Saint Augustine: Tractates on the Gospel of John 1–10
Overview
In Christian Latinity, the tractate is a specific type of sermon, delivered as part of a liturgy, which combines scriptural exegesis, preaching, spiritual commentary, and theological reflection. This volume contains the first ten of the 124 tractates on the Gospel of John delivered by St. Augustine, the world-renowned fourth-century bishop of Hippo Regius in North Africa. As sermons they exemplify the theory of preaching he outlined in his De doctrina Christiana (On Christian Instruction)—to preach in a simple and direct style accessible to all without compromising the theological knowledge and spiritual experience of the message.
Because John’s Gospel particularly emphasized the divinity of Jesus, the identity of the historical Jesus with the Messianic Christ, the Trinitarian Word, these sermons necessarily involve much Trinitarian and Christological theology. They explain and defend the orthodox position established at the councils of Nicea (AD 325) and Constantinople (AD 381). Their major theme is that Jesus Christ is the center of the Christian life, the Son of God and the Son of Man.
Beyond contemplation of John’s Gospel, the Tractates reveal much about the heresies to which Augustine’s congregation was exposed: Manichaeism, with its dualistic logic; Donatism, a schismatic, puritanical, and sacramental movement which involved the intervention of the state in the affairs of the Church; and Pelagianism, with its doctrines of original sin, grace, free will, and predestination.
Augustine delivered these sermons in Ciceronian oratorical style, having as his purpose to teach, to please, and to persuade. Through his allegorical exegesis, his audience was led to an understanding of the meaning of Scripture that would so affect their souls as to help them grow spiritually and bring them to eternal salvation.
For The Fathers of the Church series in its entirety, see Fathers of the Church Series (127 vols.).
Key Features
- Uses rhetorical technique to communicate sermons on the book of John
- Written in a style reflective of ancient orators
- One of 127 published volumes in a well-respected series on the Church Fathers
Top Highlights
“For the Word was the bridegroom, and human flesh was the bride; and both are the one Son of God and likewise the Son of Man. That womb of the Virgin Mary where he became the head of the Church was his bridal chamber; he came forth from there like the bridegroom from his bridal chamber, as Scripture foretold: ‘And he, as a bridegroom coming forth from his bridal chamber, has rejoiced as a giant to run the way.’9 He came forth from the bridal chamber like a bridegroom; and having been invited, he came to the wedding.” (Page 183)
“Christ does not want a share but wants to possess alone what he bought. He bought at so great a price that he may be the sole possessor. You make his partner the devil to whom you had sold yourself through sin. Woe to them of a double heart27 who give in their hearts part to God and part to the devil! God, angered because a part there has been given to the devil, departs and the devil will possess the whole. Not without purpose, therefore, does the Apostle say, ‘Do not give place to the devil.’28 Let us, therefore, brothers, acknowledge the Lamb; let us acknowledge the price of our ransom.” (Pages 161–162)
“What, then, does the Apostle say to the carnal and the natural who have not the power to perceive what the things of God are? ‘For whenever you say, I am of Paul, I of Apollos, are you not men?’10 What did he want to make them if he was reproaching them because they were men? Do you want to know what he wanted to make them? Hear it in the Psalms: ‘I have said, you are gods, and all sons of the most high.’11 To this, then, God calls us: not to be mere men. But then we will not be men for the better if first we recognize that we are men, that is, that we may rise to that height from our lowliness, lest whenever we think ourselves to be something, though we are nothing,12 we not only do not accept that we are not, but even lose what we are.” (Page 44)
- Title: Saint Augustine: Tractates on the Gospel of John 1–10
- Author: Augustine of Hippo
- Series: The Fathers of the Church
- Volume: 78
- Publisher: Catholic University of America
- Print Publication Date: 1988
- Logos Release Date: 2014
- Pages: 249
- Era: era:nicene
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Bible. N.T. John › Sermons--Early works to 1800; Sermons, English › Translations from Latin--Early works to 1800; Sermons, Latin › Translations into English--Early works to 1800
- ISBNs: 0813200784, 0813200792, 0813210283, 9780813200781, 9780813200798, 9780813210285
- Resource ID: LLS:TRCTTSGSPLJHN1
- Resource Type: text.monograph.sermons
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T21:02:54Z