"The Letter Killeth": Redeeming Time in Augustine's Understanding of the Authority of Scripture (Studia Traditionis Theologiae, 51)

'The experience of time is always momentous and stimulating to Augustine's theological reflection. This book asserts that even Augustine's concept of the authority of Scripture was embedded in his awareness of time. This "awareness" was rooted in the tension between the "already" and "not yet" of the "last days" that permeated the entire New Testament theological outlook. This does not mean that it is reflections on time that is the determining feature of a particular complex debate, or the origin of a particular work in Augustine's corpus. However, this work argues that "time" is a factor which needs to be taken into greater account than scholarship heretofore has done. Accordingly, the author specifically delineates how Augustine's experience of time as a living, ongoing and creative tension critically determined his theological stances towards scriptural authority. The book shows how Augustine's awareness of this temporal tension was roused by the acceptance of his own temporality and creaturehood which brings to the fore the importance of the incarnate Christ. Exploring how Augustine and his contemporaries grappled with the existential implications of this tension in time, this work asserts that the authority of Scripture is not the authority of "the Book" in the modern sense but is related to more complicated sources of authority that are linked to this specific notion of time.' -- Provided by publisher Table of Contents 4 Preface 9 Abbreviations 11 1. Abbreviations for Biblical Materials 11 2. Other abbreviations 11 3. References to the works of Augustine 13 Introduction 15 Timeless Word and Words in Time 16 Methodological Considerations 20 Outline of the Work 27 Chapter 1: “... Nisi me catholicae ecclesiae conmoueret auctoritas” 29 Authority, Tradition and Time 29 1. Authority in Common Parlance Today 29 2. Authority in Antiquity 33 3. Tension of “the Time” in Aureum Saeculum and Consummatio Saeculi 36 4. Trado and the Adaptation of Auctoritas in the Early Church 40 5. After Tempora Christiana: Devolution of Traditions and Authority 43 Concluding Remarks 45 Chapter 2: “Si quam dubitationem attulerit latinorum interpretum infinita uarietas” 47 Physical Evolution of the Scriptures and its Theological Implications 47 1. Vetus Latina — A Brief Sketch of Augustine’s “Common Edition” of the Scriptures 48 2. The Septuagint, Vetus Latina and Hebraica Veritas 50 3. The Vetus Latina and Traditions of the Church Regarding the Septuagint 53 4. Emergence of the “New Testament” and the Notion of a “Complete Canon” 55 Concluding Remarks 61 Chapter 3: “Our Hearts are Restless until they Rest in You” 63 The Longing for the Fullness of Time in the Confessiones 63 1. The Ambivalence of Authorities in Augustine 63 2. Augustine’s Tryst with the Authority of Scripture 65 3. Discerning the Principle behind the Authority of Scripture 69 4. Implications of Ambrose’s Principle in Augustine’s Reading of the Scriptures 71 Concluding Remarks 77 Chapter 4: “Exercet autem hoc tempore et purgat” 79 Discerning the Signs of the Time in the De doctrina Christiana 79 1. Tyconius and the Socio-Political and Religious Context of the “Donatist” Controversy 80 2. Discerning the Underlying Theological Issue in the “Complex” Donatist Controversy 84 3. Engaging Tyconius’s Liber Regularum in the De doctrina Christiana 86 4. Fitting Tyconius’s Liber Regularum into Augustine’s Wider Exegetical Concerns 92 Concluding Remarks 94 Chapter 5: “Instead of doing what I had asked you, you thought up a new argument” 97 The Emergence of Paul in the Correspondence between Augustine and Jerome 97 1. The “Great Prefaces” to the Correspondence 98 2. Jerome and the Notions of Authority in the Correspondence 102 3. Augustine and the Notion of Scriptural Authority in the Correspondence 107 4. From Signa to Res in the “New Argument” 109 5. Humility, Caritas and Authority 113 Concluding Remarks 115 Chapter 6: “Ea ipsa est simplex fides, qua credimus” 117 Retrieving Paul Through the Book of Genesis 117 1. “Paul” of the Manicheans 118 2. Augustine’s Early Responses to the Manicheans 123 3. Retrieving Paul through the Book of Genesis 128 Concluding Remarks 140 Chapter 7: “There we shall rest and see” 143 Beyond “Time” and “the Authority of Scripture” in the De Civitate Dei 143 1. “Rome” as an Ideological Construct 144 2. “Eternal Rome” in the “Collective” and “Personal” Memories: Reading Confessiones as a Subversive Literary Device 147 3. Of Heroes and Martyrs, Guardians and Sanctuaries: Interrogating Rome via Milan 152 4. What is Time? Discerning the Authority of Scripture in the De civitate Dei 158 Concluding Remarks 166 Chapter 8: Not “Perfection” but “Progress towards the Better” 169 The Retractationes as the Epitome of Crede ut Intellegas 169 1. The Indispensability of the Scriptures 171 2. The Human Aspects of the Scriptures 172 3. Retractationes as the Epitome of Crede ut Intellegas — The Theological Basis and Implications of “Progress towards the Better” in Augustine’s Scriptural Odyssey 173 4. Beyond time, beyond “the Authority of Scripture” 177 Conclusions 177 Bibliography 181 1. Ancient sources 181 2. Modern Authors 184 Indices 203 1. Index of Scriptures 203 2. Index of the Works of Augustine 206 3. Index of Other Ancient Authors 212 4. Index of Modern Authors 214