Journal of the American Academy of Religion Advance Access originally published online on May 17, 2007
Journal of the American Academy of Religion 2007 75(2):324-352; doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfm003
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"We Are Your Books": Augustine, the Bible, and the Practice of Authority
Department of Religious Studies and Department of Classics, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA 95053, USA
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Abstract |
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Although Augustine's posthumous influence on Christianity is immense and wide ranging, the authority he exercises among his contemporaries is far more modest and contextual. Subsequent generations overestimate Augustine's actual authority largely because we approach him as readers of a written, monological corpus that has consolidated his power. In his own context, however, Augustine's authority as preacher and bishop lay in complex social dynamics that are dialogical, mutually responsive, and limiting. Although we can no longer hear Augustine as those in his congregation did, we can work to develop hermeneutical practices that retrieve differences in the way written and spoken words generate distinct patterns of authority. Not only is Augustine aware of such differences, but in his practice of exegesis and preaching, the authority of scripture itself functions variously within a range of written and verbal registers. His treatment of the psalms especially emphasizes their status as a living voice inviting the hearer into dialogue with the divine other. An amplified sense of how authority operates in Augustine's work: (1) contributes to historical studies that argue the exercise of episcopal power in the late fourth, early fifth centuries was in fact quite restricted; (2) coheres with theoretical studies that insist the nature of religious power is constituted by multidirectional social and symbolic relations; and (3) comports with theological studies that regard divine revelation as lying not solely in the biblical text but also in the very communicative processes where that text comes to life.