Augustine’s Theolog(ies) of Creation: Simultaneous Creation, ‘Seminal Seeds’, and Genesis 1-3

• Authors: Bradford L. McCall

Abstracts

EN

Are Augustine’s views of creation still relevant today, after the scientific revolution, and especially post-Darwin? Surely, much of his interpretation cannot withstand the onslaught of modernity and its concomitant increase in scientific knowledge. Perhaps not, but we can still learn from Augustine. It is a modern myth that the scientific revolution alone began-or forced-the church to come up with interpretations that were amenable to the science of their time. Augustine is a prime example of this “wrestling with the Divine”. However, we cannot go to Augustine with the hopes of settling the debate on origins and scriptural interpretation. Augustine erred mightily when he sought to use the bible as a proverbial science textbook. In this essay, we will encounter a presentation of Augustine’s theolog(ies) of creation through examining his views of “seminal seeds”, simultaneous creation, and his interpretive acrobatics with regard to Genesis 1–3. Whereas his initial persuasion on this matter was sound, Augustine nevertheless contradicted it in his own writings, to our corporate detriment.

Keywords

EN

hermeneutics; literal interpretation; figurative interpretation; historical interpretation; similitude; allegorical interpretation; theologies of creation; trinity; Genesis

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Diecezjalne Adalbertinum
• Journal: Studia Ełckie
• Year: 2022
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 2

Dates

published

2023

Contributors

author

Bradford L. McCall

References

• Allen P., “Augustine and the Systematic Theology of Origins”, in Augustine and Science, eds. J. Doody, A. Goldstein, K. Paffenroth (Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Lexington, 2012), 9–26.
• Arendt H., Love & Saint Augustine (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1929).
• Augustine, “A Refutation of the Manichees”, in On Genesis: A Refutation of the Manichees, Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis, The Literal Meaning of Genesis, with introductions, translations, and notes by E. Hill, ed. J. E. Rotelle (New York: New City, 2002).
• Augustine, “The Retractationes”, in The Fathers of the Church, vol. 60, trans. M. Inez Bogan, ed. R. J. Deferrari (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1968).
• Augustine, On Genesis: Two Books on Genesis Against the Manicheans and On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis: An Unfinished Book, trans. R. J. Teske, Fathers of the Church: A New Translation (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1991).
• Augustine, The Confessions, with an Introduction by R. S. Pine-Coffin (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1961).
• Augustine, The Literal Meaning of Genesis, vol. 1, trans. J. H. Taylor (New York: Paulist, 1982).
• Bernard R. W., “In figura: Terminology Pertaining to Figurative Exegesis in the Works of Augustine of Hippo” Ph.D. Dissertation (Princeton: Princeton University, 1985).
• Blowers P. M., Drama of the Divine Economy: Creator and Creation in Early Christian Theology and Piety (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).
• Brown A. J., “Augustine’s View of Creation and Its Modern Reception”, in Augustine and Science, eds. J. Doody, A. Goldstein, K. Paffenroth (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2012), 27–45.
• Brown A. J., The Days of Creation: A History of Christian Interpretation of Genesis 1:1–2:3 (Dorset, UK: Deo, 2014).
• Caiazza J., “Augustine on Evolution, Time, Memory”, in Augustine and Science, eds. J. Doody, A. Goldstein, K. Paffenroth (Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Lexington, 2012), 111–126.
• Catapano G., “Augustine”, in The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity, ed. L. P. Gerson, 2 vols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 2: 552–581.
• Chadwick H., “Augustine”, in A Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation, eds. R. J. Coggins, J. L. Holden (London: SCM, 1990), 67.
• Chadwick H., Augustine, ed. K. Thomas (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986).
• Christian W. A., “The Creation of the World”, in A Companion to the Study of St. Augustine, ed. R. Battenhouse (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1955), 315–367.
• Coyle J. K., “Mani, Manicheism”, in Augustine Through the Ages, ed. A. D. Fitzgerald (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), 520–525.
• Crouse R., “Paucis Mutatis Verbis: St. Augustine’s Platonism”, in Augustine and His Critics: Essays in Honour of Gerald Bonner, eds. R. Dodaro, G. Lawless (London: Routledge, 2002), 37–50.
• Curtis E., European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, trans. W. R. Trask (London: Routledge and Keegan Paul, 1953).
• Dulaey M., Bibliothèque Augustinienne 50 (Paris: Institut d’Études Augustiniennes, 2004).
• Fergusson D., Creation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014).
• Greene-McCreight, see Kathryn, Ad litteram: How Augustine, Calvin, and Barth Read the “Plain Sense” of Genesis 1–3 (New York: Peter Lang, 1999), 32–49.
• Jaki S. L., Genesis 1 Through the Ages (Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1998).
• Kim Y. K., Augustine’s Changing Interpretations of Genesis 1–3: From De Genesi Contra Manichaeos to De Genesi ad litteram (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 2006).
• Lienhard J. T., “Reading the Bible and Learning to Read: The Influence of Education on St. Augustine’s Exegesis”, Augustinian Studies 27, no. 1 (1996): 7–25.
• Markus R. A., “Life, Culture, and Controversies of Augustine”, in Augustine Through the Ages: An Encyclopedia, ed. A. D. Fitzgerald, 502–505.
• McGrath A., A Fine-Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2009).
• McKeough M. J., The Meaning of the Rationes Seminales in St. Augustine. Ph.D. Dissertation, The Catholic University of America (Washington, DC: 1926).
• McMullin Ernan “Cosmology and Religion”, in Cosmology: Historical, Literary, Philosophical, Religious and Scientific Perspectives (New York: Garland, 1993), 583–598.
• McMullin E., “Darwin and the Other Christian Tradition”, Zygon: Journal of Science and Religion 46, no. 2(2011): 291–316.
• McMullin E., Evolution and Creation (South Bend, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1985).
• O’Connell R. J., St. Augustine’s Early Theory of Man (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1968).
• O’Meara J. J., “Neoplatonism in the Conversion of Augustine”, in Studies in Augustine and Eriugena, ed. T. Halton (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1992), 121–31.
• O’Meara J. J., The Young Augustine: The Growth of St. Augustine’s Mind Up to His Conversion, 2nd rev. edn. (Staten Island, NY: Alba House, 2001).
• O’Toole Ch. J., The Philosophy of Creation in the Writings of St. Augustine (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1944).
• Spiegel J. S., “Augustine, Evolution, and Scientific Methodology”, in Augustine and Science, eds. Doody et.al., 197–206.
• Williams D. D., “The Significance of St. Augustine Today”, in A Companion to the Study of St. Augustine, ed. R. W. Battenhouse (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979), 4–11.
• Williams R., “Creation”, in Augustine Through the Ages: An Encyclopedia, ed. A. D. Fitzgerald (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 251–54.
• Young D. A., “The Contemporary Relevance of Augustine’s View of Creation”, in Augustine and Science, eds. J. Doody, A. Goldstein, K. Paffenroth, 59–73.

Identifiers

DOI

10.32090/SE.250207

Biblioteka Nauki

26469670