Augustine and Christ 11:20 - 13:00 Wednesday, 21st August, 2019 South School Presentation type Short Communications 956 The Challenge of Augustine's Biblical Christology: Re-reading the In Iohannis Evangelium Tractatus Gregory Cruess The University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, USA Abstract The challenge of Augustine’s mature Christology is intrinsically linked to its irreducibly biblical character, and his preaching in the Tractates on the Gospel of John illustrates well its complexity and coherence. Although relatively neglected as a source for studying Augustine’s Christology, his sermon series on the Fourth Gospel presents a sophisticated episodic meditation upon the framework of the Johannine prologue. His use of the notion of the totus Christus in this context (referring here to Christ’s humanity and divinity, instead of to Christ’s unity with the Church) provides a lens for examining the complexity of reading the Gospel according to Christ’s identity as both God co-equal with the Father and as the Word incarnate who remains God but is at the same time a true human being co-equal with us. For Augustine’s Christology, this concept helps to adequately address the incarnational scope and structure of the biblical narrative, while at the same time providing an important manner of integrating the great diversity of scriptural and traditional language concerning Christ. As traced throughout the Tractates on John, this hermeneutic serves as a framework for respecting the scope of Augustine’s Christology and integrating his particular exegesis of the episodes of the Gospel narrative itself with one another and with that narrative as a whole. 379 Reflections on Augustine’s Evaluation of the Body in his later Comments on Genesis: A Christological Persepective. dr. Martin Claes Tilburg University, School of Catholic Theology, Tilburg, Netherlands Abstract Augustine’s anthropology is closely connected with his Christology and vice versa. In this contribution I argue that, despite his reputation for a dualistic or even negative evaluation of the human body, Augustine also in his later works, considered the human body as an opportunity for salvation. With help of three works on the book Genesis, which are distinctive in their rhetorical scopes, I discuss observations of a certain degree of constancy in a positive evaluation of the human body.These observations will be assessed in the framework of Augustine’s Christology. De Genesi ad litteram VI. 19.30-22.33 (>AD 399 -415) provides a focus on the perspective of history of salvation. It offers a viewpoint of human vulnerability and restoration in grace. De Civitate Dei XIII.21-23 (books XI -XIII AD 418-419 ) offers an eschatological perspective.In this context Augustine explained the human condition with help of Pauline (1 Cor. 15) Adam- Christ typology. He presents the act of (bodily) salvation as a process of mediation (Christus mediator) and even incorporation in the totus Christus. Contra adversarius legis et prophetarum (AD 419 -421) discusses the unity between the two covenants and the crucial hermeneutical position of Christ from an apologetical perspective in the evaluation of the changeable reality. Augustine described God’s salvation is in its (bodily) effects, initiated already in this life. 216 A Preached Theology: Augustine’s Doctrine of the Totus Christus Kimberly Baker Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, St. Meinrad, Indiana, USA Abstract Preaching is the crucible for Augustine’s doctrine of the totus Christus, the whole Christ with Christ as Head and the Church as Body. When preaching about the totus Christus, Augustine does more than teach and apply theology. Rather, he discovers and refines his theological insights in his study in preparation to preach and in the moment of preaching itself. Thus, Augustine’s doctrine of the totus Christus can be called a preached theology. This preached nature of the doctrine of the totus Christus shows that Augustine did the work of theology not only at his worktable but also at the church in his pastoral relationship with the Christian community. Recognizing this context of preaching for this core Augustinian doctrine underscores the importance of studying sermons as part of patristic research, not with a side glance for some added flavor to our study, but as theological, pastoral works central to the scholarly enterprise. 598 Tradi pro Christo, tradere Christum : Mt 10, 20 dans le De doctrina christiana d'Augustin d'Hippone, une interprétation isolée ? Marie Pauliat ENS de Lyon/CIHAM (UMR 5648), Lyon, France Abstract In its biblical context, Matt 10:20 par. concerns the martyrs: they should not worry about their words since the Holy Spirit will speak in them. In De doctrina christiana 4, 32, Augustine of Hippo applies this verse to preachers in a seemingly easy play on words: ‘It is not you who speak, it is the Spirit of your Father speaking in you [Matt 10:20]. If, then, the Holy Spirit speaks in those who are delivered up to the persecutors for Christ's sake, why would He not also speak in those who deliver Christ to those who learn?’ Our purpose is to clarify the scope of this unexpected comment. An examination of the 30 or so other Augustinian quotations from Matt 10:20 shows that, with a few exceptions, its interpretations fall into four broad sets. In the literal sense, the verse often explains the strength of the martyrs. Mention of the Father’s Spirit can also stimulate Trinitarian reflection. The need for the assistance of the Holy Spirit is regularly opposed to the pelagians. Finally, especially (but not exclusively) in the anti-donatist controversy, Matt 10:20 supports the Augustinian understanding of ministries to clarify the respective roles of God and man in the case of the sacraments, biblical inspiration and preaching - a current to which doctr. chr. 4:32 relates. We also place these Augustinian comments in the patristic tradition of Matt 10:20..