathen Knowledge.
Chapter 20.—The Superstitious Nature of Human Institutions.
Chapter 21.—Superstition of Astrologers.
Chapter 22 .—The Folly of Observing the Stars in Order to Predict the Events of a Life.
Chapter 23.—Why We Repudiate Arts of Divination.
Chapter 24.—The Intercourse and Agreement with Demons Which Superstitious Observances Maintain.
Chapter 26.—What Human Contrivances We are to Adopt, and What We are to Avoid.
Chapter 28.—To What Extent History is an Aid.
Chapter 29.—To What Extent Natural Science is an Exegetical Aid.
Chapter 30.—What the Mechanical Arts Contribute to Exegetics.
Chapter 31.—Use of Dialectics. Of Fallacies.
Chapter 32.—Valid Logical Sequence is Not Devised But Only Observed by Man.
Chapter 33.—False Inferences May Be Drawn from Valid Reasonings, and Vice Versa.
Chapter 34.—It is One Thing to Know the Laws of Inference, Another to Know the Truth of Opinions.
Chapter 35 .—The Science of Definition is Not False, Though It May Be Applied to Falsities.
Chapter 36.—The Rules of Eloquence are True, Though Sometimes Used to Persuade Men of What is False.
Chapter 37.—Use of Rhetoric and Dialectic.
Chapter 38.—The Science of Numbers Not Created, But Only Discovered, by Man.
Chapter 39.—To Which of the Above-Mentioned Studies Attention Should Be Given, and in What Spirit.
Chapter 40.—Whatever Has Been Rightly Said by the Heathen, We Must Appropriate to Our Uses.
Chapter 41.—What Kind of Spirit is Required for the Study of Holy Scripture.
Chapter 42.—Sacred Scripture Compared with Profane Authors.
Chapter 1 .—Summary of the Foregoing Books, and Scope of that Which Follows.
Chapter 2.—Rule for Removing Ambiguity by Attending to Punctuation.
Chapter 3.—How Pronunciation Serves to Remove Ambiguity. Different Kinds of Interrogation.
Chapter 4.—How Ambiguities May Be Solved.
Chapter 6.—Utility of the Bondage of the Jews.
Chapter 7.—The Useless Bondage of the Gentiles.
Chapter 8.—The Jews Liberated from Their Bondage in One Way, the Gentiles in Another.
Chapter 9.—Who is in Bondage to Signs, and Who Not.
Chapter 10.—How We are to Discern Whether a Phrase is Figurative.
Chapter 11.—Rule for Interpreting Phrases Which Seem to Ascribe Severity to God and the Saints.
Chapter 13.—Same Subject, Continued.
Chapter 14.—Error of Those Who Think that There is No Absolute Right and Wrong.
Chapter 15.—Rule for Interpreting Figurative Expressions.
Chapter 16.—Rule for Interpreting Commands and Prohibitions.
Chapter 17.—Some Commands are Given to All in Common, Others to Particular Classes.
Chapter 18.—We Must Take into Consideration the Time at Which Anything Was Enjoyed or Allowed.
Chapter 19.—Wicked Men Judge Others by Themselves.
Chapter 20.—Consistency of Good Men in All Outward Circumstances.
Chapter 21.—David Not Lustful, Though He Fell into Adultery.
Chapter 23.—Rule Regarding the Narrative of Sins of Great Men.
Chapter 24.—The Character of the Expressions Used is Above All to Have Weight.
Chapter 25.—The Same Word Does Not Always Signify the Same Thing.
Chapter 26.—Obscure Passages are to Be Interpreted by Those Which are Clearer.
Chapter 27.—One Passage Susceptible of Various Interpretations.
Chapter 29.—The Knowledge of Tropes is Necessary.
Chapter 30.—The Rules of Tichonius the Donatist Examined.
Chapter 31.—The First Rule of Tichonius.
Chapter 32.—The Second Rule of Tichonius.
Chapter 33.—The Third Rule of Tichonius.
Chapter 34.—The Fourth Rule of Tichonius.
Chapter 35.—The Fifth Rule of Tichonius.
Chapter 36.—The Sixth Rule of Tichonius.
Chapter 37.—The Seventh Rule of Tichonius.
Chapter 1.—This Work Not Intended as a Treatise on Rhetoric.
Chapter 2.—It is Lawful for a Christian Teacher to Use the Art of Rhetoric.
Chapter 3.—The Proper Age and the Proper Means for Acquiring Rhetorical Skill.
Chapter 4.—The Duty of the Christian Teacher.
Chapter 5.—Wisdom of More Importance Than Eloquence to the Christian Teacher.
Chapter 6.—The Sacred Writers Unite Eloquence with Wisdom.
Chapter 7.—Examples of True Eloquence Drawn from the Epistles of Paul and the Prophecies of Amos.
Chapter 9.—How, and with Whom, Difficult Passages are to Be Discussed.
Chapter 10.—The Necessity for Perspicuity of Style.
Chapter 11.—The Christian Teacher Must Speak Clearly, But Not Inelegantly.
Chapter 13.—The Hearer Must Be Moved as Well as Instructed.
Chapter 14.—Beauty of Diction to Be in Keeping with the Matter.
Chapter 15.—The Christian Teacher Should Pray Before Preaching.
Chapter 16.—Human Directions Not to Be Despised, Though God Makes the True Teacher.
Chapter 17.—Threefold Division of The Various Styles of Speech.
Chapter 18.—The Christian Orator is Constantly Dealing with Great Matters.
Chapter 19.—The Christian Teacher Must Use Different Styles on Different Occasions.
Chapter 20.—Examples of the Various Styles Drawn from Scripture.
Chapter 22.—The Necessity of Variety in Style.
Chapter 23.—How the Various Styles Should Be Mingled.
Chapter 24.—The Effects Produced by the Majestic Style.
Chapter 25.—How the Temperate Style is to Be Used.
Chapter 26.—In Every Style the Orator Should Aim at Perspicuity, Beauty, and Persuasiveness.
Chapter 27.—The Man Whose Life is in Harmony with His Teaching Will Teach with Greater Effect.
Chapter 28.—Truth is More Important Than Expression. What is Meant by Strife About Words.
Chapter 30.—The Preacher Should Commence His Discourse with Prayer to God.
Chapter 29.—To What Extent Natural Science is an Exegetical Aid.
45. There is also a species of narrative resembling description, in which not a past but an existing state of things is made known to those who are ignorant of it. To this species belongs all that has been written about the situation of places, and the nature of animals, trees, herbs, stones, and other bodies. And of this species I have treated above, and have shown that this kind of knowledge is serviceable in solving the difficulties of Scripture, not that these objects are to be used conformably to certain signs as nostrums or the instruments of superstition; for that kind of knowledge I have already set aside as distinct from the lawful and free kind now spoken of. For it is one thing to say: If you bruise down this herb and drink it, it will remove the pain from your stomach; and another to say: If you hang this herb round your neck, it will remove the pain from your stomach. In the former case the wholesome mixture is approved of, in the latter the superstitious charm is condemned; although indeed, where incantations and invocations and marks are not used, it is frequently doubtful whether the thing that is tied or fixed in any way to the body to cure it, acts by a natural virtue, in which case it may be freely used; or acts by a sort of charm, in which case it becomes the Christian to avoid it the more carefully, the more efficacious it may seem to be. But when the reason why a thing is of virtue does not appear, the intention with which it is used is of great importance, at least in healing or in tempering bodies, whether in medicine or in agriculture.
46. The knowledge of the stars, again, is not a matter of narration, but of description. Very few of these, however, are mentioned in Scripture. And as the course of the moon, which is regularly employed in reference to celebrating the anniversary of our Lord’s passion, is known to most people; so the rising and setting and other movements of the rest of the heavenly bodies are thoroughly known to very few. And this knowledge, although in itself it involves no superstition, renders very little, indeed almost no assistance, in the interpretation of Holy Scripture, and by engaging the attention unprofitably is a hindrance rather; and as it is closely related to the very pernicious error of the diviners of the fates, it is more convenient and becoming to neglect it. It involves, moreover, in addition to a description of the present state of things, something like a narrative of the past also; because one may go back from the present position and motion of the stars, and trace by rule their past movements. It involves also regular anticipations of the future, not in the way of forebodings and omens, but by way of sure calculation; not with the design of drawing any information from them as to our own acts and fates, in the absurd fashion of the genethliaci, but only as to the motions of the heavenly bodies themselves. For, as the man who computes the moon’s age can tell, when he has found out her age today, what her age was any number of years ago, or what will be her age any number of years hence, in just the same way men who are skilled in such computations are accustomed to answer like questions about every one of the heavenly bodies. And I have stated what my views are about all this knowledge, so far as regards its utility.
CAPUT XXIX. Ad Scripturarum intelligentiam quatenus conducat animalium, herbarum, etc., praesertimque siderum cognitio.
45. Est etiam narratio demonstrationi similis, qua non praeterita, sed praesentia indicantur ignaris. In quo genere sunt quaecumque de locorum situ, naturisque animalium, lignorum, herbarum, lapidum, aliorumve corporum scripta sunt. De quo genere superius egimus, eamque cognitionem valere ad aenigmata Scripturarum solvenda docuimus: non ut pro quibusdam signis adhibeantur, tanquam ad remedia vel machinamenta superstitionis alicujus; nam et illud genus jam distinctum ab hoc licito et libero separavimus. Aliud est enim dicere, Tritam istam herbam si biberis, venter non dolebit; et aliud est dicere, Istam herbam collo si suspenderis, venter non dolebit. Ibi enim probatur contemperatio salubris, hic significatio superstitiosa damnatur. Quanquam ubi praecantationes, 0057 et invocationes, et characteres non sunt, plerumque dubium est utrum res quae alligatur, aut quoquo modo adjungitur sanando corpori, VI naturae valeat, quod libere adhibendum est, an significativa quadam obligatione proveniat, quod tanto prudentius oportet cavere christianum, quanto efficacius prodesse videbitur. Sed ubi latet qua causa quid valeat, quo animo quisque utatur interest, duntaxat in sanandis vel temperandis corporibus, sive in medicina, sive in agricultura.
46. Siderum autem cognoscendorum non narratio, sed demonstratio est, quorum perpauca Scriptura commemorat. Sicut autem plurimis notus est lunae cursus, qui etiam ad passionem Domini anniversarie celebrandam solemniter adhibetur; sic paucissimis caeterorum quoque siderum vel ortus, vel occasus, vel alia quaelibet momenta sine ullo sunt errore notissima. Quae per seipsam cognitio, quanquam superstitione non alliget, non multum tamen ac prope nihil adjuvat tractationem divinarum Scripturarum, et infructuosa intentione plus impedit; et quia familiaris est perniciosissimo errori fatua fata cantantium, commodius honestiusque contemnitur. Habet autem praeter demonstrationem praesentium, etiam praeteritorum narrationi simile aliquid, quod a praesenti positione, motuque siderum, et in praeterita eorum vestigia regulariter licet recurrere. Habet etiam futurorum regulares conjecturas, non suspiciosas et ominosas, sed ratas et certas; non ut ex eis aliquid trahere in nostra facta et eventa tentemus, qualia genethliacorum deliramenta sunt, sed quantum ad ipsa pertinet sidera. Nam sicut is qui computat lunam, cum hodie inspexerit quota sit, et ante quotlibet annos quota fuerit, et post quotlibet annos quota futura sit potest dicere; sic de unoquoque siderum, qui ea perite computant, respondere consueverunt. De qua tota cognitione, quantum ad usum ejus attinet, quid mihi videretur aperui.