On Christian Doctrine: The Complete Text

No reading of Scripture is true that does not build up the love of God and of neighbour.

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About this edition

In the years after he became a bishop, Augustine set out to teach the Church how to read her own Scriptures. On Christian Doctrine is the fruit of it, the first Christian treatise on interpretation and the first Christian rhetoric, a book that shaped Christian learning for a thousand years.

Augustine distinguishes things from the signs that stand for them, and lays down the rule that governs all the rest. The first three Books teach the discovery of meaning: the knowledge of languages, of nature and of number, of the useful part of pagan learning, and the rules for reading what is figurative or obscure. The fourth teaches its expression, turning the eloquence Augustine once sold in the schools to the service of the Gospel.

This Sanctified Souls Press edition sets the complete text of the Preface and the four Books in the translation of J. F. Shaw, 1873, on cream paper, for reading and keeping.

Details

• Saint Augustine of Hippo (354–430), Bishop of Hippo Regius and Doctor of the Church
• Translated by J. F. Shaw, 1873
• Complete: the Preface and all four Books
• Sanctified Souls, Heritage Editions
• Paperback and hardcover, 6 × 9, 178 pages, cream paper

Cover: The Virgin Immaculate with the Four Doctors of the Church, Carlo Maratti (Italian, 1625–1713). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1963. Public domain.

Orders are placed and shipped through IngramSpark. This page is a catalogue listing.