Treatises on Marriage and Other Subjects

Introduction

INTRODUCTION liT. AUGUSTINE does not mention the Tractatus adversus Judaeos in his Retractations. This omission raises two obstacles to any agreement upon a probable date of composition. If the treatise were written as a book, then its probable date would be after the Retractations, that is, 428-429. This theory Blumenkranz sees as the only basis for the traditional date 428 or 429.1 On the other hand, if the Tractatus is a sermon, it would have no place in the Retractations, which was restricted to books, as St. Augustine had reserved the review of his epistles and sermons for later consideration.2 Portalie/ Schanz,4 Bardenhewer,5 classify the Adversus Judaeos as a sermon among St. Augustine's apologetic or polemical writings. Following a B. Blumenkranz, Ein Beitrag wr Geschichte der jildisch-christlichen Beziehungen in den ersten Jahrhunderten (Basel 1946) 208. Blumenkranz rejects M. Zarb's chronology (cf. 'Chronologia operum sancti Augustini: An$elicu11l 11 [1934] 87). 2 Cf. Retractatiolles, pro!. I. 3 E. ]'ortalic, 'Saint Augustin: DTC I 2 (Paris 1909) 2291-2292. 4 M. Schanz, Geschichte der riimischen Litteratur IV 2 (Munich 1920) 417. 5 O. Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchlichell Literatur IV (t"reiburg 1924) 460. 387 388 SAINT AUGUSTINE suggestion in Schanz,6 moreover, Blumenkranz demonstrates conclusively that the Tractatus bears all the characteristics of the sermon in form, style, and diction.7 The fifty-sixth quaestio of the De diversis quaestionibus,8 Epistle 196 to Asellicus,9 and probably Sermon 91,10 St. Augustine likewise directs against the Jews. His commentaries on them throughout his writings-on their blindness, their rejection of Christ and consequent reprobation, the loss of their heritage to the Christians-is in accordance with the traditional attitude of earlier Christian writers. St. Augustine's original contribution to Jewish-Christian relations, however, is his interpretation of the Jewish dispersion as the Church's witness among all nations, of the Messianic mission of Christ. Since this same idea of bearing witness occurs in the De civitate Dei (18.46) where St. Augustine gives it exhaustive treatment, and since the Tractatus presumes the understanding of this whole chain of ideas and at the same time exhibits the habit of the preacher to use the same idea repeatedly, Blumenkranz sets the terminus post quem of Adversus Judaeos at 425-if this be the accepted date for De civitate Dei.ll 6 op. cit. 419. 7 Blumenkranz, op. cit. 200·202. 8 Cf. Possidius, Librorum, tractatum, et epistolarum Saneti Augustini indiculus 2 (PL 46). A. Wilmart, in 'Operum S. Augllstini Elenchus,' Miscellanea Agostiniana II (Rome 1931) 149-233, presents some strong conjectures that Possidius based his [ndiculum on St. Augustine's catalogue of his own writings. 9 Possidius, loe. cit.: Epistola ad Aselliwm episcopum-'de cavendo Judaismo: Cf. CSEL 57 (1911) , ed. Goldbacher, 10 Cf. PL 38.565-571: 'De verbis Evangelii Matthaei ubi Dominus interrogavit Judaeos, cujus filium dicerent esse Christum: Cf., also, Possidius, loco cit.: 'adversos quos supra dictos contra Judaeos tractatus duo: Schanz (op. cit. 419) thinks that Sermon 91 may be the other of the two sermons noted by Possidius. II Blumenkranz, op. cit. 207-209,211. Pope gives 426 as the date for the completion of De civ. Dei. Cf. H. Pope, O.P., Saint Augustine of Hippo (Westminster, Maryland 1949) 377. IN ANSWER TO THE JEWS 389 It was natural for St. Augustine to refer to the Jews in his writings and sermons wherever and whenever occasion demanded. He could scarcely avoid reference to them in his Scriptural commentaries and reflections any more than he could overlook their presence in society. It was natural, moreover, to be alert to the not insignificant problem they created in his province. The Jews formed no small part of the population of Hippo and Carthage and, though many were true to their religious beliefs and customs, others, with their careless morals and contentious ways, presented a serious difficulty to the zealous bishop in his solicitude for the members of his Christian flock who were only too ready to revert to the practices and customs of their pagan and Jewish ancestry.12 The persuasive firmness and kindness of the bishop, so evident in this sermon, might almost be construed as an invitation to the Jews to come into the ChurchY Still, the Adversus Judaeos apparently contributed more to the struggle against Jewish influence on the Church and served as a warning to his...