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Title: The Fathers of the Church: Saint Augustine: Treatises on Various Subjects by St. Augustine, Mary Sarah Muldowney, Mary Francis McDonald ISBN: 0-8132-0016-4 Publisher: Catholic Univ of Amer Pr Pub. Date: June, 1952 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Summary: Moral and practical theology
Comment: The contents of this collection are as follows:
Preface - by Roy J. Deferrari
The Christian Life (not by Augustine - probably by the Pelagian Fastidius), introduction and translation by Mary Sarah Muldowney
Lying - introduction and translation by Mary Sarah Muldowney
Against Lying - introduction and translation by Harold B. Jaffee
Continence - introduction and translation by Mary Francis McDonald
Patience - introduction and translation by Luanne Meagher
The Excellence of Widowhood - introduction and translation by M. Clement Eagan
The Work of Monks - introduction and translation by Mary Francis McDonald
The Usefulness of Fasting - introduction and translation by Mary Sarah Muldowney
The Eight Questions of Dulcitius - introduction and translation by Mary Deferrari
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"The Christian Life", the opening work in this collection is a curiosity because it is not by Augustine. At one time, the work was thought to have been Augustinian because of similarities in style.
"On Lying" is an ethical work addressing the question as to whether it was ever justifiable to lie. Augustine here argues strongly against the position, taking various scenarios which ostensibly would justify lying and for each suggesting alternative courses of action that would not require it. It is a more thoughtful than fully developed work, and Augustine was ambivalent about it afterwards. Hypothetical case arguments and scriptural justifications are considered and rejected. In general, Augustine argues strongly in favor of a heroic stand against evil and against feigned cooperation.
"Against Lying" was written in response the question as to whether it was a good idea to lie so as to be able to infiltrate and expose Priscillianists. The Priscillianists were a heretical group who approved of lying to conceal their identities. While feigning belief in the Church, they actually worked to subvert it. Augustine, in his response takes the same strong anti-lying position as he did in "On Lying", but this essay is much more focused. Augustine begins by arguing that following the Priscillianists in lying in order to catch them was really being perverted by them. He then moves on to attack the idea that lying is ever justified by Scripture, and concludes by considering a couple of the hypothetical cases that could be used to justify lying.
"Continence" was written, surprising as it may seem to a modern audience, not to defend continence but to defend the goodness of creation in general and marriage in particular. The opposing position was Manichaean dualism, which taught that everything good was in the soul and everything bad was in the body. As he so often had to do, Augustine had to attack one extreme while at the same time not seeming to endorse the other. The work is primarily scriptural in character.
"Patience" was likely originally written as a sermon. The point of the address is whether patience is a good that can be the product of a merely human will or whether it is a gift of God. If the former, then man is capable of good of his own will, a theologically inadmissible position. If the latter, then the patience of evil men (such as robbers waiting for a victim) would seem to be divinely sponsored. Augustine answers by splitting patience according to its object - that true patience is patience aligned with charity, and that false patience is not.
"The Excellence of Widowhood" is a long letter written to a widow asking Augustine's advice. In content it is fairly thin, but it was interesting to note that in it Augustine explicitly names a simple principal underlying much of his writing - precept first, then exhortation. The precept here (that widowhood is an honorable state) is a small one, and is treated at much more length than their worth would seem to warrant.
"The Work of Monks" was written pertaining to certain monks at a monastery who refused to perform manual labor, citing the scripture "Look at the birds of the air: they do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them." This doesn't seem a very deep subject, but Augustine, as he so often does, creates interest from the most unpromising material. A particular point worth noting is Augustine's defense of the dignity inherent in all honest work and its worthiness of Christians. This attitude towards work represented a sharp break with classical ethics, which sought dignity in either philosophy, politics, art, or war. When Plato had described manual labor as degrading, he expressed the commonplace view of the slavery-based classical civilization.
"The Usefulness of Fasting" was originally a sermon. Its purpose is to define the purpose of fasting, that it was a disciplining of the body, not a rejection of the body (a distinction important with regard to Manichaean dualism. Fasting is said to be bring the body to unity and harmony with the soul, which is compared metaphorically with bringing all men to unity and harmony within the Church.
"Eight Questions of Dulcitius" was a cut-and-paste job in which Augustine collected passages from other works of his and organized them as a response to the questions referred to in the title. The questions themselves concern the fate of the unbaptized, another concerns the reason for prayers for the dead, and still others concern the significance of selected biblical passages.
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