Context
The
assigned edition of Augustine’s Teaching
Christianity includes an introduction from the translator Edmund Hill. This
helpful introduction provides contextual information for Augustine’s original
writing. Hill informs the reader that Augustine wrote Teaching Christianity around 396 AD, soon after his consecration as
Bishop of Hippo. (11) This lasting work is a “treatise on biblical exegesis
growing out of almost thirty years of reflection” (55). Augustine outlines his
work in four books. The “first three help in understanding scripture” and the
fourth “shows how one who has understood it should express himself” (11). His
work is more than a pedagogy on hermeneutics, it is also a pastoral exhortation
to live and preach well. He addressed the ongoing need to properly understand
and practice “the relationship of theology to pastoral activity” (13). This
activity includes knowing and teaching, which are “two complementary phases of
a single theological and pastoral activity” (14). The result of such activity
is a “joy that eventually leads to the fullness of enjoyment” (14) and this
fullness is found only in the Trinity. Augustine’s desire for all theological
activity is that it will find its end in Christian love. Hull writes, “The
epicenter and full motivation of this theology of Christian love are found in
God’s love for humanity.” Charity, or love, is the “essential and supreme
hermeneutical criterion in Augustinian exegesis” (21). This is the context for Teaching Christianity. The end of
biblical exegesis is love and this exegesis cannot be properly done except in
love. Proper understanding of the scripture and the clear expression of it
demand love at every point.
Content
Hull offers some helpful notes
toward understanding Augustine and it is appropriate to mention a few. He
points out the high view of Scripture in Augustine’s work, “the Bible is [for
Augustine] the sole source of essential truth” (33). The goal of searching the
scriptures is the discovery of love, which is found not “within themselves, but
only in God” (34). Hull mentions three ideas which build the “theoretical
scaffolding” (35) for Augustine’s theological thought. He delineates, “first,
moral reflection on original sin . . . . second, the centrality of Christ the
incarnate Word provides a theological foundation for the theory of linguistic signs
. . . . third, a deeper biblical and ecclesiological study of Christian
revelation” (35). A brief outline of the two thematic units in Teaching Christianity is provided by
Hull. He points out “the first unit, which includes the first three books, is
devoted to the identification and understanding of the truths of faith” (39).
The second unit “is concerned with the setting forth of these truths” (39).
This brief summary helps the reader to stay focused on the major themes of
Augustine’s work and the practical application that must follow the reading of
such a work.
Augustine offers a prologue in which
he lays out the necessity for “rules of dealing with the scriptures” (101) and
answering some common objections. Any pastor will appreciate his handling of
those who feel they do not need these rules nor the teaching of others. He
reminds the objectors, “it was still from human beings that they learned, at
the very least, how to read and write” (102) and that we are not to “be too
proud to learn what has to be learned with the help of other people” (102). He
also notes their inconsistency, “But since they themselves read the Bible, and
understand it without any other human being explaining it to them, why are they
so eager to explain it to others, instead of referring them back to God…and not
through the teaching of men?” (104). The challenge to pastoral authority in
teaching the scriptures appears in every generation and Augustine offers helpful
thoughts for the one teaching as well as the objector.
Book One of Teaching Christianity gives the purpose of scripture study. It is
“both to discover its meaning and to pass it on to others” (106). He notes that
“all teaching is either about things or signs” (106). According to Augustine,
signs are “those things which are used in order to signify something else” and
things are “those that are not mentioned in order to signify something”
(106-107). All things are divided into three categories. They are “enjoyed,
others which are meant to be used, yet others which do both the enjoying and
the using” (107). Things that are to be enjoyed make us happy; things which are
to be used help us on our way to happiness” (107). This happiness is ultimately
found only in loving God for God’s sake and loving others for the same. True
happiness and enjoyment is found in the supreme Trinity as the things to be
enjoyed “are the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (108). Augustine says,
“the great question is whether human beings ought to regard themselves as
things to be enjoyed, or to be used, or both” (114). He answers clearly, “we
enjoy that thing which we love for its own sake, and that only that thing is to
be enjoyed by us which makes us perfectly happy, while everything else is
simply to be used” (121). This leads us partially to understand why God loves
us. He has no need to enjoy us because that would indicate some need on His
part. He “makes use of us” (121) but not in the same way we make use of things.
God’s “making use of us is directed by his goodness” (121) and this usage leads
to our benefit which is that we “enjoy him and… enjoy of one another in him”
(122).
Book Two begins with Augustine’s
distinction of the two types of signs. He says there are “natural ones which
have the effect of making something else known…for example smoke signifying
fire” (129). There are also “conventional or given signs…which are those which
living creatures give one another in order to who, as far as they can, their
moods and feelings, or to indicate whatever it may be they have sensed or
understood” (129). These signs lead to stages of discovery which Augustine
mentions are seven. The first two stages are “fear and piety” (132) with the
third being “knowledge” (132) followed by “courage …. mercy …. hope …. and
wisdom” (133). He offers advice toward a more “fruitful study of scripture”
(135) by calling for the reader to use “plainer passages to cast light on the
more obscure utterances” (135). This mention of obscurities continues the
teaching of signs. He says they can “be either proper or metaphorical” (135).
Proper signs are those which “signify the things they were originally intended
for” (135). Metaphorical signs are the “very things which we signify with their
proper words to signify something else” (135). In order to properly understand metaphorical
signs one needs to “investigate them partly by a knowledge of languages, partly
by a knowledge of things” (141). Augustine offers a brief section on the rules
of logic on pages 154-158. He reminds the reader, “the truth of a statement or
proposition stands on its own merits; but the truth of the logical inference
stands or falls with the opinion of the person one is dealing with, or of the
point he has conceived” (155). This brief treatment of logic builds to his
emphasis on the importance of proper thinking as he leads into his exegetical
approach to allegory. There does not appear to be a distinction between
typology and allegory in his treatment of scripture. He writes of the “Passover
as a shadow and image” (161) and the hyssop which marked the Passover’s
participants as a “humble and gentle herb” (161). This herb has strong roots
which is to remind us that we “are rooted and founded in love, that we may be
able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and
height and depth” (Eph. 3:17-18) which is in Augustine’s mind “the Lord’s
cross” (161). He then explains the breadth as the “cross-beam”, the length as
“the part from the ground to the breadth”, the height “where his head is”, and
the depth “being fixed in the ground” (161). This sense of understanding the
signs found in scripture must be discovered with intense humility as “knowledge
puffs up” (162).
Augustine leads into Book Three by
stating “those who fear God are conscientious about seeking his will in the
scriptures” (169). It is this conscientiousness that he will address in this
section. He believes that students of scripture must be “well equipped” (169)
for the task of solving the “ambiguities of the scriptures” (169). These
ambiguities are found “either in their proper or in their metaphorical senses”
(169) and must be encountered with careful consultation to the “rule of faith”
from the “authority of the Church” (169). Augustine says there is “one and only
one method” (176) for discovering the difference between a “proper or
figurative” (176) expression. The method prescribed is “anything in the divine
writings that cannot be referred either to good, honest morals or to the truth
of the faith, you must know is said figuratively” (176). The guiding principle
for correct interpretation of figurative language is found again in “loving God
for God’s sake, and oneself and one’s neighbor for God’s sake” (179). This rule
must be applied in finding the meaning in figurative expressions as the reader
“should take pains to turn over and over in your mind what you read, until your
interpretation of it is led right through to the kingdom of charity” (179).
Augustine closes his third book with the “seven rules of Tychonius” (187) which
are meant to help unlock the “hidden meanings of the divine scriptures” (187).
Tychonius wrote a book entitled Rules
in which he articulated hermeneutical principles in the midst of the Donatist
controversy. He articulated the following rules for interpretation of
scriptural ambiguities. First is “about the Lord and his body” (189) which
gives hints that “head and body, that is Christ and Church, constitute one
person” (189). The second principle is “about the twofold body of the Lord”
(189) and this denotes the distinction between those who “appear to be in
Christ’s Church” and those who are “hypocrites” (189). The third rule is “about
the promises and the law” (189) which addresses the relationship of faith and
works in the reception of divine grace. Augustine takes a more theocentric
approach than did Tychonius who said “our works are given to us by God on the
strength of our faith” (190). The fourth rule is “about species and genus”.
This rule uses “species” to speak of the “part” and the “genus” as the “whole”.
His interpretative principle is that the difficult to understand “species”
passages can be helped by being “most wide awake and attentive” (191) when
studying the “genus” of scripture. His fifth rule is called “about times” (193)
which he describes as understanding different uses of biblical numbers. He
proposes finding understanding in the difficulty of the usage of biblical
numbers by setting apart those which are used figuratively or properly. His
sixth interpretative rule is “about recapitulation” which is employed in
narratives to “turn back to earlier events that had been left out” (194) such
as in Genesis 2. Tychonius’ seventh rule is “about the devil and his body”
(196) which distinguishes between times the scripture refers to the work of the
devil or the work of the devil’s people. Augustine believes these rules of
Tychonius are helpful in discovering the proper sense of signs as they are used
in the holy scripture.
Book Four moves from the
understanding which comes through biblical exegesis to the “communicating what
has been understood” (201). Communication of what has been discovered in
studying the scriptures is most important for the Bible teacher. He has the
“duty of both teaching what is good and unteaching what is bad” (203). Public
teaching of the Bible necessitates the “duty to win over the hostile, to stir
up the slack, to point out to the ignorant what is at stake and what they ought
to be looking for” (203). Augustine urges further, “if the listeners are to be
moved rather than instructed…more forceful kinds of speaking are called for”
(203). On pages 205-212 he discusses the applications of eloquence and wisdom
in the preaching of Paul and Amos and urges the reader to seek wisdom above all
else. He notes the biblical prophets utilized wisdom and eloquence while avoiding
any preoccupation with eloquence, but its “eloquence not withdrawing from
wisdom” (212). He says the best way to teach those who want to learn is to give
them “something true” and to do so in such a way that they “understand what
they hear” (215). This brings Augustine to the importance of three rhetorical
tools. To help put across that understanding which has been gained through
biblical exegesis the teacher should engage in “teaching, delighting, and
swaying” (216) his audience. When the churchman “is trying to persuade the
people about something that has to be done” he should “not only teach, in order
to instruct them; not only to delight, in order to hold them; but also to sway,
in order to conquer and win them” (217). The mode in which these truths are to
be communicated should vary between “calm, moderate, and grand” (222). The
teacher should “do it calmly when he is teaching, moderately when he has
something to blame or praise. But when it is something to be done, and we are
addressing people who ought to do it, and yet are not willing to, that is when
great matters are to be uttered in the grand manner” (222). The effort to
communicate what has been drawn out of the scripture should be attempted with
eloquence and wisdom. “But if anyone is unable to do both, let him say wisely
what he does not say eloquently, rather than say eloquently what he says
unwisely” says Augustine. (239) He continues, “If however, he cannot even do
this, let him so conduct himself that he not only earns a reward for himself,
but also gives an example to others, and so his manner of life can itself be a
kind of eloquent sermon” (239). We are reminded again of the importance of
Christian love. Love is necessary for proper interpretation and for accurate
communication. If the preacher is unable to do either of these very well then
at least let him live a life of love which can be a most wonderfully wise and
eloquent sermon.
Positive
and Negative Evaluation
Teaching
Christianity is a colossal contribution to biblical hermeneutics, the
philosophy of language, and pastoral theology. The historic proportions of this
contribution are obvious as we continue to study this book over sixteen hundred
years after its initial publication. There are some contemporary authors such
as John Piper, Michael Reeves, Tim Keller, and Scott Hahn who have duplicated
many of Augustine’s propositions, which again shows the perpetual value of this
book. Augustine offers the call to find enjoyment in the Trinity. He says, “God
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is the ultimate thing to be
enjoyed” (108). He reminds us of the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit who
is “taming the flesh…canceling as it were the perverse agreement made with bad
habits, and making peace with good habits” (117). His explanation of signs
helps the student of scripture to think more deeply about the significance of
words used to express ideas in scripture. Even when he uses allegorical
exegetical methods such as the discussion of hyssop and the cross on page 161
it causes this reader to ponder further the texts cited. Although I cannot see
the connections made by Augustine, his methods do inspire me to look deeper and
consider things that I otherwise may not. His challenge should be embraced to
avoid “the wretched slavery of the spirit, treating signs as things, and thus
being unable to lift up the eyes of the mind above bodily creatures, to drink
in the eternal light” (173). It is quite possible that my lack of deeper
understanding is due to a lack of prayer. This is a helpful exhortation to an
increased prayer life which will certainly increase biblical understanding with
the “drink of eternal light” (173).
Augustine’s insistence on charity or love
has been a perennial help to the Church. He speaks of love as “any urge of the
spirit to find joy in God for his own sake, and in oneself and one’s neighbor
for God’s sake” (176). His elaboration on “loving for God’s sake” (176-179)
provides insight that few authors ever afford. Moreover, Augustine’s premodern
hermeneutic emphasizes the exaltation of charity for proper exegetical method.
He insists that one must walk in love in order to understand “figurative and
literal” (179-180) expressions. This book is constantly practical. In
discussing “sins of great men” (184) and their “figurative representations of
future realities” (184) he is diligent to remind the reader that “you should
still turn the proper literal meaning of the thing done to this good use: that
as a result of seeing the tempests such men were in danger from and the
shipwrecks they had to bewail, you should never even think of congratulating
yourself on what you have done rightly, or of looking down upon other people as
sinners from the vantage point of your own justice” (184). It is this type of
common practicality found throughout the book that I find to be such a positive
contribution to pastoral theology. According to Augustine, greater ability in
preaching depends upon “the more or less progress he has made in the holy
scriptures” (204) and this progress is not shallow, “I don’t mean just in
reading them frequently and committing them to memory, but in understanding
them well and diligently exploring their senses” (204). The homiletics student
will find a connection in Augustine’s discussion of “teaching, delighting, and
swaying” with modern homiletical presentations of “explanation, illustration, and
application”. The positive contribution in my mind is a deeper understanding of
the use of the modern terms in light of Augustine’s classic use of his terms,
which helps me in putting forth the principles of scripture. This Augustinian
thought on preaching is particularly helpful, “It is the duty, therefore, of
the eloquent churchman, when he is trying to persuade the people about
something that has to be done, not only to teach, in order to instruct them;
not only to delight, in order to hold them; but also to sway, in order to
conquer and win them” (217). Books one, two, and three are especially helpful
in developing sound exegetical principles while book four is a masterpiece on
communicating the discoveries found by these principles.
A few negative considerations should be
mentioned along with the many positive contributions of this book. The
discourse offered on page 120 regarding whether or not we should “love angels”
is not exegetically explained. Possibly there is some historical context in
which Augustine was writing that I am unaware but it seems strange indeed to
mention such an exchange and does appear out of place in this writing. The
Roman Catholic will find comfort in Augustine’s inclusion of apocryphal books
in the canon of scripture listed on page 134. This is of course troublesome for
the Protestant as well as his continuous use of apocryphal references
throughout the book as though they are as authoritative as scripture. There is
further canonical confusion when he claims the authors of the Septuagint “were
also divinely inspired in their translation” (210). He presses the issue by
stating they “appear to have said some things rather differently from the
original” (210) and the purpose of such was to “encourage the reader to
consecrate on searching out the spiritual sense” (210). A “divinely inspired”
Septuagint and this quest for “the spiritual sense” brings some level of
concern in the mind of this reader.
In his dealing with textual ambiguities
Augustine proposes “where, however, an ambiguity can be resolved neither by the
standard of faith nor by the actual context of the passage, there is no
objection to your phrasing it in any of the ways that are open to you” (170).
He continues, “the phrasing, therefore, of such ambiguities is left to the
discretion of the reader” (170). His appeal to the “standard of faith” and the
“context of the passage” is admirable but this reader would appreciate a
greater caution in handling ambiguous texts. History has shown us the varied
interpretations that develop when one is concerned more with what the Bible
does not prohibit than strict obedience to what it clearly prescribes. There is
a later warning that “this habit is risky” (186) and he cautions “it is really
much safer to walk along with the divine scriptures” (186) but when one
considers some of the imaginative interpretations of Augustine himself a
stronger caution would be helpful. Augustine’s tendencies toward interpretations
which border on the fanciful, such as the hyssop and the cross, are reasons for
a slight level of unease. I am willing to consider greater value in such an
approach but currently I am unable to see the exegetical basis for such.
Application
The introduction of this edition of Teaching Christianity includes some
helpful application in Edmund Hill’s summary of Augustine’s work. Hill includes
an insight from a sermon of Augustine’s from the gospel of John in which
Augustine speaks “of that moment in exegesis when the souls of the preacher and
believer meet through recollection and meditation” (56). He speaks of this kind
fellowship, “we have enjoyed a good deal of pleasure together, and we have been
built up” (56). This is the type of fellowship that every preacher should hope
for in his preaching. He also speaks of the importance of extemporaneous
preaching because “when our words are natural and spontaneous they manage to
make a deeper impression on the minds of others and to persuade them” (56). I
must agree that in my own experience the more extemporaneous the sermon is the
more connection there also is with the congregation.
There could be no greater application
than the reflections of enjoyment Augustine finds in the Trinity. His teaching
of “God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the ultimate thing to be enjoyed”
(108) will provide soul satisfaction for all who will embrace it. He says the
Trinity is the “one supreme thing” (108) which is not easily named so it is
better to say “that this Trinity is the one God from whom are all things, through whom all things, in whom all things (Rom.
11:36)” (108). Any Christian will find great joy in reflecting upon the depth
of Trinitarian unity. Each person, Father, Son, and Spirit are to be enjoyed
individually and there is joy in fellowship with each One. There is also
infinite joy in the tri-unity of this majestic transcendence of God. Augustine
speaks of the “supreme reward is that we should enjoy him and that all of us
who enjoy him should also enjoy one another in him” (122).
Augustine’s emphatic call to preacher’s
to be understood is particularly applicable. He says, “What is the point, after
all, of correctness of speech which the hearers are unable to follow and
understand, whom we are speaking to precisely in order that they may
understand?” (214) He urges the preacher to “avoid all words that do not in
fact teach” (214) and to choose words that will properly instruct the hearers.
He also calls the preacher to be faithful in prayer as he should be “a pray-er
before being a speaker” (218). These are examples of why Augustine’s writings
are so thoroughly beneficial to Christian ministry. He is forever practical. He
writes with the mind of a brilliant philosopher and the heart of a grounded
pastor. Augustine’s work reminds us that theology is always to be practical.
Conclusion
Teaching
Christianity is a
valuable resource in the mind of any Bible student. This contribution to
hermeneutics is more than a book on biblical interpretation. It is a book on
pastoral theology, philosophy of language, homiletics, and Christian devotion in
general. Augustine is well-rounded in his approach to “understanding” and
“putting forth” the truths of the Bible. Although some of his interpretative
practices are difficult for me to understand I must praise him for his help in
challenging me to dig deeper into the scriptures and his assistance in
communicating the scriptures better.
