Rethinking Augustine's Early Theology: An Argument for Continuity

347 Pages·2006·1.5 MB·English

by  Carol Harrison

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© Copyright Oxford University Press, 2006. All Rights Reserved
Harrison, Carol , Lecturer in the History and Theology of the Latin West, University of Durham
Rethinking Augustine's Early Theology
An Argument for Continuity
Publication date 2006 (this edition)
Print ISBN-10: 0-19-928166-1
Print ISBN-13: 978-0-19-928166-4
doi:10.1093/0199281661.001.0001

Abstract: Having been at the centre of a century long debate which cast doubt on
the nature of Augustine's conversion, one might assume that Augustine's early
works (386-96) have now been rescued and given their rightful place. This book suggests that
these are now threatened by an equally destructive trend in Augustine scholarship, which,
over the last fifty years, has become an almost unquestioned norm of interpretation. This is
the idea, fatefully and poignantly depicted by Peter Brown in the chapter of his seminal
biography entitled The Lost Future, that the early optimistic and philosophical Augustine was
dramatically transformed into the mature, pessimistic theologian of the Fall, original sin, and
grace by his reading of Paul in the mid-390s. This interpretation of the first decade of
Augustine's life has since become such an idée fixe in scholarly as well as popular accounts,
leaving two very different Augustines: one, the young convert, fired to pursue Wisdom by an
optimistic confidence in the rational disciplines of the liberal arts, human free will, and a
glorious ideal of perfection; the other, the older and wiser bishop of Hippo, convinced of
human fallen ness and of the need for grace to will or to do any good work. This book argues
that in order to do justice to Augustine's conversion, to his early theology and understanding
of the Christian life, and to the early works themselves, such caricatures must be resisted. It
seeks to demonstrate that there is a fundamental continuity in Augustine's thought, which
does not undergo any dramatic change when he re-reads Paul in the 390s; that there is only
one Augustine, for whom human weakness and divine grace were the central axes of his
Christian faith and life from the very beginning.
Keywords: Augustine of Hippo, the Fall, original Sin, grace, continuity, will,
conversion
Table of Contents
Preface
Part One
1. The Context
This chapter considers the biographical, historical, and theological context of Augustine's early
works (386-96). It outlines the way in which these works have been read in scholarly debates
over the last hundred years, demonstrating that they have generally been marginalised as the
rather obsolete philosophical investigatons of a new, somewhat naïve, over-optimistic convert, still
entrenched in the classical tradition of belief in human free will and perfectibility. These have
generally been contrasted with the later, mature works of Augustine — the pessimistic theologian
of the Fall, original sin, and human dependence upon divine grace. It considers Peter Brown's
analysis of the revolutionary transformation of the early into the later Augustine following his
reading of Paul in the 390s, and sets out the argument of the book: that there is no discontinuity
or revolutionary transformation of the early into the later Augustine, but rather a fundamental
continuity between the two.

2. The Revolution of 386
This chapter argues that Augustine's conversion in 386 is not a radically different conversion from
the one he recounts in Confessiones 8: that if one is to speak of a 'revolution' in his thought, it is
not to be found in his reading of Paul in the 390s, but in his reading of the 'books of the Platonists'
in 386, and his discovery in them of a doctrine of God's transcendence which freed him from the
materialistic philosophies that had hitherto made it impossible for him to embrace the Christian
faith to which he had always sought to be reconciled.
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3. Ascent (and Descent)
The 'revolution' in Augustine's thought effected by his reading of the Platonists in 386 led to two
seemingly antithetical emphases: a philosophical emphasis on the immutable, eternal,
incorruptible God who must be sought by moving away from bodily, temporal, mutable reality on
the one hand; and a thoroughly Christian emphasis on the Creator God who has drawn human
beings from nothing, and upon their absolute contingency upon Him on the other. It is argued that
Augustine's early thought can only be rightly understood when it is seen within the creative
tension set up by these two apparently polarized ideas, and that it is here that his characteristic
theology of a transcendent Creator and of fallen humanity's complete and absolute dependence
upon Him emerges. This chapter focuses on the 'philosophical emphasis' by elucidating
Augustine's early arguments for Christianity as the 'true philosophy', the various ways in which
Augustine describes the ascent of the soul to God, the relation between faith (authority) and
reason, and by comparing the early Soliloquia and Confessiones 10. It demonstrates that his
'philosophical' reflection is fundamentally and intrinsically Christian.

4. Creation from Nothing
This chapter examines one of the central features of Augustine's early works which sets them
apart from philosophical reflection, and provides the foundation for his early formulation of this
'mature' grasp of the faith: the idea of 'creation from nothing' — creatio ex nihilo. It demonstrates
that what has been described as Augustine's early 'Christian philosophy' was never less than fully
integrated into his faith in a Trinitarian God, who forms human beings from nothing, reforms them
through the incarnation, and inspires in them love and delight through the Holy Spirit. It argues
that he never shared the classical ideal of human autonomy and self-determination to attain
perfection, but that he was always acutely conscious of human beings' created dependence upon
God's grace.

5. Paul
This chapter argues that Augustine's attempts at interpreting Paul in the mid 390s, culminating in
the Ad Simplicianum, must not be read as representing a dramatic break with earlier ideas of
human autonomy and the ability of the will to freely choose the good without divine help, but as
affirming what he had always held: fallen humanity's complete and utter dependence upon God's
grace to know, will, and do the good. It demonstrates that his suggestion in the Propositiones —
that the free choice of faith is to be counted as a merit which is rewarded by grace — is
uncharacteristic of either his earlier or later thought. By considering other works written at the
same time (such as the Enarrationes in Psalmos), it is shown that there is a fundamental
continuity in his approach to these difficult questions from the very beginning.

Part Two
6. The Fall
This chapter examines the various ways in which Augustine talks about human fallenness and sin
in the early works, and how these relate both to this understanding of creation from nothing and
to the Fall of Adam and Eve. It considers how far 'original sin' can be legitimately spoken of in
these works, and concludes that its characteristic features — human solidarity in Adam's sin,
ignorance and difficulty in willing, the role of habit, concupiscence and inability to do the good
without grace — shape Augustine's understanding from the beginning.

7. The Will
This chapter argues against scholars' interpretations of books one to three of Augustine's work, On
Free Will. Namely, scholars who view book one as revealing Augustine's early, optimistic estimate
of the freedom and ability of the will, and books two and three as betraying the later bishop's
pessimistic conviction of the fallen will's inability to do anything but sin without grace. It is argued
that this work should be read as a unified piece. Book one sets out a theoretical picture of the
freedom and ability of the will which was only possessed by Adam, while books two and three
reflect on the ignorance and difficulty which characterize its operation after the Fall. Augustine's
own later comments on the work, as well as other works written at the same time, are examined
in order to support this interpretation.

8. Grace
This final chapter draws together the arguments discussed in the preceding chapters to build an
overall picture of how Augustine describes the operation of grace in his early works, and to
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address some of the more contentious issues which have risen for scholars concerning its mode of
operation. It examines Augustine's early teaching on grace in relation to his reflection on divine
providence, divine admonition, Christology, the role of delight, and its inspiration by the Holy
Spirit, thereby demonstrating that he was always anti-Pelagian and always thoroughly
'Augustinian'.

Bibliography
Index
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Harrison, Carol , Lecturer in the History and Theology of the Latin West, University of Durham
Rethinking Augustine's Early Theology
Print ISBN 0199281661, 2006
pp. [vi]
Preface and Acknowledgements
This book has been niggling away at the back of my mind for a long time.
The more I read and teach Augustine, the more I am uneasy with the way he
is usually presented—through the Confessions, and through Peter Brown's
biography. Both are, of course, sublimely compelling, seductive
masterpieces, and have rightly exercised a magnetic attraction. In this
respect, Augustine scholars have been thoroughly spoiled.
But what of Augustine the new convert? This is a question which no
Augustine scholar, however much he or she might wish, has been able to
avoid over the past century or so, and I have no doubt that it is with a
certain relief that, having satisfactorily resolved the questions and doubts
which have been raised, the world of Augustine scholarship has moved on,
with a collective sigh of relief, to more inviting pastures. It seems that
almost everyone is now content to identify the young Augustine as fully
Catholic and Christian—albeit a rather naive, optimistic, somewhat
intellectual type of Christian—and feels confident that in beginning with the
Confessions they are beginning with the Augustine—the one we all know and
identify as Augustine—the Augustine of the Fall, original sin, and grace. I am
therefore conscious that in returning to the early works—yet again—this
book is going to upset a now well-established, comfortable, and convenient
scholarly consensus. My excuse is that, the more I encounter this
consensus—and it is everywhere; in almost every book, article, and paper
one reads on Augustine—I am more and more persuaded that, as a result of
it, the early works have effectively been written off: if the mature Augustine
only really emerges in the mid-390s, when his early naivety and optimism
were finally flattened by the landslide which his exposure to Pauline theology
dramatically precipitated in his thought, then it is inevitably the case that it
does not seem worth searching in the rubble that has fallen for anything of
value. The early Augustine has been well and truly flattened, demolished,
and obliterated by the 'Pauline revolution'. It is this interpretation of the first
decade of his work—one which I think is now almost universally
followed—which I would like to question. I do not think the Augustine of the
early works, even the works he wrote on retreat at Cassiciacum immediately
after his conversion, is another, recognizably different and alien person, to
the bishop of Hippo. There is a clear continuity between Augustine the new
convert and Augustine the new bishop which I think has been ignored and
which it is the purpose of this book to identify—not least, I want to question
the real
end p.vi
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Harrison, Carol , Lecturer in the History and Theology of the Latin West, University of Durham
Rethinking Augustine's Early Theology
Print ISBN 0199281661, 2006
pp. [vii]
significance of Augustine's reading of Paul in the mid-390s. In developing my
case, I am conscious that—despite the best efforts of those who have read
earlier drafts of this book—I may, at times, have overstated it and failed to
allow for the new convert to evolve into the new bishop; that I may have
foisted too much of the later Augustine on the young Augustine's shoulders.
It has sometimes been difficult to maintain balance walking the tightrope of
Augustine scholarship when it seems always to lead in a direction I do not
think it should go! I would therefore ask the gentle reader to allow for these
overzealous and overconfident excesses and to try to remain sympathetic to
the overall argument.
I am also conscious that, in the course of writing this book, and in the
process of arguing against an interpretation that is almost universally
accepted, I have trodden on a lot of toes. They are toes which I
respect—very distinguished, erudite toes—and this makes it all the worse. I
live in the hope that my blundering will be excused and that those who have
borne the brunt of my clumsy footwork will not take it personally.
Throughout the work, Bible references are given to the text of the Latin
Vulgate. English and French translations of cited works have been consulted,
and modified where necessary.
Many colleagues have been a help, an inspiration, and an encouragement. I
would like to thank especially Michael Cameron, David Hunter, Mathijs
Lamberigts, Andrew Louth (who is also my husband), Robin Lane Fox, Robert
Markus, Thomas Martin, and Marlene Verschoren. My thanks are also due to
the anonymous reader for OUP who made some very valuable suggestions
and saved me from making a big mistake with my dating of the Enarrationes
in Psalmos. Lewis Ayres was unmasked as the other reader and with
immense patience, learning, and care has commented on each chapter as it
has been written. I have greatly appreciated his company along the way and
hope he will not be too disappointed that some of his sage words of warning
have not been heeded (he will no doubt find them being repeated in the
reviews!). Allan Fitzgerald has also been an unfailing source of
encouragement and wise criticism ever since this book was first suggested in
a small paper for the Oxford Patristics Conference in 1995. He has
generously given of his time and learning, lending his valuable support to my
application for research leave, and in reading the entire draft manuscript.
I would also like to thank my colleagues in the Department of Theology and
Religion, in Durham, who have taken on the burden of covering for my
absence during research leave with tremendously good grace, and who have
always been supportive of, and interested in, my work. Thanks too, to
Augustine Casiday, for taking over my teaching during this time (it was
reassuring and amusing to think that Augustine was taking my Augustine
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Rethinking Augustine's Early Theology
Print ISBN 0199281661, 2006
pp. [viii]
and his Age course!). I must also thank my students for making sure my
grey cells still function and for being so enthusiastic and appreciative. They
have been a constant source of thought-provoking ideas.
My thanks are owed to the Arts and Humanities Research Board for a
three-month period of research leave in 2004 which their funding made
possible. I also thank the Vatican Museums for their kind permission to use
the illustration which appears on the jacket.
Lucy Qureshi, my editor at OUP, has been a wonderful source of advice,
encouragement and help, whenever it was needed, and I am deeply grateful
to her for this.
Finally, there is one scholar who has blazed the trail which this book
attempts to follow, who has been a voice in the wilderness, and who alone
has long argued for its central thesis: Goulven Madec. I hope he will not
mind that I have invaded his desert island and invited others there too.
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Harrison, Carol , Lecturer in the History and Theology of the Latin West, University of Durham
Rethinking Augustine's Early Theology
Print ISBN 0199281661, 2006
pp. [ix]
Contents
List of Abbreviations
PART ONE
1. The Context 3
2. The Revolution of 386 20
3. Ascent (and Descent) 35
4. Creation from Nothing 74
5. Paul 115
Part Two
6. The Fall 167
7. The Will 198
8. Grace 238
Bibliography 288
Index 297
end p.ix
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Harrison, Carol , Lecturer in the History and Theology of the Latin West, University of Durham
Rethinking Augustine's Early Theology
Print ISBN 0199281661, 2006
pp. [xii]
The following table is based on the one which appears in Fitzgerald
1999
Latin
Abbrev. Latin Title English Title Translations
Editions
Against the PL 32; CSEL FC 1; ACW 12; WSA
Acad. Contra Academicos
Academics 63; CCL 29 I.3
PL 32; CSEL FC 1; PS 72; WSA
b. uita De beata uita On the Happy Life
63; CCL 29 I.3
De catechizandis On Teaching the PL 40; CCL ACW2; NPNF 3; WSA
cat. Rud.
rudibus Uninstructed 46 I.10
PL 41; CSEL
FC 8.14.24; NPNF 2
ciu. De ciuitate Dei City of God 40; CCL
WSA I.1
47-48
PL 32; CSEL NPNF 1; WSA I.1;
conf. Confessiones Confessions
33; CCL 27 Chadwick 1991
diu. qu. De diuersis quaestion- On Eighty-Three PL 40; CCL
FC 70; WSA I.12
83 ibus 83 different questions46
De Doctrina On Christian PL 34; CSEL
doc. Chr. WSA I.11
Christiana Doctrine 80
duab. PL 42; CSEL
De duabus animabus On Two Souls NPNF 4; WSA I.19
An. 25
Enarrationes in Enarrations on the PL 36-37; ACW 29-30; NPNF 8
en. Ps.
Psalmos Psalms CCL 38-40 WSA III.14-17
PL 33; CSEL FC 12, 18, 20, 30,
ep. Epistulae Letters 34, 44, 57, 32; NPNF 1; WSA
58, 88. II.1-3
Unfinished WSA 1.17;
ep. Rm. Epistulae ad Romanos PL 35; CSEL
Commentary on Fredriksen-Landes
Inch. inchoata expositio 84
Romans 1982
Expositio quarundam Commentary on
ex. prop. PL 35; CSEL
propositionum ex Statements from WSA I.17
Rm. 84
epistula ad Romanos Romans
fid. et On Faith and the PL 40; CSEL FC.27; LCC 6; NPNF
De fide et symbolo
sym. Creed 41 3 WSA I.8
Commentary on
Expositio Epistulae ad PL 35; CSEL Plumer 2003; WSA
ex. Gal. the Epistle to the
Galatas 84 I.17
Galatians
Debate with
Acta contra PL42; CSEL
c. Fort Fortunatus the NPNF 4; WSA I.19
Fortunatum 25.1
Manichee
On the Literal
PL 34; CSEL ACW 41-42; WSA
Gn. Litt De Genesi ad LitteramInterpretation of
28.1 I.23
Genesis
On the Literal
Gn. litt. De Genesi ad litteram Interpretation of PL 34; CSEL FC 84; ACW 41-42
Imp. imperfectus liber Genesis, 28.1 WSA I.13
unfinished
FC
On Genesis
Gn. adu. De Genesi aduersus PL 34; CSEL 84;
against the
Man. Manicheos 91 WSA
Manichees
I.13
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On the
De immortalitate PL32; CSEL
imm. An. Immortality of the FC 2; WSA I.3
animae 89
soul
FC 78, 79, 88, 90,
Jo. eu. In Johannis Tractates on the PL35; CCL
92; NPNF 4; WSA
Tr. euangelium Tractatus Gospel of John 36
III.12
c. Jul. Contra Julianum Against Julian PL44 FC 35; WSA I.24
c. Jul. Contra Julianum opus Against Julian, PL 45; CSEL
WSA I.3
imp. imperfectum unfinished 85.1
PL 32;
lib. Arb. De libero arbitrio On Free Will CEWL 74; ACW 22; WSA I.3
CCL 29
PL 32; CSEL
LCC 6; ACW 9; WSA
mag. De Magistro The Teacher 77.1; CCL
I.3
29
PL 40; CSEL
mend. De mendacio On Lying FC16; WSA I.10
41
PL 40; CSEL FC 16; NPNF 2; WSA
c. mend. Contra mendacium Against Lying
41 I.10
De moribus ecclesiae
On the Catholic
Catholicae et de PL 32; CSEL FC 56; NPNF 4; WSA
mor. and Manichaean
moribus 90 I.19
Ways of Life
Manichaeorum
mus. De musica On Music PL32 FC 2; WSA I.3
On the Nature of PL32; CSEL LCC 6; NPNF 4; WSA
nat.b. De natura boni
the Good 25.2 I.19
PL32; CSEL
ord. De ordine On Order FC 1; WSA I.3
63; CCL 29
On the
praed. De praedestinatione FC 86; NPNF 5; WSA
Predestination of PL44
Sanct. sanctorum I.26
the Saints
On the Greatness PL 32; CSEL FC 2; ACW 9; WSA
quant. De quantitate animae
of the soul 89 I.4
PL 32; CSEL
retr. Retractationes Retractations FC 60; WSA I.2
36; CCL 57
PL 38, 39;
s. Sermones Sermons FC 81; WSA I.1-11
CCL 41
s. Dom. De sermone Domini in On the Sermon on PL 34; CCL FC 11; ACW 5; NPNF
Mon. monte the Mount 35 7 WSA I.16
PL 40; CCL
Simpl. Ad Simplicianum To Simplicianus LCC 6; WSA I.12
44
PL 32; CSEL FC 2; LCC 6; NFNF 7;
sol. Soliloquia Soliloquies
89 WSA I.3
PL 42; CCL FC 45; NPNF 3; WSA
trin. De Trinitate On the Trinity
50/50A I.5
util. On the Usefulness PL42; CSEL LCC 6; NPNF 3; WSA
De utilitate credendi
Cred. of Belief 25.1 I.8
PL 34; CSEL
uera rel. De uera religione On True Religion LCC 6; WSA I.8
77; CCL 32
end p.xii
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Rethinking Augustine's Early Theology
Print ISBN 0199281661, 2006
pp. [xiii]-[4]
Abbreviations
ACW J. Quaesten and J. C. Plumpe (eds.), Ancient Christian Writers (Westminster,
Md.: Newman, 1946- ).
BA Oeuvres of Saint Augustin, Bibliothèque Augustinienne (Paris: Desclée, De
Brouwer, 1949- ).
CCL Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina (Turnhout: Brepols, 1953- ).
CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (Vienna: Tempsky, 1865- ).
FC R. J. Deferrari (ed.), The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: Catholic
University Press, 1947- ).
LCC J. Baillie, J. T. McNeill, and H. P. van Dusen (eds.), Library of Christian
Classics (Philadelphia and London, 1953-66).
NPNF A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church
(Oxford: Parker; repr. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1994).
PL J. P. Migne (ed.), Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina (Paris,
1944-64).
PS' R. J. Deferrari (ed.), Patristic Studies (Washington, DC: Catholic University
Press of America, 1922- ).
WSA J. E. Rotelle (ed.), The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the
Twenty-First Century (New York: New City Press, 1990- ).
Periodicals and Series
AS Augustinian Studies
JTS Journal of Theological Studies
REA Revue des Études Augustiniennes
Rech. Aug. Recherches Augustiniennes
T&U Texte und Untersuchungen
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Part One
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1 The Context
Carol Harrison
Abstract: This chapter considers the biographical, historical, and theological
context of Augustine's early works (386-96). It outlines the way in which
1 of 3