Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/115

 AUGUSTINE

he Doctor in him predominates over the orator, f he possesses less of colour, of opulence, of actuality, .nd of Oriental charm than St. John Chrj-sostom, ve find, on the other hand, a more nervous logic, wider comparisons, greater elevation and greater jrofundity of thought, and sometimes, in his bursts )f emotion and his daring lapses into dialogue- orm. he attains the irresistible power of the Greek )rator. The oratorical merit of Augustine has •ecentlv been placed in strong relief by Rottmanner Ti •• Histori^ches Jahrbuch ". 189S, p. 894; and H. Pope. O. P., in "The Ecclesiastical Review'', Sep- ember. 1906.

Editions? of St. Augustine's trorks. — The best edition if his complete works is that of the Benedictines, 'leven tomes in eight folio volmnes (Paris. 1679- 1700). It has been often reprinted, e. g. by Gaume (Paris 1836-39V in eleven octavo volumes, and by .\Iigne! P. L.. XXXII-XLVII. The last voliune of the Migne reprint contains a number of important earlier studies on St. Augustine — Vives. Xoris, Merlin, particularlv the literarj- historj- of the editions of .\ugustinefrom Schonemaim's "Bibl. hist. lit. patrum Lat~. ■■ (Leipzig. 1794\ For critical remarks on the Benedictine, or Matirist. edition, see R. Kukula and O Rottmanner in the repons of the Vienna Academy of Science for 1S90. 9.3. 98. Since 1887 a new edition of St. .A.ugiistine has been appearing in the "Corpus Scriptorum Eccl. Latinorum" of the Vienna Academy —the -Confessiones' by P. ICnoU (XXXIII), the "De Ci\-itate Dei ", by E". Hoffmann (XL), etc. The principal tractates of St. Augtistine are also found in the collection of H. Hurter. "SS. PP. Opuscula selecta" (Innsbruck, 1868 sqq.).— English transla- tions.— X)t. Pusey's "Library of the Fathers' (Ox- ford, 1839-551 contains translations of many works of St. Augustine — the "Confessions", sermons, treatises, expositions on the Psalms, and "Homilies on Johii". It is well supplemented by the "Augus- tinian Librarv" of Marcus Dods (Edinburgh. 1872- 76. 15 vols., 8vo), which contains a great number of tran'^lations, from the pens of Cunningham, Findlay. Salmond, Holmes. Wallis. and others— the "City of God '. the "Confessions", the Anti-Donafst. Anti- Pelagian, and Anti-Manichaean works, "On the Trinfty", "Sermon on the Mount", "Harmony of the Gospels". "On Christian Doctrine", the "En- chiridion". "On the Faith and the Creed' . "On Catechizing the Ignorant". These volumes, en- riched with other translations and introductory discourses. were reprinted tmder the editorial di- rection of Dr. Pliilip Schaff (Xew York. 1886-88, gvols ). Dr. Pusev's translation of the "Confessions _, he savs himself, "is a re\-ision of the version of \N . ■Watts (London. 16.501. with addition of a lengthv preface and notes; the same translation, reprinted at Boston (18431, and then reputed anonj-mous, furnished Dr. W. G. T. Shedd (Andover. 1860) with the text for his "excellent original introduction in which he clearlv and vigorously characterizes the Confessions and draws a comparison between them and the Confessions of Rousseau" (Schaff, Hist, of the Christian Church. 5th ed.. Xew 'iork, 1903, p 1005) The earliest English translation of the "be Ci%-itate Dei" bears the title: "Of the Citie of God with the learned comments of Jo. L. A ives, En-'lished first by J. H(ealev1. London, 1610". There U a German (Catholic) translation of several works of St. .\ugustine in the "Kempten Bibliothek der Kirchenvater" (1871-79. 8 vols.).

Ill His Fcxcnox .*^ .^ Doctor of the C^tucH.-— ■When the critics endeavour to determine Augustine's place in the histor\' of the Church and of civilization, there can be no question of exterior or political in- fluence =:uch as was exercised by St. Leo, fet. Gregorj-. or St Bernard. As Renter justly observes. Augustine was bi-ihop of a third-rate city and had scarcely

91 AUGUSTINE

any direct control over politics, and Hamack adds that perhaps he had not the qualifications of a statesman. If Augustine occupies a place apart in the history of humanity. Eucken and men of his calibre agree that it is as a thinker, his influence being felt even outside the realm of theologj", and playing a most potent part in the orientation of 'Westera thought. It is now tmiversally conceded that, in the intellectual field, this influence is imrivalled even by that of Thomas Aquinas, and Augustine's teaching marks a distinct epoch in the historj- of Christian thought. The better to emphasize this important fact we shall try to determine: (1) the rank and de- gree of influence that must be ascribed to Augustine; (2) the nature, or the elements, of his doctrinal in- fluence; (3) the general qualities of his doctrine; and (4) the character of his genius.

(1) The greatest of the Doctors. — It is first of all a remarkable fact that the great critics, Protestant as well as CathoUc, are almost tmanimous in placing St. Augustine in the foremost rank of Doctors and proclaiming him to be the greatest of the Fathers. Such, ind^, was also the opinion of his contem- poraries, judging from their expressions of enthusiasm gathered by the BoUandists. The popes attributed such exceptional authority to the Doctor of Hippo that, even of late years, "it has given rise to lively theological controversies. Peter the Venerable accurately summarized the general sentiment of the Middle Ages when he ranked Augustine immediately after the .\postles: and in modern times Bossuet, whose genius was most Uke that of Augustine, assigns liim the first place among the Doctors, nor does he simplv call him "the incomparable Augustine'', but "the Eagle of Doctors", "the Doctor of Doctors"'. If the Jansenistic abuse of liis works and perhaps the exaggerations of certain Catholics, as well as the attack of Richard Simon, seem to have alarined some minds, the general opinion has not varied. In the nineteenth centurj- Stockl expressed the thought of all when he said. "Augustine has justly been called the greatest Doctor of the Catholic world ' '.

And the admiration of Protestant critics is not less enthusiastic. More than this, it would seem as if they had in these latter days been quite specially Lascinated by the great figure of .\ugustine, so deeply and so assiduously have they studied him (Binde- mann, Schaff, Dorner. Renter. A. Hamack, Eucken. Scheel, and so on) and all of them agree more or less with Hamack when he says: "Where, in the histor>- of the West, is there to be" found a man who, in point of influence, can be compared with him?" Luther and Calvm were content to treat Augustine with a little less irreverence than they did the other Fathers, but their descendants do him full justice, although recognizing him as the Father of Roman Catholicism. According to Bindemann, "Augustine is a star of extraordmary brilliancy in the firmament of the Church. Since the Apostles he has been vmsurpassed ' '. In his " History of the Church ' ' Dr. Kurtz calls Augu.s- tine "the greatest, the most powerful of all the Fathers, him from whom proceeds all the doctrinal and ecclesiastical development of the West, and to whom each recurring crisis, each new orientation of thought brings it back". Schaff himself (Saint Augustine, Melanchthon and Xeander. p. 98) is of the same opinion: "While most of the great men in the history of the Church are claimed either by the Catholic or by the Protestant confession, and their influence is therefore confined to one or the other, he enjoys from both a respect equally profoimd and enduring". Rudolf Eucken is bolder still, when he says: "On the ground of Christianity proper a single philosopher has appeared and that is Augustine". The English writer. W. Cunningham, is no less ap- preciative of the extent and perpetuity of this ex- traordinary influence: "The whole life of the medieval