Blog # 9: Scripture According to Augustine

When reading the book by St. Augustine, I get the idea that he likes to take a very exact, almost scientific approach to the reading of scripture. He explains several specific theories or suggestions for understanding the texts, but the thing that seems of the most importance to him is memorizing them. He suggests this because it will help the reader to achieve eternal salvation, or something like that.

He strongly encourages memorizing the scriptures, saying, "the first rule is...to know these books; not necessarily to understand them but to read them so as to commit them to memory." (pg. 37) I think that for the psalms, this may not be the worst way to go about understanding them. The way the psalms are written, they are not easily understood in a single reading. If a person took the time to memorize at least some of them, it might especially help in understanding those psalms in particular. However, as the quantity of them makes this task rather daunting, it isn't completely practical.

He also suggests comparing different translations or texts in different languages in order to better understand the meaning intended by the original author. I find this to be his best and most practical suggestion. Obviously, it is easier to comprehend the purpose of the scripture when you know how it was to be understood in its original form. He suggests reading the Greek versions, and comparing them to the Latin versions, but I think that as far as the psalms are concerned, reading a translation like the Alter one gives enough notes on the translation that it seems to explain why he chose the wording he did, for those of us that only read in one language.

So, among the numerous ideas that St. Augustine proposes, I think the most useful are memorizing, and comparing translations. Both of these seem to be good suggestions as to understanding scripture, though how practical they are for students like us, is questionable.