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On Christian Doctrine

St Augustine of Hippo · trans. J. F. Shaw (NPNF, 1887)

This work is presented in 5 parts. Start reading

Contents

Preface
Book I
The Interpretation of Scripture Depends on the Discovery and Enunciation of the Meaning, and is to Be…
What a Thing Is, and What A Sign.
Some Things are for Use, Some for Enjoyment.
Difference of Use and Enjoyment.
The Trinity the True Object of Enjoyment.
In What Sense God is Ineffable.
What All Men Understand by the Term God.
God to Be Esteemed Above All Else, Because He is Unchangeable Wisdom.
All Acknowledge the Superiority of Unchangeable Wisdom to that Which is Variable.
To See God, the Soul Must Be Purified.
Wisdom Becoming Incarnate, a Pattern to Us of Purification.
In What Sense the Wisdom of God Came to Us.
The Word Was Made Flesh.
How the Wisdom of God Healed Man.
Faith is Buttressed by the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, and is Stimulated by His Coming to Judgment.
Christ Purges His Church by Medicinal Afflictions.
Christ, by Forgiving Our Sins, Opened the Way to Our Home.
The Keys Given to the Church.
Bodily and Spiritual Death and Resurrection.
The Resurrection to Damnation.
Neither Body Nor Soul Extinguished at Death.
God Alone to Be Enjoyed.
Man Needs No Injunction to Love Himself and His Own Body.
No Man Hates His Own Flesh, Not Even Those Who Abuse It.
A Man May Love Something More Than His Body, But Does Not Therefore Hate His Body.
The Command to Love God and Our Neighbor Includes a Command to Love Ourselves.
The Order of Love.
How We are to Decide Whom to Aid.
We are to Desire and Endeavor that All Men May Love God.
Whether Angels are to Be Reckoned Our Neighbors.
God Uses Rather Than Enjoys Us.
In What Way God Uses Man.
In What Way Man Should Be Enjoyed.
Christ the First Way to God.
The Fulfillment and End of Scripture is the Love of God and Our Neighbor.
That Interpretation of Scripture Which Builds Us Up in Love is Not Perniciously Deceptive Nor…
Dangers of Mistaken Interpretation.
Love Never Faileth.
He Who is Mature in Faith, Hope and Love, Needs Scripture No Longer.
What Manner of Reader Scripture Demands.
Book II
Signs, Their Nature and Variety.
Of the Kind of Signs We are Now Concerned with.
Among Signs, Words Hold the Chief Place.
Origin of Writing.
Scripture Translated into Various Languages.
Use of the Obscurities in Scripture Which Arise from Its Figurative Language.
Steps to Wisdom: First, Fear; Second, Piety; Third, Knowledge; Fourth, Resolution; Fifth, Counsel;…
The Canonical Books.
How We Should Proceed in Studying Scripture.
Unknown or Ambiguous Signs Prevent Scripture from Being Understood.
Knowledge of Languages, Especially of Greek and Hebrew, Necessary to Remove Ignorance or Signs.
A Diversity of Interpretations is Useful. Errors Arising from Ambiguous Words.
How Faulty Interpretations Can Be Emended.
How the Meaning of Unknown Words and Idioms is to Be Discovered.
Among Versions a Preference is Given to the Septuagint and the Itala.
The Knowledge Both of Language and Things is Helpful for the Understanding of Figurative Expressions.
Origin of the Legend of the Nine Muses.
No Help is to Be Despised, Even Though It Come from a Profane Source.
Two Kinds Of Heathen Knowledge.
The Superstitious Nature of Human Institutions.
Superstition of Astrologers.
The Folly of Observing the Stars in Order to Predict the Events of a Life.
Why We Repudiate Arts of Divination.
The Intercourse and Agreement with Demons Which Superstitious Observances Maintain.
In Human Institutions Which are Not Superstitious, There are Some Things Superfluous and Some Convenient…
What Human Contrivances We are to Adopt, and What We are to Avoid.
Some Departments of Knowledge, Not of Mere Human Invention, Aid Us in Interpreting Scripture.
To What Extent History is an Aid.
To What Extent Natural Science is an Exegetical Aid.
What the Mechanical Arts Contribute to Exegetics.
Use of Dialectics. Of Fallacies.
Valid Logical Sequence is Not Devised But Only Observed by Man.
False Inferences May Be Drawn from Valid Reasonings, and Vice Versa.
It is One Thing to Know the Laws of Inference, Another to Know the Truth of Opinions.
The Science of Definition is Not False, Though It May Be Applied to Falsities.
The Rules of Eloquence are True, Though Sometimes Used to Persuade Men of What is False.
Use of Rhetoric and Dialectic.
The Science of Numbers Not Created, But Only Discovered, by Man.
To Which of the Above-Mentioned Studies Attention Should Be Given, and in What Spirit.
Whatever Has Been Rightly Said by the Heathen, We Must Appropriate to Our Uses.
What Kind of Spirit is Required for the Study of Holy Scripture.
Sacred Scripture Compared with Profane Authors.
Book III
Summary of the Foregoing Books, and Scope of that Which Follows.
Rule for Removing Ambiguity by Attending to Punctuation.
How Pronunciation Serves to Remove Ambiguity. Different Kinds of Interrogation.
How Ambiguities May Be Solved.
It is a Wretched Slavery Which Takes the Figurative Expressions of Scripture in a Literal Sense.
Utility of the Bondage of the Jews.
The Useless Bondage of the Gentiles.
The Jews Liberated from Their Bondage in One Way, the Gentiles in Another.
Who is in Bondage to Signs, and Who Not.
How We are to Discern Whether a Phrase is Figurative.
Rule for Interpreting Phrases Which Seem to Ascribe Severity to God and the Saints.
Rule for Interpreting Those Sayings and Actions Which are Ascribed to God and the Saints, and Which Yet…
Same Subject, Continued.
Error of Those Who Think that There is No Absolute Right and Wrong.
Rule for Interpreting Figurative Expressions.
Rule for Interpreting Commands and Prohibitions.
Some Commands are Given to All in Common, Others to Particular Classes.
We Must Take into Consideration the Time at Which Anything Was Enjoyed or Allowed.
Wicked Men Judge Others by Themselves.
Consistency of Good Men in All Outward Circumstances.
David Not Lustful, Though He Fell into Adultery.
Rule Regarding Passages of Scripture in Which Approval is Expressed of Actions Which are Now Condemned…
Rule Regarding the Narrative of Sins of Great Men.
The Character of the Expressions Used is Above All to Have Weight.
The Same Word Does Not Always Signify the Same Thing.
Obscure Passages are to Be Interpreted by Those Which are Clearer.
One Passage Susceptible of Various Interpretations.
It is Safer to Explain a Doubtful Passage by Other Passages of Scripture Than by Reason.
The Knowledge of Tropes is Necessary.
The Rules of Tichonius the Donatist Examined.
The First Rule of Tichonius.
The Second Rule of Tichonius.
The Third Rule of Tichonius.
The Fourth Rule of Tichonius.
The Fifth Rule of Tichonius.
The Sixth Rule of Tichonius.
The Seventh Rule of Tichonius.
Book IV
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 8.—The Obscurity of the Sacred Writers, Though Compatible with Eloquence, Not to Be Imitated by…
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 12.—The Aim of the Orator, According to Cicero, is to Teach, to Delight, and to Move. Of These,…
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 21.—Examples of the Various Styles, Drawn from the Teachers of the Church, Especially Ambrose…
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 29.—It is Permissible for a Preacher to Deliver to the People What Has Been Written by a More…
Chapter 30.—The Preacher Should Commence His Discourse with Prayer to God.
Chapter 31.—Apology for the Length of the Work.

Source & edition

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 1st series, vol. 2, ed. Philip Schaff (Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887). Public domain (published before 1931).

Digital text: CCEL. Footnotes are omitted for readability. Books I–III from CCEL; Book IV (missing from CCEL’s edition) from the Wikisource transcription of the same NPNF volume.

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