Augustine's Answer to Jacques Derrida in the De Doctrina Christiana
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4901518 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Brenda Deen Schildgen (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 383 |
| Publication date | 1994-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New Literary History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0028-6087 • E-ISSN: 1080-661X |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/469454 |
| OpenAlex | W2320152113 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
HE DE DOCTRINA CHRISTIANA, besides its many other features, is a systematic defense of a science of reading, or hermeneutics, which Augustine argues is essential to understand Scriptures. Because revelation, as exemplified by the perfect Egyptian monk Antony, who memorized and understood Sacred Scriptures simply by hearing them, eludes most readers or listeners, Augustine argues that training in reading is essential if we are to understand Sacred Sciptures.' While Augustine does not reject revelation as a means to understanding the Bible, does recognize how uncommon it is, and therefore spends the first three books of the De Doctrina Christiana developing a theory for how to read Scriptures in the absence of spontaneous, Antony-style, divinely inspired, unmediated insight. Augustine's discussion of how to read Scriptures distinguishes between kinds of reading. On the one hand is the ability to pronounce and decipher words, and on the other, and more importantly, the ability to understand them: he who explains to listeners what understands in the Scriptures is like a reader who pronounces the words knows, but who teaches how the Scriptures are to be understood is like a teacher who advises how the words are to be read.2 Critical distinctions between
Augustinian Studies and Theology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,18 |
| Citation span | 2004 - 2018 (15) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |