Per Caritatem

After several conversations with friends, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, I have formulated the following (rough, very unpolished) proposed reading of Augustine’s spiritual journey.  In light of the fact that it would take significantly more research to substitiate this thesis properly, I doubt that I will use it in my paper for the Villanova conference, but I do think that there may be something to it and plan to revisit it at a later date.  Comments, criticisms, and literature recommendations are most welcome.  Thanks also to all who have helped me to think through problem areas.

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Could it be the case that Augustine became a believer in Christ during his time as a catechumen under the spiritual care of Ambrose within the context of the Church?  If so, then it would seem to be the case that Augustine already possessed faith in Christ well before the famous garden scene in book VIII.  We know that it was through Ambrose that Augustine acquired a new hermeneutical orientation to Scripture, and since Ambrose was part of what we might call the premodern Christian interpretative tradition, it seems plausible to conclude that Augustine’s new hermeneutical approach (which was likely also practiced by Ambrose in the sermons that Augustine was hearing) involved reading the Old Testament in light of the New Testament, i.e., I am suggesting that it is conceivable that Augustine had embraced a Christocentric reading of Scripture by way of Ambrose. If that is correct, then perhaps this might also support the view that Augustine had become a believer in Christ during his catechumen stage and prior to his baptism-(when exactly, who knows and who cares-the more significant point that I am trying to argue is that Augustine had faith in Christ well before book VIII). In fact, a comment made by Augustine the narrator at the end of book V might be interpreted to support my proposal. As Augustine reflects on his reasons for coming to Milan and his encounter with Ambrose, he writes,”[u]nknowingly I was led by you to him [Ambrose], so that though him I might be led, knowingly, to you [God].”^[1] In other words, although the young Augustine did not recognize God’s providence directing him to Ambrose while existentially experiencing those (now) past events, Augustine the narrator informs us that God had in fact used his friendship with Ambrose to bring him into friendship with God. And this, I claim, can only come about by grace through faith in Christ.  To be more specific, my proposal is that Augustine had already moved from a state of unbelief to a state of belief (in Christ) during his time as a catechumen in the Catholic Church and that by Augustine the narrator’s own testimony, Ambrose played an instrumental role in this movement.  If this is case, then perhaps what we see in books VII and VIII are a deepening of Augustine’s, as he calls it, “unformed” faith (fides). 

In book VII, two passages in particular seem to support this reading.  The first passage is found at VII.5.7, where Augustine the narrator says, “Faith in your Christ, our Lord and Savior, as I found it in the Catholic Church, still persisted steadfastly in my heart, though it was a faith still in many ways unformed, wavering and at a variance with the norm of her teaching. Yet my mind did not abandon it, but drank it in ever more deeply as the days passed”^[2] (Boulding trans., p. 164). The second passage occurs at VII.7.11, where again Augustine the narrator says, “[s]o it was that you, my helper, had already freed me from those bonds [i.e., false teachings], but I was still trying to trace the cause of evil, and found no way out of the difficulty. Yet you allowed no flood of thoughts to sweep me away from the faith whereby I believed that you exist, that your essence is unchangeable, that you care for us humans and judge our deeds, and that in your Son, Christ our Lord, and in the holy scriptures which the authority of your Catholic Church guarantees, you have laid down the way for human beings to reach that eternal life which awaits for us after death.  These beliefs were unaffected, and persisted strong and unshaken in me as I feverishly searched for the origin of evil”^[3] (Ibid., p. 168; emphases added). These passages, at least from my vantage point, seem to strongly suggest that Augustine was already a believer in Christ; and hence, a Christian, though one yet unbaptized.^[4]

Early in book VIII, Augustine writes that he no longer desired “greater certainty” about God, “but a more steadfast abiding” in Him (Ibid., p. 131).^[5] Augustine then describes what continued to keep him from a more steadfast abiding, viz., his “bondage to a woman.” Here Augustine seems to suggest that he already had a relationship with Christ; yet, his continual yielding to sin was preventing deeper intimacy in his experience of Christ. When we finally reach the famous garden scene, we find Augustine in a state of spiritual turmoil-on the one hand, longing to embrace Christ more intimately, yet lacking the power to do so. 

It is also interesting to me that Augustine employs a number of Romans 7 allusions in this section of the Confessions. My interpretation of Romans 7 is that it speaks of Paul as a believer who still struggles with sin (and is not a flashback to his life before his experience on the road to Damascus; however, I am not sure whether this is the interpretation that Augustine held in the Confessions (though I have recently heard that in his writings against the Pelagians, Augustine, did follow the interpretation of Romans 7 that I suggest).  Lastly, my proposal would seem to harmonize well with pastoral concerns that Augustine the Bishop no doubt had.  That is, keeping in mind the multiple audiences that Augustine was addressing, e.g., believers and unbelievers, the believers would be particularly encouraged by Augustine’s story-a story that suggests that one’s faith unfolds slowly, maturing with time and that Christ is sufficient to meet all of life’s challenges (whether intellectual, moral, emotional or whatever). 

Notes

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^[1] ad eum autem ducebar abs te nesciens, ut per eum ad te sciens ducerer (V.13.23).

^[2] stabiliter tamen haerebat in corde meo in Catholica ecclesia fides Christi tui, domini et salvatoris nostri, in multis quidem adhuc informis et praeter doctrinae normam fluitans; sed tamen non eam relinquebat animus, immo in dies magis magisque inbibebat (VII.5.7).  “Yet, firmly fixed [haerebat] in my heart was this faith of your Christ, our Lord and Savior as found in the Catholic Church-a faith no doubt in many ways unformed and wavering from her doctrinal norm; yet, my soul/mind did not forsake it, but absorbed it more and more as the days passed” (my translation).

 ^[3] Iam itaque me, adiutor meus, illis vinculis solveras, et quaerebam, unde malum, et non erat exitus. sed me non sinebas ullis fluctibus cogitationis auferri ab ea fide, qua credebam et esse te, et esse inconmutabilem substantiam tuam, et esse de hominibus curam et iudicium tuum; et in Christo, filio tuo, domino nostro, atque scripturis sanctis, quas ecclesiae tuae Catholicae commendaret auctoritas, viam te posuisse salutis humanae ad eam vitam, quae post hanc mortem futura est. his itaque salvis atque inconcusse roboratis in animo meo, quaerebam aestuans, unde sit malum (VII.7.11). 

^[4] The fact that in the two passages from book VII Augustine uses fides instead of assentio in relation to Christ seems significant.  That is, not only is it a scriptural way to speak, but it points to a fiduciary element particularly when this faith in Christ (or of Christ) is connected with the authority of the Catholic Church (as it the case in both passages). 

^[5] At the end of book V, Augustine the narrator informs us that he had decided to live as a catechumen in the Catholic Church “until some kind of certainty dawned by which I might direct my steps aright” (V.25).   In light of my thesis, perhaps now that Augustine’s faith has matured and deepened, he no longer seeks this “certainty” that he had pursued as a younger believer.  Some will quickly point out that the reason that he no longer desired greater certainty was due to the treasures that he pillaged from the Platonists; however, as Augustine’s writings demonstrate, we know that he continued to wrestle with a number of intellectual and theological problems throughout this career and that he would never have considered himself to have comprehended God or all things theological.  With these two points in mind, it seems plausible to suggest that as Augustine grew in his faith and knowledge of God, he abandoned the quest for certainty, particularly the kind of (mathematical) certainty that he had sought as a young man.