St. Augustine - De Doctrina Christiana, Book Two (Ch. 1-18)

“Everyone devoted to the study of the Holy Scriptures... will find nothing else except that God must be loved for His own sake, and our neighbor for the sake of God.”

We’re resuming our multi-part reading series of St. Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana, or 'On Christian Doctrine'. This is our second installment in the series, having released the Prologue & Book 1 in an episode last month.

Augustine dives deeper into the subject of scriptural interpretation in these chapters, including a seven-step process  from Fear of the Lord (step 1) to Wisdom (step 7). Think of it as Augustine’s seven habits of highly effective scriptural readers.

Augustine's approach to Scripture, however, is not so much an academic approach as a spiritual one. For Augustine, all scriptural knowledge will boil down to the great dual commandment of love of God and love of neighbor.

Notes

Translation courtesy of Catholic University of America Press: https://verbum.com/product/120407/saint-augustine-christian-instruction-admonition-and-grace-the-christian-combat-faith-hope-and-charity

Alternate Translation at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3275

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