Augustine of Hippo
The Literal Meaning of Genesis
The Conscious Library
Written work
The Literal Meaning of Genesis
De Genesi ad litteram libri XII
A great commentary on Genesis 1–3, written between c. 401 and 415, which tries to read the account as history rather than allegory. It proposes a simultaneous creation of all things with their 'seminal reasons', unfolding in time, and distinguishes three kinds of vision (bodily, spiritual and intellectual) in book XII, on paradise and Paul's rapture, a key text of medieval mysticism.
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Authorship note
Reviewed in book II of the Retractationes (works of his episcopate). Critical text: J. Zycha, CSEL 28/1 (1894).
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Other works by Augustine of Hippo
- Confessions · 397
- The City of God · 413
- On the Trinity · 400
- On Christian Teaching · 396
- Enchiridion on Faith, Hope and Charity · 421
- Expositions of the Psalms · 392
- Tractates on the Gospel of John · 406
- Homilies on the First Epistle of John · 407
- Letters · 386
- Sermons · 391
- Retractations · 426
- On the Beautiful and the Fitting · 380
- Against the Academics · 386
- On the Happy Life · 386
- On Order · 386
- Soliloquies · 387
- On the Immortality of the Soul · 387
- On Grammar · 387
- On Dialectic · 387
- On Music · 388
- On the Morals of the Catholic Church and of the Manichaeans · 388
- On the Greatness of the Soul · 388
- On Free Choice of the Will · 388
- On Genesis against the Manichaeans · 388
- On the Teacher · 389
- On True Religion · 390
- On the Advantage of Believing · 391
- On the Two Souls · 391
- Debate with Fortunatus the Manichaean · 392
- On Faith and the Creed · 393
- Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis · 393
- On the Lord's Sermon on the Mount · 394
- Psalm against the Party of Donatus · 393
- Against the Letter of Donatus the Heretic · 393
- Against Adimantus, a Disciple of Mani · 394
- Exposition of Some Propositions from the Letter to the Romans · 394
- Commentary on the Letter to the Galatians · 394
- Unfinished Commentary on the Letter to the Romans · 394
- On Eighty-Three Varied Questions · 388
- On Lying · 395
- To Simplician, on Various Questions · 396
- Against the Letter of Mani called 'The Foundation' · 396
- On the Christian Combat · 396
- Against the Party of Donatus · 397
- Reply to Faustus the Manichaean · 400
- Against Felix the Manichaean · 404
- On the Nature of the Good · 399
- Against Secundinus the Manichaean · 399
- Against Hilarus · 399
- Questions on the Gospels · 399
- Notes on Job · 399
- On Catechising the Uninstructed · 400
- On the Harmony of the Evangelists · 400
- Against the Letter of Parmenian · 400
- On Baptism · 400
- Against What Centurius Brought from the Donatists · 400
- Replies to the Enquiries of Januarius · 400
- On the Work of Monks · 400
- On the Good of Marriage · 401
- On Holy Virginity · 401
- Answer to the Letters of Petilian · 401
- Against Cresconius the Donatist Grammarian · 405
- Proofs and Testimonies against the Donatists · 406
- Against an Unknown Donatist · 406
- Admonition to the Donatists concerning the Maximianists · 406
- On the Divination of Demons · 406
- Six Questions against the Pagans · 408
- Exposition of the Letter of James · 400
- On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and the Baptism of Infants · 411
- On the One Baptism, against Petilian · 410
- On the Maximianists, against the Donatists · 410
- On the Grace of the New Testament, to Honoratus · 412
- On the Spirit and the Letter · 412
- On Faith and Works · 413
- Summary of the Conference with the Donatists · 411
- To the Donatists after the Conference · 412
- On Seeing God · 413
- On Nature and Grace · 415
- To Orosius, against the Priscillianists and Origenists · 415
- To the Priest Jerome · 415
- To Emeritus, Donatist Bishop, after the Conference · 415
- On the Perfection of Human Righteousness · 415
- On the Proceedings of Pelagius · 417
- On the Correction of the Donatists · 417
- On the Presence of God, to Dardanus · 417
- On the Grace of Christ and on Original Sin · 418
- Sermon to the People of the Church of Caesarea in the Presence of Emeritus · 418
- Proceedings with Emeritus, Donatist Bishop · 418
- Against an Arian Sermon · 419
- On Marriage and Concupiscence · 419
- Expressions in the Heptateuch · 419
- Questions on the Heptateuch · 419
- On the Soul and its Origin · 419
- Against Lying · 420
- Against Gaudentius, Donatist Bishop · 420
- Against the Adversary of the Law and the Prophets · 420
- Against Two Letters of the Pelagians · 420
- Against Julian · 421
- On the Care to be Taken for the Dead · 421
- On the Eight Questions of Dulcitius · 424
- On Grace and Free Will · 426
- On Rebuke and Grace · 426
- The Mirror · 427
- Debate with Maximinus, Arian Bishop · 427
- Against Maximinus the Arian · 428
- On Heresies, to Quodvultdeus · 428
- On the Predestination of the Saints · 428
- On the Gift of Perseverance · 429
- Unfinished Work against Julian · 429
- Treatise against the Jews · 429
- On Continence · 412
- On the Good of Widowhood · 414
- On Patience · 417
- On Faith in Things Unseen · 400
- On the Creed, to the Catechumens · 425
- On the Usefulness of Fasting · 408
- On the Sack of the City of Rome · 410
- Sermon on Christian Discipline · 410
- Rule of Saint Augustine · 397
- Letter to Catholics on the Donatist Sect (On the Unity of the Church) · 402
- Soliloquies of the Soul to God (pseudo-Augustinian) · 1250
- Meditations (pseudo-Augustinian) · 1050
- Manual (pseudo-Augustinian) · 1150
- On the Spirit and the Soul · 1160
- Questions on the Old and New Testaments · 375
- Hypomnesticon against the Pelagians and Caelestians · 430
- Sermons to the Brothers in the Desert · 1300
- On True and False Penance · 1050
- Book of Ecclesiastical Dogmas · 480
- On the Faith, to Peter · 523
- On the Wonders of Holy Scripture · 655
- The Ten Categories (Themistian Paraphrase) · 380
- On Rhetoric · 400
- The Ladder of Monks · 1150
- Mirror of the Sinner · 1300
- Against Felician the Arian, on the Unity of the Trinity · 480
- On the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary · 1100
- Spurious Sermons of the Appendix · 500
Sources
- Agustín de Hipona. Retractationum libri II. Ed. Almut Mutzenbecher. Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 57. Turnhout: Brepols, 1984.
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