Get On Genesis/A Refutation Of The Manichees/The Unfinished Literal Meaning Of Genesis (Works Of St Augustine 1) Scripted By Augustine Of Hippo Issued As Version
other part of the Hebrew Scriptures, aside from the Psalter and sections of the prophet Isaiah, captured the interest and aroused the attention of the early Church as did the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis.
Augustine of Hippo, the early Latin Church's profoundest scholar, devoted three treatises to these chapters, The first two On Genesis: A Refutation of the Manichees and his Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis are early works, The third and longest The Literal Meaning of Genesis was produced at the height of Augustine's maturity and has been ranked with his Confessions, The Trinity, and The City of God.
The range, depth and genius of Augustine's thought, which begin to appear in the two earlier writings, are on full display in the third, This volume brings these three works together for the first time in English and provides a valuable and comprehensive introduction to each one, How do you rate a book which, though written by one of the Church's greatest theologians, is nonetheless a mixed bag in terms of content The book is full of both stellar and lessthanstellar stuff.
Agusutine's insights are often very helpful, but need to be tempered by conservative modern scholarship, Most readers won't be fans of his allegorical method and how it is on occasion illused, Augustine's neoplatonic leanings shine through in some unfortunate ways as well, And yet the book was helpful to me, at least in the fact that it presented some different ways of reading the Bible ways that I was not used to.
Helpful for those interested in allegorical method, Can't recommend it to anyone who hasn't read Augustine before you should start with Confessions or City of God, not this, Finally Finished this whole thin, This is hard to rate as is has been so long, and it is a very odd work, St. Augustine asks more questions and proposes more theories than he does answer questions, although he does point out thoughts that are wrong, But, don't go into this thinking Genesis will make complete sense, It won't. But you can still appreciate the time and effort he put into pulling apart several issues, even if for us, we may feel like certain ideas are no longer and issue.
There is still solid theology here, and reverence for God, and a snapshot of the ways the Christians could see Scripture, I don't even know who I'd recommend this for other than people who are all in on Augustine, or just want to read something challenging for the sake of it.
But, it's certainly not bad, I just probably wouldn't have chosen to read it, knowing it was some clean in what our book study might have wanted, Reading this with my dad, who also has begun to enjoy Augustine, We mean to finish it within two months, My paperback edition has a nicer cover,
Well, that didn't happen, I read the first three, but got bogged down in the longest commentary, Maybe another day. In this translation, Augustine's style is homely, inelegant, Dont be a Manichee: Genesis to Malachi is Christian Scripture, Sorry Andy Stanley.
Augustines NeoPlatonic bent is really on display here, as well as Aristotelian influence, Also, his allegorical Interpretation is a bit of a shock if youre not used to hearing scripture read that way, It can be a little strange to modern ears, but I think can be more or less theologically sound, Wiser people in the church than me can help sort that out,
Even so, its an interesting read and one that challenges modern readers to grapple with our methods v, other methods of Scriptural interpretation, especially premodern and Theological Interpretation which can be absolutely fantastic and lifegiving and inline with Christian orthodoxy/teaching, After all, Augustine is our brother in Christ and part of the church catholic so weve gotta take him seriously, even if he entertains the notion that birds can fly because the “water above” is moist air that suspends them in flight.
stars
Not exactly a page turner, Then again, I read it online, In "Against the Manichees," St Augustine presents a defense of the creation account of Genesis against the Manichees, a religion that accepted the authority of the New Testament, but not the old.
The arguments resonate in a time where Genesis is attacked on all sides on a daily basis, It presents close arguments, supporting the veracity of the biblical account that can be used well in conjunction with the modern understanding of evolution and the early formation of the universe.
"On a Literal Interpretation of Genesis" was left unfinished by St Augustine, He only got through the first chapter of Genesis, but it is a very detailed attempt to analyse the text, using four different forms of interpretation, on each verse.
I think it works out best being familiar with some of St Augustine's other work on Genesis, or being exceedingly familiar with Genesis itself, sitelink Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis, in English Augustine of Hippo, also known as St, Augustine, St. Austin, was bishop of Hippo Regius present day Annaba, Algeria, He was a Latin philosopher and theologian from the Africa Province of the Roman Empire and is generally considered as one of the greatest Christian thinkers of all times.
His writings were very influential in the development of Western Christianity, According to his contemporary Jerome, Augustine established anew the ancient Faith, In his early years he was heavily influenced by Manichaeism and afterward by the Neo Platonism of Plotinus, After his conversion to Christianity and his baptism in, Augustine developed his own approach to philosophy and theology, accommodating a v sitelink Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis, in English Augustine of Hippo, also known as St.
Augustine, St. Austin, was bishop of Hippo Regius present day Annaba, Algeria, He was a Latin philosopher and theologian from the Africa Province of the Roman Empire and is generally considered as one of the greatest Christian thinkers of all times.
His writings were very influential in the development of Western Christianity, According to his contemporary Jerome, Augustine "established anew the ancient Faith, " In his early years he was heavily influenced by Manichaeism and afterward by
the Neo Platonism of Plotinus, After his conversion to Christianity and his baptism in, Augustine developed his own approach to philosophy and theology, accommodating a variety of methods and different perspectives, He believed that the grace of Christ was indispensable to human freedom, and he framed the concepts of original sin and just war, When the Western Roman Empire was starting to disintegrate, Augustine developed the concept of the Catholic Church as a spiritual City of God in a book of the same name, distinct from the material Earthly City.
His thoughts profoundly influenced the medieval worldview, Augustine's City of God was closely identified with the Church, the community that worshiped the Trinity, In the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, he is a saint and pre eminent Doctor of the Church, Many Protestants, especially Calvinists, consider him to be one of the theological fathers of the Protestant Reformation due to his teaching on salvation and divine grace, In the Eastern Orthodox Church he is also considered a saint, He carries the additional title of Blessed, Among the Orthodox, he is called "Blessed Augustine" or "St, Augustine the Blessed". sitelink Santo Agostinho sitelink.