Christian Wisdom in the Enchiridion

1. The Enchiridion has a synthetic function in Augustine’s work, and so it does in our course. 2. As you may have noticed, this little book seeks to answer basically the same question as did the first work we considered in the chronological order of Augustine’s works, namely, the Contra Academicos. The same underlying question in both works, which is the driving concern behind most of Augustine’s thought in general, is the following: “How should I live?”. 3. In fact, quite interestingly, both works provide basically the same answer: “Live in wisdom.” However, the detailed interpretation of this answer is quite radically different in the youthful work of the freshly converted, but not yet baptized orator, and in the summary work of the aging bishop. Still, these interpretations are not incompatible either. 4. Indeed, as I’m briefly going to argue, in Augustine’s mind, the interpretation of the answer provided by the later work is but a logical extension, and more profound articulation, of the interpretation provided by the earlier one, incorporating the effort of a lifetime to live up to the standard set by the original answer. This is precisely the reason why the author of the Retractationes never substantially disapproves of the doctrine of the Contra Academicos, although he certainly chides its author for what he perceives as remnants of his old ways, his remaining mannerisms from the “school of pride”. 5. Nevertheless, there still is a world of difference between the detailed interpretations of the simple answer to the main question in the two works. For although the author of the youthful work also argued that the wisdom to which one should devote one’s life is “not of this world” [3.19.42.10], in these words he merely acknowledged the transcendence of that Wisdom in which we should seek our share. However, he had apparently no clear idea of how that Wisdom imprinted its image upon our souls, and consequently what it takes to clearly discern and also clarify this image in our lifetime. 6. On the other hand, it is precisely this insight that is the leitmotif of the Enchiridion: if you want to live in wisdom, you should live a life that realizes (in both the cognitive and active sense of the word “realize”) the image of the Trinity in man. In brief, you should live a life informed by the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love, corresponding to the divine persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 7. This is the idea that provides the conceptual and structural unity of the work, despite its apparently imbalanced and somewhat ad hoc argumentation noted by several modern critics. (For whose views see Thomas Hibbs’ excellent introduction to the volume.) 8. However, this apparent imbalance toward the discussion of faith at the expense of hope and love has a principled reason in Augustine’s thought. For, as we could see already in the context of De Trinitate, love is the desire for the good that is hoped for, which, however, would not be hoped for unless it were believed to be attainable. “Wherefore there is no love without hope, no hope without love, and neither love nor hope without faith” – as Augustine puts it at the end of c. 8 of the Enchiridion. For it is faith that inspires hope, and it is both faith and hope that incite love, just as the Son, our hope, proceeds from the Father, the principle of our faith, and as the Holy Spirit, the principle of love, proceeds from both. 9. But then, one can only have the latter two, if one first has the first, and so this, being the precondition of the other two, is what needs to be explained and understood first, in the greatest detail, as much as it is possible. 10. This is why the greater part of the Enchiridion is devoted to the exposition of the articles of faith, as they are summarized in the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. 11. This certainly does not lead to the neglect of the other two virtues. However, once the articles of faith are properly understood, they are bound to inspire in the soul the hope for what they promise, and the love for what they describe. Therefore, after the careful exposition of those articles, Augustine can afford to treat briefly of the remaining two virtues, striving for brevity, demanded by the form of a handbook (enchiridion).