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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Some Short, but Important Works,
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This review is from: Saint Augustine : Treatises on Marriage and Other Subjects (Fathers of the Church A New Translation Volume 27) (Hardcover)
This is a collection of nine short works by Augustine. The table of contents is presented below:"The Good of Marriage", introduced and translated by Charles T. Wilcox "Adulterous Marriages", introduced and translated by Charles T. Huegelmeyer "Holy Virginity", introduced and translated by John McQuade "Faith and Works", introduced and translated by Marie Liguori "The Creed", introduced and translated by Marie Liguori "Faith and the Creed", introduced and translated by Robert P. Russell "The Care to be Taken for the Dead", introduced and translated by John A. Lacy "In Answer to the Jews", introduced and translated by Marie Liguori "The Divination of Demons", introduced and translated by Ruth Wentworth Brown "The Good of Marriage" was one of Augustine's most influential works. He wrote it to define the purpose of marriage and to defend it as a good - not as good as holy virginity but a good nevertheless. To this end, he defined the purpose of marriage (what goods it brings to those in the married state), and from this what the duties of marriage must therefore be. It is a work at once strange and familiar. It is strange in the pains it takes to defend the idea that marriage is not actually sinful (a charge that few would even think to make today). It is familiar in that many of the most criticized aspects of the Catholic view of marriage, such as the denial of divorce and the sinfulness of non-procreative sex, are presented and defended in this work. It is a powerful presentation of these embattled points of doctrine and well worth reading. "Adulterous Marriages" is a treatment of a variety of possible issues and complications surrounding adultery, particularly with regard to separation and remarriage. It was built on the same theological foundations as "The Good of Marriage", but was aimed less at expounding doctrine than answering possible objections to it and clarifying the finer points. It almost serves as a set of appendices to that prior and more foundational work. "Holy Virginity" is a work that necessarily followed Augustine's works on marriage. Having defended the goodness of marriage, a defense of the superior goodness of virginity was required. The argument is rhetorical in form and scriptural in content. The main purpose is completed fairly quickly - Augustine draws on the lives of Mary, Jesus, the Apostles, and the teachings of Paul to establish that holy virginity is a good thing. Surprisingly, he then devotes considerable space to warning those practicing virginity not to be over-proud of their state and its superiority over marriage and to caution those practicing virginity to humility. "Faith and Works" concerns what the title suggests it concerns. The launching point, however, is the narrower question of whether pagan converts should be educated in the requirements of a Christian life before or after baptism. This question leads Augustine into the question of how important the Christian life is to salvation: do works matter? Augustine's answer and the scripture used in addressing this point is the Catholic position. It relies on Peter, John, James, and Jude as counterweights to the "faith alone" reading of Paul, and in fascinating in showing how the question did not arise suddenly in the sixteenth century but in fact had very old roots (Augustine in fact regards it as old even in his own time, and as having been settled in the time of the Apostles). "The Creed" is a short work, originally given as a sermon, explaining the meaning of the Creed to a lay audience. Augustine went slowly through the Creed, explaining each line's meaning in clear terms, and avoiding theological heavy lifting. "Faith and the Creed" is a slightly longer work than its predecessor, and was aimed at a more sophisticated audience. It also works slowly through the Creed, but its main occupation is using it as a means of differentiating Catholic from Manichaean belief, naturally to the credit of the former. "The Care to be Taken for the Dead" is a sensitive work for those dealing with the problem of the proper care for the dead and what - if any - consequences it has for the life to come. Augustine finds that the reason for respectful care for the dead lies not out of concern for the next life (where it has no effect), but out of concern for those still alive, that care of the dead is an opportunity for a final show of respect for the deceased. In doing so, Augustine gives comfort to those who cannot care for loved ones who have died, without making it seem as though those who can are foolish in doing so. "In Answer to the Jews" aims to defend the Christian interpretations of messianic prophecy in the Old Testament against Jewish objections. There was a substantial Jewish population in North Africa where Augustine was bishop, and he sought to fortify local Christians with a defense of Christian belief about the Old Testament. "The Divination of Demons" is a short piece intended to explain a question that seldom troubles Christians today: how could demons prophecy the future and if they could didn't it make them worthy of worship? Without claiming to have every heard a demon prophecy anything, Augustine argues that they could do so by merely natural means, and that this would not even necessarily make them better than men, much less worthy of worship.
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