I went through this quickly out of necessity, but it was rich. It's definitely a text to which it is worth returning!

I think the translation of the title to "On Christian Teaching" is more accurate, as the book doesn't relate to core theological points of the Christian faith, but rather principles for studying scripture and for teaching it. It consists of four books. Book 1 relates to loving God and people.

Books 2 and 3 relate to interpretive rules, and this is where I ran into some disagreements. Augustine describes interpreting numbers symbolically, refusing to believe that the disciples caught 153 fish just because that is the number of fish they caught, and instead coming up with complicated formulas such as ( (3+7)*4+(3+7) ) * 3 + 3, where each number in the formula has some spiritual significance. He refers to the acceptability of finding multiple meanings in a single passage, even when some of the meanings are things the original author could not have known. He sets down rules for interpreting references to the nation of Israel as to the church, and to the land as to the church (which, besides the inherent problems, leads to the interesting situation of God promising the church to the church as an inheritance, as though the church could lack the church).

Book 4 focuses on how to teach and preach, and has a main emphasis on not just instructing but also stirring up the heart and motivating action. A good chunk of it is taken up by an emphasis on formal rhetoric that made very little sense to me, not having any background in it.

worth a read, good reminder that older books on topics we’re familiar with often address very different concerns or issues than modern authors.

i’ll keep thinking about,
- the distinction between enjoying and using (neither word really has the superficial or negative connotations we perceive when seeing those words); too much here to type out
- plundering the wealth of the egyptians (we can and should use the helpful works of non-christians for the building up of the church)
- when preaching/teaching/speaking the Word it all matters: what we say, how we say it, what kind of person is saying it
- hints of subsidiary focal integration (learning rules of speaking but then the key is not thinking of them while using them)
- “he is in bondage to a sign who uses… any significant object without knowing what it signifies” whoa
- don’t look at the hand, look at where the hand is pointing
- fear to piety to knowledge to resolve to counsel to purity/see God
- meekness to knowledge to skill
- true signs vs false: “for it was not because they had meaning that they were attended to, but it was by attending to and marking them that they came to have meaning” (#astrology)

not sure i agree with,
- the patriarchs did no wrong having multiple wives?
- number stuff??

It's by Augustine, which means you should read it. And by the way, it's pronounced Au-gustine.

It was a wonderful read. I think Augustine does a great job highlighting a few basics of the faith (though I would have some disagreements with him on a few things, as he would with me). Especially on the Primacy of Scripture over the Church, but the Church having an important and vital role & authority for us. Some truly great tools and tips for reading the Scripture, and some great comments about reading things not only outside the Scripture but outside the Faith.

In contrast to the unwieldy and meandering City of God, Augustine’s four books On Christian Doctrine are notably focused in comparison. Augustine seems to be at his best when he can let his rhetorical skills breathe. His arguments stay rooted in his fundamental belief in biblical truth, but at least here he engages in active interpretation. The entire last book is dedicated to honing skills to distinguish between literal and figurative biblical passages. He seeks for allegory in much of the Old Testament.

Interestingly, Augustine speaks little of morality in his books On Christian Doctrine. There is but one purpose in our being for God- “He does not enjoy us but uses us.” Bk. 1, XXXI. In return, “He has mercy on us that we may enjoy him, and we have mercy on our neighbor so that we may enjoy Him.” Bk. 1, XXX. Unlike the Greek and Roman thinkers of before who sought the ways of righteous living to obtain eudaimon (spiritual happiness), Augustine strives for perfecting obedience and charity. Interpretation and study of biblical teachings lead the studious past the obscurity brought by original sin and into a fuller understanding of God’s wishes. Advancements in thought by philosophers before are used, but selectively.

If those who are called philosophers, especially the Platonists, have said things which are indeed true and are well accommodated to our faith, they should not be feared; rather, what they have said should be taken from them as from unjust possessors and converted to our use. Bk. 2, XL.

Augustine’s life of humility and quest for “faith, love and charity” strikes a chord for all who pursue decency. However, all builds upon that faith in biblical authority. Where the philosophers of prior centuries had faith in the existence of some abstract value, or even just man’s ability to achieve eudaimon through critical thought, Augustine places his faith in a collection of writings serving as an encoded blueprint for human action and thought.

And so begins the epistemology of the Western world, Christian or otherwise. It begins as a pocket guide to ethics:

**use: to employ whatever means are at our disposal to obtain what one desires (I.4). In accordance with the ordo amoris, God uses rather than enjoys us (I.31). God uses us in references to his own goodness

**enjoyment: to rest with satisfaction in a thing. The Trinity is the true object of enjoyment. Objects of enjoyment must be eternal and unchangeable (I.22). This leads to the Ordo Amoris

Ordo Amoris (I.27)

God is to be loved for his own sake. Each man ought to love God more than himself. All things are to be loved in reference to God. The body lives through the soul, and it is by the soul that we love God.

How do we love other men? Ideally, we should love them equally, but this is impractical. Therefore, we should pay special regard to those who need it most.

**caritas: “that affection of the mind which aims at the enjoyment of God for His own sake, and the enjoyment of one’s self and one’s neighbor in subordination to God” (III.10.16).
**prudence: charity with an eye to one’s own advantage
**benevolence: charity with an eye towards one’s neighbor


sign: a thing which causes something else to come into the mind as a consequence of itself (II.1) Augustine accuses the Jews of not knowing to what the signs pointed, and as a result they interpreted figurative realities literally (III.6.10). The Jews are liberated by seeing the realities to which the signs pointed.

Augustine says Every sign is also a thing. But not the reverse. I agree, but I would modify it to say,

More things are signs than you would expect, and the play of signs is ubiquitous.

The rest of the book has a fairly interesting section on hermeneutics and rhetoric.

Many good and useful quotes. Can be dry at times

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Useful and important work from Augustine that conveys early elaborations of semiotics and hermeneutics.

If all this reading doesn’t cause me to love God and my neighbor more, then it’s a waste of time.

Or as Augustine would say:
“Whoever, then, thinks that he understands the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them, but puts such an interpretation upon them as does not tend to build up this twofold love of God and our neighbor, does not yet understand them as he ought.”

2nd (or 3rd time) through this. So much wisdom here!