This book studies the earliest biblical reading practices of Augustine of Hippo (354–430), the greatest of the Latin Church Fathers. As a Manichee he had dismissed the Scriptures of ancient Israel as crudely written and unspiritual. But when Ambrose of Milan suggested that familiar rhetorical devices were at work in them, he began to read the Old and New Testaments together figuratively as a single Book. That breakthrough catalyzed his return to Catholicism. Augustine's earliest works searched Scripture for a philosophically oriented spiritual understanding. But when surprise ordination made h ... More

This book studies the earliest biblical reading practices of Augustine of Hippo (354–430), the greatest of the Latin Church Fathers. As a Manichee he had dismissed the Scriptures of ancient Israel as crudely written and unspiritual. But when Ambrose of Milan suggested that familiar rhetorical devices were at work in them, he began to read the Old and New Testaments together figuratively as a single Book. That breakthrough catalyzed his return to Catholicism. Augustine's earliest works searched Scripture for a philosophically oriented spiritual understanding. But when surprise ordination made him responsible for the welfare of ordinary people, Augustine became more concerned with Scripture's ongoing function in the Christian life. With help from the Apostle Paul, Augustine read the old Scriptures differently, especially certain Psalms that became words of the crucified Christ impersonating the voice of his people. His insight into Christ's “astounding exchange” provided not only a way to articulate Christian redemption but also a way to practice Christian reading. This book examines works from the first fifteen years of Augustine's Christian life in order to follow the course of his development. His reflections on the craft of hermeneutics advanced not only specifically theological reading practices but also the humane art of textual interpretation. Augustine's rationale for figurative reading in the tens of thousands of Scripture references that filled hundreds of sermons, letters, and treatises made him the most widely read commentator on the Christian Scriptures in the west for more than a thousand years.