GREEK
SOURCES
The debate about Augustine's
knowledge of Greek sources, specifically Greek Christian sources, for his
thought is an old one, involving two questions: his knowledge of Greek, and
then his knowledge of Greek works in Latin editions. On the first question, it
is clear that his knowledge of Greek was skimpy and only increased in his later
years as he found more time for languages and as his need for sources and
authorities to support his polemical positions increased. As a young man he
disliked Greek, and after he became a bishop he still found it necessary to
request from Jerome Latin translations of Greek exegetical works. The chances,
therefore, that he might have known and used Origen's work in the original are
practically nil; probably he knew Origen through various kinds of
intermediaries -- florilegia, citations, and abridgements, such as Rufinus'
renderings. The same is true for his knowledge of John Chrysostom's work; it is
entirely secondhand. His awareness of and interest in Greek sources is most
evident in his work on cosmology (the works on Genesis) and on certain
doctrinal matters (atonement, trinity), but even here it is likely that he
relies on inter- There are absolutely no indications in his Pauline exegesis
that Augustine is What we do find, however, is that Augustine is sometimes
aware of exegetical options (see below) in interpreting certain passages,
options which had become established in the Greek tradition, and that in
rejecting them he sets himself against certain tendencies or characteristic
emphases of the Greek tradition of exegeting Paul. In this way a kind of continuity/discontinuity exists between Augustine and his Greek predecessors.
On the matter of Augustine's
knowledge of Greek Christian works in Latin translations, I can only say here
that much is speculative and very little is known for sure. The Origenist
crisis towards the end of the fourth century produced a flurry of interest in
Greek work among the Italians, and translations were produced during the 390's
and early years of the fifth century, some of which found its way into south
Italian monasteries and North African repositories after 410, but how much came
into Augustine's hands is difficult to say. Augustine does not show any sign of
knowing Rufinus' version of Origen's Romans commentary. In his exegesis of Paul
Augustine seems to operate completely out of the existing Latin tradition, both
Italian (where some Greek influence was present) and North African. (Peter
Gorday, Principles of Patristic Exegesis: Romans 9-11 in Origen, John
Chrysostom, and Augustine [Studies in the Bible and Early Christianity 4; New
York: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1983], 140-41)
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