The Immortality of the Soul; The Magnitude of the Soul; On Music; The Advantage of Believing; On Faith in Things Unseen

Introduction

INTRODUCTION fj3LTHOUGH On Faith in Things Unseen is one of St. ~. Augustine's minor writings, its finished style shows the masterful construction, lucid presentation of ideas, and beauty of expression so characteristic of most of what he wrote. It is also a typical example of St. Augustme's apologetical style of argument and his appeal to prophecy. Because of its omission from the Retractationes and the Indiculum of Possidius, On Faith in Things Unseen long was considered spurious. The Louvain theologians had relegated this work to the place of a supplement, in their edition of St. Augustine, basing this censure on the opinion of Erasmus, who had even believed it to be a writing of Hugh of St. Victor. The Benedictine editors refuted this conjecture in stating that one manuscript of the work, that of the Codex Gemmeticensis,1 was discovered which antedated Hugh of St. Victor and which made formal mention of St. Augustine as author. Moreover, the matter treated and the discourse are characteristic, not of Hugh, but of Augustine. A comparison of the content of this work with St. Augustine's treatment of the same matters in his other writings reveals marked similarity in ideas and their actual expression. Finally, and the Benedictine editors remark that 'this must have escaped Erasmus' notice,' St. Augustine himself testi1 From the abbey of Jumieges, now preserved in the Municipal Library of Rouen, MS A.286 (472). 445 446 SAINT AUGUSTINE fies that this is his work in Epistola 231, to Count Darius, with these words: 'I also sent you other books, though you did not ask for them, that 1 might not do only what you asked; [they are] On Faith in Things Unseen, On Patience, On Continence, On Providence, and a large one, Faith, Hope, and Charity.' On Faith in T kings Unseen is generally considered to have been written after the year 399. Before that year, in which the Emperor Honorius passed laws against idolatry, St. Augustine 's reference (7.10) to the abandonment of false gods, the conversion of their temples to other uses, and the extirpation of pagan rites and customs, would have had little point. On the other hand, in this work the author quoted Holy Scripture not acording to the Vulgate, but from the Old Latin versions. This proves that it was not written in the latter part of his life, when he began to adopt St. Jerome's translation of the Bible. Because of the phrase,' 'my dearly beloved' (8.11), it is probable that the work was preached as a sermon. Its purpose is to refute that crass empiricism which would admit no faith in the truths of revelation because they cannot be 'seen,' that is, perceived by our sensory experience. Chapters 1-2 (sects. 1-4) present St. Augustine's philosophical argument for the necessity of admitting the reality of things unseen in everyday human relations. He shows that our experience of love, friendship, and other values is not based on what we perceive by the senses, but on an interior act, an immediate vision of our mind. This quality of the human mind, by which we grasp, and give assent to, intelligible truths, axioms, and values, elsewhere plays an important role in Augustine's theory of knowledge, ever since he wrote his Answer to Ske/Jlics (Contra Academicos). He was ON FAITH IN THINGS UNSEEN 447 to develop this theory fully in the ninth book of his great work, The Trinity. 2 In chapters 3-4 (sects. 5-7) Augustine proceeds to the demonstration of theological faith. He takes up the further objections of empiricists, namely that mental knowledge of things unseen is always based on inference from outward signs and indications. But, in the case of supranatural faith, such signs and indications are given in the marks of holiness of the Church, visible here and now, as they have been foretold in Scripture. Furthermore, from this demonstration of things present and visible (the Church) we are entitled to conclude also to the truth of the invisible mysteries of faith, past (regarding Christ) and future (regarding the Last Judgment), as predicted in the Old Testament. The Jews, who have these books, yet in their blindness do not believe, are being preserved by God as a permanent exhortation to Christians to be strong in the faith. Finally, the visible victory of the Gospel over the pagan world would not...