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St. Augustine of Hippo
On Christian Doctrine

ScriptureVirtue

On Christian Doctrine

St. Augustine of Hippo · 397–426 AD

6h 40m read

Post-Nicene

Augustine's guide to interpreting Scripture and communicating Christian truth.

Table of Contents

1Containing a General View of the Subjects Treated in Holy Scripture 1The Interpretation of Scripture Depends on the Discovery and Enunciation of the Meaning, and is to Be Undertaken in Dependence on God’s Aid 2What a Thing Is, and What A Sign 3Some Things are for Use, Some for Enjoyment 4Difference of Use and Enjoyment 5The Trinity the True Object of Enjoyment 6In What Sense God is Ineffable 7What All Men Understand by the Term God 8God to Be Esteemed Above All Else, Because He is Unchangeable Wisdom 9All Acknowledge the Superiority of Unchangeable Wisdom to that Which is Variable 10To See God, the Soul Must Be Purified 11Wisdom Becoming Incarnate, a Pattern to Us of Purification 12In What Sense the Wisdom of God Came to Us 13The Word Was Made Flesh 14How the Wisdom of God Healed Man 15Faith is Buttressed by the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, and is Stimulated by His Coming to Judgment 16Christ Purges His Church by Medicinal Afflictions 17Christ, by Forgiving Our Sins, Opened the Way to Our Home 18The Keys Given to the Church 19Bodily and Spiritual Death and Resurrection 20The Resurrection to Damnation 21Neither Body Nor Soul Extinguished at Death 22God Alone to Be Enjoyed 23Man Needs No Injunction to Love Himself and His Own Body 24No Man Hates His Own Flesh, Not Even Those Who Abuse It 25A Man May Love Something More Than His Body, But Does Not Therefore Hate His Body 26The Command to Love God and Our Neighbor Includes a Command to Love Ourselves 27The Order of Love 28How We are to Decide Whom to Aid 29We are to Desire and Endeavor that All Men May Love God 30Whether Angels are to Be Reckoned Our Neighbors 31God Uses Rather Than Enjoys Us 32In What Way God Uses Man 33In What Way Man Should Be Enjoyed 34Christ the First Way to God 35The Fulfillment and End of Scripture is the Love of God and Our Neighbor 36That Interpretation of Scripture Which Builds Us Up in Love is Not Perniciously Deceptive Nor Mendacious, Even Though It Be Faulty. The Interpreter, However, Should Be Corrected 37Dangers of Mistaken Interpretation 38Love Never Faileth 39He Who is Mature in Faith, Hope and Love, Needs Scripture No Longer 40What Manner of Reader Scripture Demands 2Book II 1Signs, Their Nature and Variety 2Of the Kind of Signs We are Now Concerned with 3Among Signs, Words Hold the Chief Place 4Origin of Writing 5Scripture Translated into Various Languages 6Use of the Obscurities in Scripture Which Arise from Its Figurative Language 7Steps to Wisdom: First, Fear; Second, Piety; Third, Knowledge; Fourth, Resolution; Fifth, Counsel; Sixth, Purification of Heart; Seventh, Stop or Termination, Wisdom 8The Canonical Books 9How We Should Proceed in Studying Scripture 10Unknown or Ambiguous Signs Prevent Scripture from Being Understood 11Knowledge of Languages, Especially of Greek and Hebrew, Necessary to Remove Ignorance or Signs 12A Diversity of Interpretations is Useful. Errors Arising from Ambiguous Words 13How Faulty Interpretations Can Be Emended 14How the Meaning of Unknown Words and Idioms is to Be Discovered 15Among Versions a Preference is Given to the Septuagint and the Itala 16The Knowledge Both of Language and Things is Helpful for the Understanding of Figurative Expressions 17Origin of the Legend of the Nine Muses 18No Help is to Be Despised, Even Though It Come from a Profane Source 19Two Kinds Of Heathen Knowledge 20The Superstitious Nature of Human Institutions 21Superstition of Astrologers 22The Folly of Observing the Stars in Order to Predict the Events of a Life 23Why We Repudiate Arts of Divination 24The Intercourse and Agreement with Demons Which Superstitious Observances Maintain 25In Human Institutions Which are Not Superstitious, There are Some Things Superfluous and Some Convenient and Necessary 26What Human Contrivances We are to Adopt, and What We are to Avoid 27Some Departments of Knowledge, Not of Mere Human Invention, Aid Us in Interpreting Scripture 28To What Extent History is an Aid 29To What Extent Natural Science is an Exegetical Aid 30What the Mechanical Arts Contribute to Exegetics 31Use of Dialectics. Of Fallacies 32Valid Logical Sequence is Not Devised But Only Observed by Man 33False Inferences May Be Drawn from Valid Reasonings, and Vice Versa 34It is One Thing to Know the Laws of Inference, Another to Know the Truth of Opinions 35The Science of Definition is Not False, Though It May Be Applied to Falsities 36The Rules of Eloquence are True, Though Sometimes Used to Persuade Men of What is False 37Use of Rhetoric and Dialectic 38The Science of Numbers Not Created, But Only Discovered, by Man 39To Which of the Above-Mentioned Studies Attention Should Be Given, and in What Spirit 40Whatever Has Been Rightly Said by the Heathen, We Must Appropriate to Our Uses 41What Kind of Spirit is Required for the Study of Holy Scripture 42Sacred Scripture Compared with Profane Authors 3Book III 1Summary of the Foregoing Books, and Scope of that Which Follows 2Rule for Removing Ambiguity by Attending to Punctuation 3How Pronunciation Serves to Remove Ambiguity. Different Kinds of Interrogation 4How Ambiguities May Be Solved 5It is a Wretched Slavery Which Takes the Figurative Expressions of Scripture in a Literal Sense 6Utility of the Bondage of the Jews 7The Useless Bondage of the Gentiles 8The Jews Liberated from Their Bondage in One Way, the Gentiles in Another 9Who is in Bondage to Signs, and Who Not 10How We are to Discern Whether a Phrase is Figurative 11Rule for Interpreting Phrases Which Seem to Ascribe Severity to God and the Saints 12Rule for Interpreting Those Sayings and Actions Which are Ascribed to God and the Saints, and Which Yet Seem to the Unskillful to Be Wicked 13Same Subject, Continued 14Error of Those Who Think that There is No Absolute Right and Wrong 15Rule for Interpreting Figurative Expressions 16Rule for Interpreting Commands and Prohibitions 17Some Commands are Given to All in Common, Others to Particular Classes 18We Must Take into Consideration the Time at Which Anything Was Enjoyed or Allowed 19Wicked Men Judge Others by Themselves 20Consistency of Good Men in All Outward Circumstances 21David Not Lustful, Though He Fell into Adultery 22Rule Regarding Passages of Scripture in Which Approval is Expressed of Actions Which are Now Condemned by Good Men 23Rule Regarding the Narrative of Sins of Great Men 24The Character of the Expressions Used is Above All to Have Weight 25The Same Word Does Not Always Signify the Same Thing 26Obscure Passages are to Be Interpreted by Those Which are Clearer 27One Passage Susceptible of Various Interpretations 28It is Safer to Explain a Doubtful Passage by Other Passages of Scripture Than by Reason 29The Knowledge of Tropes is Necessary 30The Rules of Tichonius the Donatist Examined 31The First Rule of Tichonius 32The Second Rule of Tichonius 33The Third Rule of Tichonius 34The Fourth Rule of Tichonius 35The Fifth Rule of Tichonius 36The Sixth Rule of Tichonius 37The Seventh Rule of Tichonius 4Book IV 1This Work Not Intended as a Treatise on Rhetoric 2It is Lawful for a Christian Teacher to Use the Art of Rhetoric 3The Proper Age and the Proper Means for Acquiring Rhetorical Skill 4The Duty of the Christian Teacher 5Wisdom of More Importance Than Eloquence to the Christian Teacher 6The Sacred Writers Unite Eloquence with Wisdom 7Examples of True Eloquence Drawn from the Epistles of Paul and the Prophecies of Amos 8The Obscurity of the Sacred Writers, Though Compatible with Eloquence, Not to Be Imitated by Christian Teachers 9How, and with Whom, Difficult Passages are to Be Discussed 10The Necessity for Perspicuity of Style 11The Christian Teacher Must Speak Clearly, But Not Inelegantly 12The Aim of the Orator, According to Cicero, is to Teach, to Delight, and to Move. Of These, Teaching is the Most Essential 13The Hearer Must Be Moved as Well as Instructed 14Beauty of Diction to Be in Keeping with the Matter 15The Christian Teacher Should Pray Before Preaching 16Human Directions Not to Be Despised, Though God Makes the True Teacher 17Threefold Division of The Various Styles of Speech 18The Christian Orator is Constantly Dealing with Great Matters 19The Christian Teacher Must Use Different Styles on Different Occasions 20Examples of the Various Styles Drawn from Scripture 21Examples of the Various Styles, Drawn from the Teachers of the Church, Especially Ambrose and Cyprian 22The Necessity of Variety in Style 23How the Various Styles Should Be Mingled 24The Effects Produced by the Majestic Style 25How the Temperate Style is to Be Used 26In Every Style the Orator Should Aim at Perspicuity, Beauty, and Persuasiveness 27The Man Whose Life is in Harmony with His Teaching Will Teach with Greater Effect 28Truth is More Important Than Expression. What is Meant by Strife About Words 29It is Permissible for a Preacher to Deliver to the People What Has Been Written by a More Eloquent Man Than Himself 30The Preacher Should Commence His Discourse with Prayer to God 31Apology for the Length of the Work