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Principles of Scriptural Interpretation in St “WHAT MY SCRIPTURE SAYS, I SAY”: PRINCIPLES OF SCRIPTURAL INTERPRETATION IN ST. AUGUSTINE A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Theodore Kristian Almen Harwood May 2018 © 2018 Theodore Kristian Almen Harwood “WHAT MY SCRIPTURE SAYS, I SAY”: PRINCIPLES OF SCRIPTURAL INTERPRETATION IN ST. AUGUSTINE Theodore Kristian Almen Harwood, Ph. D. Cornell University 2018 This dissertation offers a systematic account of St. Augustine’s principles of interpretation, or hermeneutics. Chapter 1 treats the dialectic of Confessions XII and argues that Augustine privileges the intention of the human author of Scripture as the best possible meaning of the text that readers must try to find, though they can still find other valid interpretations as long as they are seeking the author’s intention. Chapters 2-4 then treat six principles that Augustine appeals to in his theory of Scriptural interpretation. Chapter 2 argues for an inherent connection between Augustine’s intentionalism and his starting claim that Scripture is true inasmuch as it is authored by God; it also discusses his first interpretive principle, by which he appeals to general and linguistic knowledge as a prerequisite for interpretation. Chapter 3 explains three principles that Augustine ties together in a series and bases on the content of Scripture: Christ’s command to love God and neighbor as the purpose of all Scripture; the role of “clearly stated” (aperte posita) passages in establishing the parameters for the moral and doctrinal content of Scripture; and the use of figurative interpretation in understanding all Scripture, but especially passages that are unclear or objectionable. Chapter 4 argues that Augustine also uses two sources outside of Scripture, the authoritative statements of the Church and the sure arguments of philosophy or science, to limit and to add to the possible meanings of Scriptural passages. Chapter 5 returns to the issue of the human writer's intention and its role in interpretation, comparing the account in De Doctrina Christiana and Confessions XII to the earlier one in De Utilitate Credendi, and then proposing a larger theory of the role of the writer’s intention in light of some of Augustine’s later works. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Theodore Harwood was born in Lisbon, Portugal, and grew up in Milwaukee and La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he was homeschooled for all of his K-12 education. He attended Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan, and graduated summa cum laude in 2011 as the salutatorian of his class, with a major in Latin and minor in Greek. He entered the Classics Ph.D. program at Cornell University in 2011, with a focus on Ancient Philosophy. After taking a leave of absence in the 2014-15 year to teach Latin, Greek, and Philosophy at Highlands Latin School in Louisville, Kentucky, he returned to Cornell to complete his dissertation work. He lives with his wife, Anna, and their two children, Thomas and Sylvia. iii J.M.J. For my parents, who taught to me to love God, words, and wisdom. Uxori carissimae mihi adeodatae Annae—O lux in tenebris meis. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am particularly grateful to my chair, Charles Brittain, for all the time and energy he invested into helping me with this and other projects and for all the additional guidance I have received from him. I have been really blessed in all my committee members. Thanks to Andrew Hicks for much advice on drafts, speedy replies to pressing questions, and encouragement at many stages. Thanks to Scott MacDonald for many pleasant evenings reading philosophy and for excellent advice, particularly about professional growth and job applications. Thanks to Hayden Pelliccia for a firm hand when necessary and for putting up with a topic rather out of his interest. I am very grateful also to the Department of Classics at Cornell University for their support throughout my Ph.D. program. I would not have remained in graduate school but for the generous encouragement of Mike Fontaine, to whom I am indebted for much honest advice and real inspiration. I am really thankful also to Tad Brennan, a true mentor who, with humor and tenacity, helped me to navigate graduate studies and pursue my interests. Éric Rebillard provided invaluable guidance and feedback on conference papers and application materials. Linda Brown is one of the most patient and helpful human beings I know and has been a good friend to me through all my years in the department. Many thanks to her, Phil Rusher, Jessica Smith, and to Katrina Neff. Stephen Thompson provided much moral support in all our shared years at Cornell. Lunch and snack with him was both a delightful intellectual distraction and a helpful means of parsing out my own ideas. v I cannot thank my parents enough for the support they have provided to me— material, spiritual, and intellectual—in the past few years especially. Without them, I could not possibly have conceived of this project or brought it to completion. I am particularly grateful to my father for telling me to consign my procrastinations to Hades. Many thanks to my father- and mother-in-law as well for abundant parental support and encouragement. Most of all, I am thankful to my wife, Anna, for putting up with my gestation and birth of this project over the last three years, even when she was doing the real thing. Thanks also to our children, Thomas and Sylvia, for keeping me from thinking about my work all the time. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS (Beneath each chapter heading, an indented bold text indicates a Section, while plain indented text with a bullet indicates a Subsection) BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH . iii DEDICATION . iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . v TABLE OF CONTENTS . vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . x PREFACE . xi INTRODUCTION: Backgrounds. 1 Interpretation in Augustine’s Life . 1 • Introduction to Scripture and early distaste . 2 • The Manichees . 3 • Ambrose . 4 • Later developments . 5 Influences on Augustine’s Hermeneutics . 7 • Ambrose . 8 • Origen . 9 • Jerome . 11 • Tychonius . 12 • Conclusion . 14 Recent Scholarship . 15 • Principles and requirements . 15 • The writer’s intention . 20 • Clearly stated passages and figurative interpretation . 28 • The role of philosophy and science . 31 • Conclusion . 35 CHAPTER 1: An Analysis of the Role of the Human Author’s Intention in the Interpretation of Scripture in Confessions XII . 36 Summary of Book XII . 37 The Argument of Confessions XII . 40 • Confessions XII.27: The constituents and antitheses of the argument . 40 • Confessions XII.33: Seeing the truth and believing that Moses saw it . 45 • Confessions XII.36: More roles for charity and the dual purpose of Scripture . 49 vii • Confessions XII.41: The nature of Moses’ particular meaning and the unity of truth . 54 • Confessions XII.42: A suggestion about how much Moses recognized . 60 • Confessions XII.43: God’s role as author and the proper goal for readers . 65 A General and a Particular Conclusion . 72 • A more particular theory . 75 CHAPTER 2: Augustine’s Six Principles of Interpretation; Preliminary Problems; and the First principle, Linguistic and Ordinary Knowledge . 79 First Principles . 83 What Is Asserted . 88 Limits on What Can Be Asserted . 92 • 1. Assertions requiring immediate context . 94 • 2. Assertions requiring distant or external information . 96 • 3. Assertions based on figurative interpretation . 97 • Conclusion . 98 Linguistic and Ordinary Means . 99 • Doct. chr. II.11.16-40.60 . 100 • The role of context . 105 CHAPTER 3: Three Internal Principles: Charity, Clearly Stated Passages, and Figurative Interpretation . 110 The Double Precept of Charity . 111 • 1. The linguistic answer . 114 • 2. The philosophical answer . 115 • 3. The theological answer . 118 • 4. The unit of charity . 121 Clearly Stated Passages . 126 • Introduction of the argument . 129 • 1. The terminology for “clearly stated” passages . 132 • 2. Obstacles to clarity . 134 • 3. Determining and revising what is clearly stated . 142 • Summary and remaining problems . 144 Figurative Interpretation . 145 • 1. Justifications for figurative interpretation . 148 • 2. Different types of passage requiring figurative interpretation ..
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