Very good. Finally got around to reading the New City version. The translator excels—as well as occasionally ribs Augustine! Book I is the strongest; Book IV is the weakest. But overall, great. There's a reason why this has been an essential resource in reading the Bible for so many centuries!

Reading Augustine is very good for your soul. Save for some of the expected Augustine-isms that are more or less an over-correction from his personal experiences and should be taken with a grain of salt, this is a book to consume slowly, annotate copiously, and live with for a lifetime. It's amazing how much that is really central to education, biblical interpretation, and the liberal arts is contained within this short treatise: he provides an excellent overview of basic dogmatics (no one writes about the fundamental doctrines of the faith with as much rock-solid clarity and beauty as Augustine), pedagogical theory, rhetorical techniques, literary criticism, hermeneutics, Christian ethics, the Trivium and the Quadrivium for starters. This is also the one with the famous "plundering the Egyptians" passage, which is even more profound than you might think it is just from hearing about it. But this has tended to overshadow another incredible image: that of eloquence flowing naturally from the love of truth like a loyal servant following its master. I think the central idea that intrigues me most here, and which I want to pursue in further study, is the thought that reading, just like everything we ought to do, is ultimately an act of love. In fact, no interpretation of a text that is not related to love is valid. How can immersion in the imaginative world offered to us by literature—its symbols, metaphors, archetypes, and rhetoric—enrich our hearts for the Civitas Dei? This is a book I would give to all teachers and students in the first year of a classical high school or college program.

Liber optimus! Augustinus inter signa resque distinguit, lectionem scripturarum docet, atque modus docendi explanat. Ex Cicerone et docere, delectare, et movere veniunt et supra, mediocre, humileque, atque ex Aristotle, λόγος, πάθος, et ήθος.

In On Christian Teaching, Augustine has written an excellent book on the topic of interpreting and teaching Scripture, although it includes so much more. Ultimately Augustine spends Books I-III discussing how to understand what is said in Scripture, and then in Book IV moving on to how to say/communicate what was understood. Augustine himself seems to admit that Books II-III are a bit wordy and tedious, but they are helpful nonetheless, particularly his discussion of things and signs, which are itself things that point to other things. Book I has an excellent discussion of what it means to love one's neighbor and how that discussion fits into reading and interpreting Scripture. In Book IV, Augustine does an excellent job of depending why and how a preacher or teacher of God's Word should do so eloquently. This book will be particularly helpful for preachers, though it has much to say to students of rhetoric and to teachers more generally.

One of the first major Christian hermeneutics texts. Modern exegetes may cringe at Augustine's use of the allegorical method of Scriptural interpretation, but no one can deny that his hermeneutics has been 1) profoundly influential throughout Christian history and 2) there is something to it. Augustine was attempting to mimic the methods of interpretation utilized by Christ and the apostles, and in this text he shows that he is aware of the extremes that allegorical interpretations can reach, but also shows that he feels there are ways to keep misuses of allegoresis in check. This book has recently greatly reduced my skepticism towards the allegorical method; as a systematician I find myself sympathetic to a theological interpretative method that can be used alongside modern critical methods. Hints of Augustine's hermeneutic are being recovered by Protestants today through the use of typology (which has always been somewhat present in the Reformers). Much more could be said about this book and my opinion of it. Let it suffice for now to say that I highly recommend this book, it has challenged and influenced my thinking, and I think both the layman and the theologian will find it to be a highly valuable read.

(Note: I've looked through several editions of this text for a paper. Some are easier to read translations than others. The book is worth purchasing, but for those comfortable with reading it online, it can be found here: http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/jo...)

My favorite book of Augustine. Interesting to see how some early Christians interpreted the Bible. Also interesting to compare Augustine's canon to current canon, which contains few differences. The book is worth reading because of the impact it has had on Christianity, even though you might find yourself disagreeing with the approach Augustine uses in understanding the Bible.

Nice: distinction between wickedness & wrongdoing. Good: analysis of language/signs. Yuk: dull religious moralizing.

This was a great read overall. I liked the first 3 parts, though I didn't care as much for the 4th part. It wasn't bad, but the discussion of the types of rhetorical language wasn't quite up my alley.

A definite read and reread for the Christian seriously interested in rhetoric. It was great to read Augustine's basic take of signs and thing signified—the implications for language are fascinating. Book IV gets into his more practical instruction on rhetorical delivery, and he utilizes (it seems) a modified faith, hope, love triad to explain the goal and function of rhetoric. The Christian teacher wants his listener to understand, delight in and obey the truth, and must utilize different modes of speech to attain this end since different audiences have different needs. Sometimes they need to be instructed out of ignorance; other times you need to smash hard hearts with hard words.

It's a school book, what did I expect

**true rating 3.5

In this short work (though Augustine admits it was longer than he hoped), Augustine sketches his theological hermeneutics--how to interpret scriptures. The centrality of the twofold love command ('love God, love neighbor') has full rein over Augustine's hermeneutical lens. With whimsical tact, Augustine tackles troublesome and ambiguous passages, relishing and defending allegorical interpretations. His explanation of 'signs' (sigma) and 'things' (res) is worth pouring over.

cf. www.sooholee.wordpress.com

Just read this again. Very helpful. This book is really for pastors who are trying to understand the Bible, but he has a lot of principles that applicable today, even in a regular school setting. For instance, imagine a school teaching a Bible class and how to understand the Bible, well what is the most important thing to get out of it? Augustine says that rule of interpretation number one is that we should learn to love God and love our neighbor. This seems obvious, but how often is that actually the point of a hermeneutics class? Also, I thought the first 3 books were most helpful. Book 4 goes into detail about presentation style and rhetoric, and perhaps was interesting in that he thought the best way to learn was by seeing and reading examples, and not so much by memorizing and understanding all the works on rhetoric by the ancient Greeks and Romans.