Augustine and Philosophy by Cary Phillip; Doody John; Paffenroth Kim & John Doody & Kim Paffenroth

Author:Cary, Phillip; Doody, John; Paffenroth, Kim & John Doody & Kim Paffenroth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2010-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

And so the barking (latrent) has resumed. Something in the denials of the contradictores has deeply annoyed the bishop.

To get at that issue, we might begin with a brief inventory of the contradictores, and a survey of their differing objections.20 The first opponents he discusses at XII. xiv (17) are not really contradictores; they are straightforward enemies (hostes) of scripture. These are the Manichees.21 Since they reject the Old Testament, they are not exegetical interlocutors since too little is shared for contradiction. The second opponents then mentioned are those who do not despise Genesis but praise it.22 Yet they reject Augustine’s interpretation of it. This second group is the specific focus of his ire in the section just quoted above; they are the most annoying and damaging class of contradictores. Finally there is a third class of opponents: those with whom Augustine is pleased to debate about exegesis, for they accept all the insights that divine truth has spoken to his inner mind. These contradictores are the genial interlocutors of much of Book XII.23 Their alternative views on various points may indeed be correct, for there is no single, final interpretation of scripture. That position is enunciated at XII. xviii (27). God alone can be the arbiter in such matters. The common grounds of agreement for this exegetical discussion are iterated in detail at XII. xix (28). Those who have also been granted the inward insight for spiritual interpretation of scripture can come to see the deeper meanings of Moses who spoke with the spirit of truth.24 They may disagree with one another in their spiritual readings of scripture, but they share a common commitment to discovering a deeper truth. They may disagree on exactly what Moses intended, but they recognize that he wrote in veiled ways about a transcendent God.25 But those who have not had that deeper insight go so far as to deny such spiritual interpretations. And in doing so they deny—either directly or indirectly—that the transcendence of God can be found in scripture. These determined literalists are the hardened contradictores of Book XII.

This second class of contradictores is especially vexing: they accept scripture, yet their specific exegetical approach is sharply and critically opposed to his own. Why is Augustine so intensely negative in his treatment of them?26 Why doesn’t he just dismiss them as he does the Manichees? What is at stake here? The short answer is transcendence—which Augustine believes that he and Monica had encountered in an unmediated fashion at Ostia. These contradictores—the barkers—are seen by him to deny the validity of that claim by the literalism of their interpretation of Genesis. The critical point at issue is how to understand the word caelum in Genesis 1:1. In order to get at the core of this vexing dispute, we might now turn back to a consideration of Augustine’s overall project in Book XII and its theological significance. That will allow us to get some further perspective on these disputes.

The overt topic of Book XII is continuing exegesis of Genesis 1:1, concentrating on the meaning of caelum et terram.

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