On Genesis: Two Books on Genesis Against the Manichees ; And, On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis, an Unfinished Book (Fathers of the Church Patristic Series) by Saint Augustine (PDF)

Description

Augustine’s Two Books on Genesis against the Manichees and On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis: An Unfinished Book represent the first two of five explanations of the beginning of the Book of Genesis that he undertook between 388 and 418. In the first, a commentary on Genesis 1-3, Augustine counters the ignorant and impious attacks against Scripture by the Manichees, with whom he was a “hearer” for nine years. The second would have been a hexaemeron, a commentary on the six days of creation, but, as Augustine admits, his inexperience in scriptural exegesis collapsed under the weight of the burden, “and before I finished one book, I gave up the labor that I could not sustain.”Although Augustine agrees that many things in Scripture may seem absurd to the unlearned, he holds that they can produce great pleasures once they have been explained. It was this tenet, realized in his spiritual rather than corporeal interpretation of Scripture, that led him to counter the impious attacks the Manichees used to attract those who sought a more intellectual understanding of God over and against an anthropomorphic view. Augustine’s brilliant assimilation of Christian revelation and the intellectual faith of the Neoplatonic circle around Ambrose in Milan gave rise to his “spiritual” interpretation of Genesis 1-3 in the Two Books on Genesis against the Manichees.In On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis: An Unfinished Book, Augustine succeeds in presenting an ad litteram interpretation for twenty-five verses before arriving at the difficult verse on man’s having been made to God’s image and likeness. At this point he breaks off because, in the words of John O’Meara, “it either tended to blasphemy or could not be reconciled with the Catholic faith.” Perhaps because he later writes that he considers his literal attempt to interpret Genesis a failure, the texts herein translated have become today, in light of modern scriptural studies, fascinating and invaluable examples of Augustine’s developing thought on significant philosophical and theological issues in the interpretation of Genesis.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐St. Augustine shows what “literal interpretation” should mean — not a childish understanding, nor a cynical interpretation, but devout attention, using the full power of reason, to each word. If this were more widely known, a great deal of foolishness between atheists and Fundamentalists could be avoided.

⭐This is one of the volumes in a 50 volume set of the great Saint Augustine published by New City Press.The translator is wonderful, clear and precise. I like the layout of the book. The editor (a Dominican friar) did a msterful job in this project. I cant wait for the rest of the series!

⭐I bought this book as a Christmas present for my father who had been looking for a copy of Augustine’s Literal Interpretation of Genesis for some time. The book is exactly what he wanted (and then some), and I am very happy that I was able to find it on Amazon for such a great bargain.

⭐A replete gathering of Augustine’s treatises, in translation, on a founding text. Extremely handy volume of expositions that are subtle and tenaciously pursued.

⭐Fine!

⭐This book contains a pair of unfinished works by Augustine on the Book of Genesis. The table of contents is as follows:Introduction (Roland J. Teske)Entries from “The Retractions” on the two works”Two Books on Genesis against the Manichees””On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis: An Unfinished Book”General IndexIndex of Holy ScriptureAugustine regarded the interpretation of Genesis as important to Christian belief, but also found it difficult. These works were his two first attempts at writing interpretations of it, but he thought them only partly successful and did not see fit to complete them. Neither work is to be confused with Augustine’s “The Literal Meaning of Genesis”, which is a later and much longer work on the same subject that he successfully completed (that work is available in two volumes from Paulist Press).Augustine’s special interest in Genesis had two roots: apologetic and theological. His apologetic interest was a response to frequent attacks on Genesis by non-Christians and what he felt were inept defenses of it by uneducated Christians. His theological interest sprang from the critical importance of the Fall to Augustine’s theology.The first work, “Two Books on Genesis against the Manichees”, was primarily apologetic. It was written not long after Augustine left the Manichees to return to the Church, and was intended as a rebuttal to the Manichee attacks on Genesis. In this context, Augustine discussed Creation, Eden, and the Fall, but the work ended there – Augustine felt that he had not yet learned enough to complete the task he had undertaken successfully. The section on Creation was largely literal – reading it as a record of events that had occurred, but the section on Eden and the Fall was largely allegorical, reading it for the spiritual truth within the literal account. The chief interest I found in the work was that the description of the Eden and the Fall shows the strong influence on Augustine of classical virtue ethics, but none of the theology of Original Sin that is of such importance in his later writings.The second work “On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis: An Unfinished Book”, was aporetic in character: in it, Augustine deepens the reader’s understanding of the text by raising questions about it rather than by giving answers. This work was written not long after the previous one, and again Augustine found himself ultimately unequal to the task he had set. This work is even shorter than the previous one, and gets less far into Genesis, ending after the Creation days. I found the work pleasant to read; the aporetic style provides a sense of intimacy – that the author is sharing not only his answers with the reader, but also his questions, even if he doesn’t have an answer to give.The supporting material in the book is quite good – the only fault I would find is that the introduction generally refers to works by the abbreviations of their Latin names, which made me break from reading the text to his table of abbreviations (about 30 in all) far too often, a fault compounded by the fact that English translations for the titles in that table were not provided. Still, this is a pretty minor quibble.As a final note, thanks are due to Teske and CUA Press for providing the first translation of these works into English.

⭐I purchased this book as documentation for a Community college class paper I needed to write. Augustine was certainly ahead of his time. He looks at the beginning chapters of Genesis from a very different perspective and reading it was quite enlightening. Anyone who is interested in the Day-Age (Old Earth) Creationist theories should also read this book (a compilation of Augustine’s 3 books on Genesis). I particularly found his allegory of the 2nd Creation Story (Genesis 2 & 3) extremely fascinating. He breathes so much life in studying the bible and makes it so interesting and compelling. I highly recommend this book.

⭐This book came on time and in great condition. It is a wonderful insight into Augustine’s view of Genesis. Thank you!

⭐Hab’s mir gekauft, nachdem ich mit dem (heute ebenfalls von mir besprochenen) holl. Werk unzufrieden war. Das Ergebnis kann sich sehen lassen.

⭐

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