Augustine on John, 1 John, and the Truth

Last updated on: May 29, 2020 at 8:00 am by Coyle Neal

Augustine on John, 1 John, and the Truth 2020-05-07T18:03:23-06:00 Coyle Neal

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Continuing to plod slowly through the Church Fathers, I’ve finally finished the volume containing Augustine’s ‘Tractates on the Gospel of John’, ‘Homilies on the First Epistle of John,’ and the ‘Soliloquies.’ At least, I’ve read the first and last of those, having previously read the more recent translation of Augustine on 1 John.

Overall, the sermons on the Gospel of John are excellent, and well worth reading. What Augustine finds worth asking and commenting about isn’t always what jumps out at us, and because of that at times it can be a bit jarring. Still, he’s not the most important post-New Testament writer for nothing. Augustine’s writings are generally solid gold, and this is no exception.

The ‘Soliloquies’ are also interesting, but not quite as solid as the sermons on John. As the editor’s introduction points out this is likely because this is a book written shortly after his conversion. It therefore has all the enthusiasm of a new convert mixed with sincere intellectual holdovers from Augustine’s pagan days. I do think it’s interesting that he begins his life as a Christian with a proto-theory of relativity (“without a knower, nothing can be true” II.15), and later in life moves on to other ideas about reality. Still, even in these early days of his life as a believer he has come to believe that the Truth can be found only through Christ. He just clearly hasn’t thought that out yet (not that I have, of course–Augustine as a young Christian is still miles ahead of me).

But the main event in this book is the 450 pages of sermons through the Gospel of John. As Gerald Bray points out in his excellent book on Augustine, Augustine has the habit of reading Scripture poorly through the allegorical method while still coming to theologically robust conclusions. And they are worthwhile conclusions indeed. To give just one randomly-chosen example:

“For He, who is altogether without sin, has no elements of discord in Himself; while the peace we possess, meanwhile, is such that in the midst of it we have still to be saying, ‘Forgive us our debts.'” (LXXVII.4)

The volume is full of nuggets like this. And while reading the church fathers isn’t for everyone, if you are the sort to read them then this book is for you.

Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast and an Associate Professor of Political Science at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO

Previous Post

May 22, 2020

Does God Care How We Worship?

Next Post

June 2, 2020 Common Grace, 1.54

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Action AFI Top 100 Animation Best Picture Winner BFI Top 250 Biography Biopic Books Childrens Christian Classics Classics Comedy Crime Documentary Drama Editor's Choice Family Fantasy Fantasy Films Foreign Historical Historical Fiction History Horror Horror IMDB Top 250 Indie Memoir Modern Novel Musical Mystery Non-Fiction Oscars Philosophy Poetry Popular Literature Reading and Writing Reality Romance Science Fiction Science Fiction Silent Sports Thriller TV Show Uncategorized Western Westerns Young Adult

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 June 2017 January 2017 December 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was the length of the great flood?

Select your answer to see how you score.

370 Days 40 days and 40 Nights 50 days 60 days