Augustine de trinitate book 15

Here augustine distinguishes the father as the sole cause of the holy spirit by using the adverb principaliter. Augustines greatest dogmatic texts that is theological, philosophical and an apologetic work on the trinity comprised on 15 seperate books that st. A friend told me i would enjoy this work, and added that it had really worked their brain. Augustine was wellwritten and got most things right. In augustines letter 11 can be found an ear ly answer to this question. How great is the unlikeness between our word and the divine word. The latter half of the treatise also sets forth his philosophy on the human mind. Among the few cannot be included a number of contemporary trinitarian theologians for whom augustine has become something of a. The argument is then shown to have reached so far as to allow of our now inquiring concerning the trinity, which is god, in those eternal, incorporeal, and unchangeable things themselves, in the perfect contemplation of which a blessed life is promised to us. The procession from both the father and the son is a separate matter because this procession occurs communitively communiter. What has been said relates to the words of the apostle, that we see now through a glass. He wished to demonstrate to critics of the nicene 1 creed that the divinity and coequality of father, son, and holy spirit are rooted in scripture. In the first seven books, augustine builds a scriptural from book i to iv, where he uses both the old testament, new testament and deutocanonical books of wisdom and sirach and philosophical basis of trinity from book v to vii, where he is careful to search for the appropriate use of languages as a means to express trinity.

It is placed by him in his retractations among the works written. Although not as well known as some of his other works, it is arguably his masterpiece and of more doctrinal importance than the confessions or city of god. On the trinity books 8 15 cambridge university press. Must we accept augustine s conclusion that the theophanies were holograms. The question of the pure of heart will see god is not a question specific to, or localized. In no wise therefore are souls cleansed and reconciled to god by sacrilegious imitations, or curious arts that are impious, or magical incantations.

There is only one contribution on exegesis, marieodile boulnois on augustines reading of genesis 18. Those are refuted, who think the substance of the father and of the son to be not the same, because everything predicated of god is, in their opinion, predicated of him according to substance. Augustine speaks of the unity and equality of that. Augustine himself declared that it would be understood only by a few. Augustine ties together his memory of his past life, his present experience, and his ardent desire to comprehend the mystery of creation. This leads him to the questions of the mode and time of creation. He is correct that gods nature qua nature cannot be seen by corporeal eye. Augustine of hippo procession of the holy spirit from. All in all i would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in going into depth in the study of the trinity. Gareth b matthews as a major statement of augustine s thought, in which he develops his philosophy of mind, on the trinity had a considerable influence on medieval philosophy, and continues to interest philosophers. It is placed by him in his retractations among the works written meaning begun in ad 400. Augustine wrote over a period of years, but always intended to to be read together. Jun 02, 2014 he died and met god, and he wasnt ready. Augustine, the trinity, and the filioqueyves congar.

Augustine dwells still further on the disparity between the trinity which is in man, and the trinity which is god. Thus there is more scholarship necessary in order to compare the two schools of thought on the subject. This work by augustine was one of the first written in latin. Marcellino dambrosio discusses augustine s massive theological influence over western christianity, focusing on his role in explicating the trinity and the holy spirit as. The inquiry is prosecuted respecting knowledge, in which, as distinguished from wisdom, augustine had begun in the former book to look for a kind of trinity. Trinitate 8 15, but not only because confessions 10 is also, in effect, a discussion of mind. Augustines africa had been left out of much of the fray, and most of what was written on the subject was in greek, a language augustine barely knew and had little access to. We should all be so learned as augustine, azkoul, and romanides, all are. Book 12 was incomplete when the manuscript was circulated among admirers. Begins by setting forth briefly and in sum the contents of the previous fourteen books.

I spent some years in writing fifteen books concerning the trinity, which is god. Considering this piracy an impediment to revising earlier. The nuova biblioteca augustiniana has been publishing bilingual latinitalian editions of augustine for many years and now has latin texts and translations and much else of value available on an. Among the few cannot be included a number of contemporary trinitarian theologians for whom augustine has become something of a whipping boy. Augustine, in the 15 books comprising this study of trinitarian doctrine, uses very full terminology and rhetorical sentences to convey his points. Cavadini, notre dame in the journal of early christian studies. In letters of ad 410, ad 414, and at the end of ad 415, it is referred to as still unfinished and unpublished. Other works on the trinity were originally written in greek.