Well, there you have it. By the end of Book V Augustine has mostly despaired of finding the big T truth from the Manichaeans. He has run across some sceptics who would argue that we can't really know these sorts of things for sure. Yet he wants a kind of certainty about these questions.
In Book VI of the Confessions, Augustine tells us that he little by little is becoming acquainted with Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. It is about this time that Augustine again takes up some reading of the Scriptures. While the whole book speaks of Scripture, there is a little line in VI.v which has again caught my attention:
I ever believed, both that thou wert God, and hadst a care for us, though I was utterly ignorant, either what was to be thought of thy substance, or what way led or brought back again towards thee. Seeing therefore mankind would prove too weak to find out the truth by the way of evident reason...for this cause was there need of the authority of Holy Writ.
(VI.v)
Let's take this one step at a time.
- Augustine believes that there is a "God", but is still thinking somewhat in materialist categories ('what was to be thought of thy substance'). His old sect was materialist: God is, or has, a 'body', sort of the way we have pictures of a kindly grandpa sitting on a large white throne;
- He believes that this God is not detached ('hadst a care for us'). This God, whomever he may be, must have a relationship to the created world and to humanity. This God must be different from the absent gods.
- He is unsure of how to be "led or brought back" to this God. He is at wit's end (the limits of reason) as to how he can know the divine.
- There are limits to natural reason. This can take two forms: either one might say that reason is clouded by the Fall, or one might say that unaided human reason is insufficient to grasp the Divine.
Humanity cannot ascend to God solely via reason and intellect. As Donne puts it in the Holy Sonnet, reason proves to be either weak or untrue. And so we come to the question of "the authority of Holy Writ". There must be speech from the other side. As Augustine hears Ambrose expound and preach, he slowly realizes that his own view of God has limited his ability to understand the 'sense' of the Scriptures. And it is a mutual relationship: as he grows in understanding the Scriptures, he will come to have a better, truer view of God.
aside #1: while Plotinus & others would claim to have reached up to the Divine via the Platonic ascent (pure or modified), they always "fall out" of the vision of God. The relationship cannot be sustained by unaided reason.
aside #2: many in Anglican circles speak about the relationship between scripture, reason & tradition. While the three work together, I submit that there is a linear relationship. It is not a ruling triumvirate. It is interesting to note that while Augustine addresses scripture and reason in this section, he also draws in what we might see as tradition: the living teaching of the bishop (Ambrose) faithfully carrying out his calling in the community of the faithful - the Church. Thus we can see a relationship between all three at work in bk V.
aside #3: the problem of "authority" is a problem of pride. Throughout the Confessions the question of Scripture is related to the question of human pride. I suspect little has changed.
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