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Work #255 · Mid-late (composed across three decades)

On Christian Doctrine

Augustine of Hippo
397 (Books 1-3.25); 426-27 (Books 3.25-4, completed near the end of Augustine's life) · Late Latin
Theological-rhetorical treatise in four books · Latin patristic theology / Christian biblical interpretation

The reading and preaching of Scripture — Augustine's comprehensive treatise on Christian biblical interpretation and rhetorical communication

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute On Christian Doctrine (Mid-late (composed across three decades))
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Finite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Both
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Personal
Observer · Moral Authority Scripture
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

On Christian Doctrine

The temporal life of Christian biblical interpretation across centuries; the eternal realities to which signs point.

Space

On Christian Doctrine

The space of the Christian community as the proper site of biblical interpretation and preaching.

Matter

On Christian Doctrine

The embodied texts of Scripture; the embodied preacher communicating to the embodied community.

Observer

On Christian Doctrine

The interpreting-preaching Christian — embodied, plural, charitably oriented. Personal-providential God as the ultimate referent.

Energy

On Christian Doctrine

The rhetorical-communicative energies of preaching; the love-energy that orients interpretation.

Information

On Christian Doctrine

Scripture as the preserved divine information; the interpretive tradition that mediates its understanding.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

On Christian Doctrine

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.