Augustine On Christian Training Book III finding the will of God in the scriptures; in order to do so, you should

uld be sufficiently learned (in languages, general knowledge) and have reliable texts. This is the only way to decipher the ambiguities of the scripture ambiguity (literal usage): make sure the passage is properly punctuated/articulated. If thats cool, consider how it is consistent with the rule of faith. If multiple interpretations still follow, consider the context of previous passages/try to determine the translators intentions. (example: heretical punctuation p. 69-70) these punctuation issues also apply to reading out loud inflecting a statement as a question, wrong syllable length. You can look to the original language manuscript (Greek) if different cases are not contrary to the faith. ambiguity (metaphorical usage): step one: dont interpret figurative language literally (duh), signs are not things. Signs are not always liberating, like statues of gods someone who worships a meaningful thing but remains unaware of the meaning is a slave to the sign, whereas someone who worships a useful, divine sign and realizes its force does not worship a thing but rather everything related to it. e.g. celebrating the body and blood of Christ (note: you dont have to understand the sign, just that it is a sign) conversely: do not mistake the literal for figurative. Anything that cannot be related to good morals (love of God and neighbors) or true faith (understanding of God and our neighbor) is figurative. Be careful about interpreting things as figurative to fit the societal values of the time because scripture narrates the past, fortells the future and demonstrates the present Love: the impulse to enjoy oneself and ones neighbor on account of God conversely Lust: to enjoy anything not on account of God wickedness. The physical sin is wrongdoing, but wickedness is the depletion of the mind which precedes it. The scripture destroys the realm of lust in the literal sense Those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified their passions and desires. (Gal. 5:24) and metaphorical Behold I have established you over nations and kingdoms, to uproot and destroy, to lay waste and scatter (Jer. 1:10) If something seems like wickedness to the unenlightened in the Bible, then it is entirely figurative. Course theme: locating the actual meaning/ideal form of the text, which is independent of and transcends the authors/readers social circumstances (Augustine says we can do this by connecting non-literal passages with careful reading to the love of God) Editorial aside: to what extent can we trust this kind of readerly activity? Is there ever a pure meaning to a text which forces us to look beyond the social roots of a text, or to avoid reading the text with a contemporary perspective? Augustine says we have to be very careful with the Old Testament because we need to pull out the figurative truth while avoiding the literal wrongdoings/wickedness in the text. We have to do this because the OT is still part of the scripture and a priori contains the full will of God. Some difficulties: sometimes words can be used more than once in scripture with different figurative meanings e.g. shield of Gods goodwill, shield of faith, breastplate of

faith, etc. One of Gods gifts is eloquence: being able to say the same thing in different ways, and being able to use the same word in different contexts Tropes: allegories, enigmas, parables modes of figurative speech. We use these even in common speech (we say piscina to mean swimming pool, when its etymological root indicates a fish pond). Having knowledge of these tropes is necessary in order to parse out the figurative meaning of certain passages

John Wyclif On the Truth of Holy Scripture The Five Levels of Scripture & the Four Senses The will of God lies beyond all manuscripts, even if the writers of the manuscripts are themselves unusually false. There are many levels of scripture: 1) The Book of Life (Apoc. 20-1) 2) The truths in the Book of Life 3) The light of the truths in the BoL 4) The light of truth inscribed in the books of Man (i.e. in the soul) 5) The artificial signs that point to the first truth (manuscripts, words) Manuscripts and words are not Holy Scripture in the same way that a portrait of a person is not actually a person (think Platonic). The first scripture is made holy directly by Gods wisdom, and it cannot be written down, otherwise all Holy Scripture could be damaged by a leather-worker, authorized by a scribe, torn apart by a dog, and corrected by a buffoon. Because the physical copy can be corrupted, it is not equal to Holy Scripture The importance of physical scripture is that, while it is not identical to the truth of God, it points us towards that truth There are four senses to scripture: literal, allegorical, tropological and anagogical o Literal: the sense of scripture which directs us upwards to God. The deeds of Christ and the patriarchs of the Bible o Allegorical: when literal language points at something else sometimes texts are literal and anagorical (Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac is a historic (literal) fact; Abraham (as (God) the Father) had two sons, Ishmael (the Old Testament) and Isaac (the New Testament)) o Anagogical: teaches what is to be hoped for o Tropological: teaches the work that is to be accomplished Think of them as the faithful, the active, the contemplative, the heroic Scripture itself cannot be the source of evil, rather it is an erroneous perception of the sense of scripture (think about what Augustine says in regards to correctly understanding when something is literal/figurative and deciphering what is true/heretical) As misinterpretation is the root of evil, all persons, even secular lords should be acquainted with it and prepared to defend it.