On Christian Doctrine
De doctrina christiana — Augustine's 397-426 treatise on the interpretation and proclamation of Scripture
Tradition: Latin patristic theology / Christian biblical interpretation
The reading and preaching of Scripture — Augustine's comprehensive treatise on Christian biblical interpretation and rhetorical communication
On Christian Doctrine is Augustine's major treatise on the reading and proclamation of Scripture, composed across three decades of his life. Books 1-3 (largely completed 397) develop the theory of signs and interpretation: all signs in Scripture point ultimately to their referents in divine reality; charity (caritas) is the rule of interpretation — any reading that contributes to the love of God and neighbour is on the right track. Book 4 (completed 426-27) develops a Christian rhetoric — how Christian preachers should communicate the truths of Scripture, drawing critically on classical rhetorical theory (especially Cicero). The treatise has shaped subsequent biblical interpretation profoundly: medieval hermeneutics, Reformation principles of biblical reading, modern theological hermeneutics all engage Augustine's framework. The semiotic-philosophical analysis of signs has been a continuing reference in twentieth-century philosophy of language (Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations opens with the famous quotation from Augustine on learning language).
Author
Editions cited
- On Christian Doctrine (D. W. Robertson Jr., Bobbs-Merrill, 1958)
- Teaching Christianity (Edmund Hill, in The Works of Saint Augustine I/11, New City Press, 1996)
- De Doctrina Christiana (R. P. H. Green, Oxford Early Christian Texts, 1995)
School Embodiments
On Christian Doctrine is foundational for the Catholic-scholastic tradition of biblical interpretation — Aquinas and the medieval scholastics develop their hermeneutic from Augustine.
"The Augustinian-scholastic tradition of biblical interpretation." (On Christian Doctrine, paraphrasing)
A complicated relation: Reformation biblical interpretation (Luther, Calvin) draws extensively on Augustine's framework while modifying it.
"Reformation biblical hermeneutics drawing on Augustine." (On Christian Doctrine, paraphrasing)
A complicated relation: Calvin's biblical hermeneutics in the Institutes develops from Augustine, especially the principle of charity-rule and the priority of love.
"Calvin's Augustinian biblical hermeneutics." (On Christian Doctrine, paraphrasing)
Augustine's framework throughout draws on Christian Neoplatonism — signs as pointing toward intelligible realities, the soul's ascent through proper interpretation.
"The Neoplatonic structure of signs and reference." (On Christian Doctrine, paraphrasing)
A retrospective relation: the analytic philosophy of language has engaged Augustine's semiotic theory extensively (Wittgenstein, Saussure indirectly, contemporary analytic semiotics).
"Wittgenstein's opening of Philosophical Investigations with a quotation from Augustine." (paraphrasing the analytic reception)
Augustine's Christian-Platonist framework — the eternal realities behind temporal signs — shapes the interpretive theory.
"The Christian-Platonist framework of signs and realities." (On Christian Doctrine, paraphrasing)
A cross-tradition affinity: while Augustine is a Latin father, the principles of biblical interpretation he develops have substantial overlap with Eastern patristic hermeneutics.
"Cross-tradition patristic hermeneutic principles." (On Christian Doctrine, paraphrasing)
A complicated relation: modern liberal-theological hermeneutics has engaged Augustine's framework extensively (Hans-Georg Gadamer, the broader hermeneutic tradition).
"Modern liberal-theological hermeneutics engaging Augustine." (paraphrasing)
A retrospective affinity: the phenomenological-hermeneutic tradition (Heidegger, Gadamer, Ricoeur) has substantial roots in Augustine's analysis of interpretation.
"The phenomenological-hermeneutic engagement with Augustine." (paraphrasing)
Augustine's working pragmatic-realism — what does interpretation actually do? what makes it work for charity? — frames the analysis.
"Interpretation tested by its working for charity." (On Christian Doctrine, paraphrasing)
Augustinian tradition.
Internal Tensions
Augustine's rule of charity has been continuously debated — does it license allegorical reading that exceeds the literal sense? does it constrain reading too narrowly? The relation between Augustine's patristic hermeneutics and modern critical biblical scholarship has been the central twentieth-century interpretive question. The treatise's integration of classical rhetorical theory with Christian preaching has shaped subsequent homiletics across confessional traditions.
I. Time
The temporal life of Christian biblical interpretation across centuries; the eternal realities to which signs point.
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II. Space
The space of the Christian community as the proper site of biblical interpretation and preaching.
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III. Matter
The embodied texts of Scripture; the embodied preacher communicating to the embodied community.
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IV. Observer
The interpreting-preaching Christian — embodied, plural, charitably oriented. Personal-providential God as the ultimate referent.
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V. Energy
The rhetorical-communicative energies of preaching; the love-energy that orients interpretation.
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VI. Information
Scripture as the preserved divine information; the interpretive tradition that mediates its understanding.
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The work's attribute fingerprint scored against all schools using the same quiz scorer. Useful as a sanity check on the hand-curated embodiments above.
How On Christian Doctrine resolves each dilemma
51 resolved positions across 4 dimensions · 6 unaligned.
Each dimension is sorted so minority positions come first. Mainstream positions are folded into an expandable list.