Augustine, the Trinity, and the Church: A Reading of the Anti-Donatist Sermons

by Adam Ployd

Overview

The legacy of Augustine of Hippo (354-430) continues to shape Western Christian language about both the Trinity and the Church, yet scholars rarely treat these two topics as related in his work. In Augustine, the Trinity, and the Church, Adam Ployd argues that Augustine's ecclesiology drew upon his Trinitarian theology to a surprising degree; this connection appears most clearly in a series of sermons Augustine preached in 406-407 against the Donatists, the rival Christian communion in North Africa. As he preached, Augustine deployed scriptural interpretations derived from his Latin pro-Nicene predecessors - but he adapted these Trinitarian arguments to construct a vision of the charitable unity of the Catholic Church against the Donatists. To condemn the Donatists for separating from the body of Christ, for example, Augustine appropriated a pro-Nicene Christology that viewed Christ's body as the means for ascent to his divinity. Augustine also further identified the love that unites Christians to each other and to Christ in his body as the Holy Spirit, who gives to us what he eternally is as the mutual love of Father and Son. On the central issue of baptism, Augustine made the sacrament a Trinitarian act as Christ gives the Spirit to his own body. The book ultimately shows that, for Augustine, the unity and integrity of the Church depended not upon the purity of the bishops or the guarded boundaries of the community, but upon the work of the triune God who unites us to Christ through the love of the Spirit, whom Christ himself gives in baptism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190272937
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2015
Series:	Oxford Studies in Historical Theology
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	392 KB

About the Author

Adam Ployd is Assistant Professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Eden Theological Seminary. His work on Augustine has appeared in Augustinian Studies, Journal of Early Christian Studies, and Scottish Journal of Theology. Ployd, a deacon in the United Methodist Church, lives in St. Louis with his wife, the Rev. Diane Kenaston, and their two dogs.

Table of Contents

Preface Abbreviations Introduction Trinitarian and Pro-Nicene The Church and the Donatists Chapter Outline 1. To Know and To Love Introduction Knowledge, Love, and the Purpose of Preaching The Moral Epistemology of trin. 1 The Moral Epistemology of Our Sermon Series The Primary Disposition of Humility Conclusion 2. The Body of Christ Introduction The Grammar of Unity From Grammar to Revelation Fleshing Out the Body of Christ Conclusion 3. The Love of the Holy Spirit Introduction Prolegomena on Love Love as the Source of Unity The Spirit of Love Conclusion 4. The Unity of Baptism Introduction The Spirit of Baptism The Power of Christ The Unity of the Dove Conclusion Conclusion: Appreciating Augustine's Trinitarian Ecclesiology Bibliography Subject Index Augustine Citation Index Biblical Citation Index

Editorial Reviews

"Ployd has executed his thematic approach carefully and purposefully in four clearly arranged chapters, preceded by an introduction and followed by a conclusion. The book has extensive bibliography and includes three indices: one of the names and subjects, one of Augustine's works, and one of the biblical references." — Joost van Neer, Augustiniana 67:3.4

"By focusing on Augustine's appropriation of the methods of scriptural interpretation used by Hilary and Ambrose in defense of the Nicene definition, Adam Ployd has proposed a promising approach to the Donatist controversy and a new understanding of Augustine's ecclesiology as Trinitarian." —J. Patout Burns, Edward A. Malloy Professor of Catholic Studies emeritus, Vanderbilt Divinity School

"Adam Ployd invites the reader into a seven-month period of Augustine's preaching early in the fifth century. He moves beyond the Augustine-of-controversy and gives us a picture of him engaged with his people and talking about their faith in down-to-earth ways. Augustine's faith-sharing is intent on building up that community, hoping to move them beyond the century-long division from their neighbors. That history is also pertinent today." —Allan D. Fitzgerald, O.S.A., Director of the Augustinian Institute, Villanova University

"In this very welcome book Adam Ployd offers an exemplary reading of Augustine's sermons as theological texts. Ployd shows us Augustine playing the music of his theology: joining, expanding, and interweaving the great themes of his theology to seduce his audience. Students of early Christianity, theologians, and preachers alike will appreciate this searching account of Trinitarian theology and ecclesiology in one of the most fundamental of early Christian writers." —Lewis Ayres, Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology, University of Durham

"Readers will find a wealth of theological insight in Augustine, Trinity, and the Church."—Exploring Church History

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