Augustine on Abortion

In response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s statement about the Catholic Church’s stance on abortion made on “Meet the Press” on August 24, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has published a two-page fact sheet titled “Respect for Unborn Human Life: The Church’s Constant Teaching.”

Since Pelosi’s statement quoted Augustine’s view on abortion, the statement issued by the Catholic Bishops discusses Augustine’s interpretation of Exodus 21: 22-23, a difficult passage that has been interpreted by some scholars as allowing abortion at the earlier stages of pregnancy. According to the statement, Augustine’s interpretation was based on the translation found in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) instead of the original Hebrew reading:

In the 5th century AD this rejection of abortion at every stage was affirmed by the great bishop-theologian St. Augustine. He knew of theories about the human soul not being present until some weeks into pregnancy. Because he used the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, he also thought the ancient Israelites had imposed a more severe penalty for accidentally causing a miscarriage if the fetus was “fully formed” (Exodus 21: 22-23), language not found in any known Hebrew version of this passage. But he also held that human knowledge of biology was very limited, and he wisely warned against misusing such theories to risk committing homicide. He added that God has the power to make up all human deficiencies or lack of development in the Resurrection, so we cannot assume that the earliest aborted children will be excluded from enjoying eternal life with God.

Exodus 21:22-23 is difficult passage to interpret. The New Revised Standard Version translates the Hebrew text as follows: “When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no further harm follows, the one responsible shall be fined what the woman's husband demands, paying as much as the judges determine.”

There are several issues in the these two verses that require clarification before the proper interpretation of the text can be reached. For instance, the words “miscarriage” translates the Hebrew “her sons go out.” The text does not say whether the sons (the text is plural) are born alive or dead. Since the person responsible pays a fine, does it mean that no death occurred and that the lex talionis does not apply? Or, if there was a death, that the fetus was not considered a person?

Since I do not have the time today to explore all the issues in the text, I may return to this passage at a later time with a more detailed discussion of this problematic text.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary


Tag: Abortion, Augustine, Exodus 21, Nancy Pelosi

Augustine and the Old Testament

In an address delivered in Vatican City on January 9, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI spoke how Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, came to appreciate the Old Testament. In his address, Benedict said:

At first with the purpose of enriching his rhetorical repertoire, Augustine began attending the impressive lectures of Bishop Ambrose, who had been a representative of the emperor in Northern Italy; he was charmed by his words, not only because of their eloquence, but because they touched his heart. The main problem of the Old Testament -- the lack of oratory and philosophical elevation -- resolved itself in the lectures of St. Ambrose thanks to the typological interpretation of the Old Testament: Augustine understood that the Old Testament is a journey toward Jesus Christ. So he found the key to understanding the beauty, the philosophic depth of the Old Testament, and he understood the unity of the mystery of Christ in history, as well as the synthesis between philosophy, rationality and faith in the Logos, in Christ, the eternal Word that became flesh.

Typology is a method of interpretation that sees patterns in the Old Testament that find fulfillment in the teachings of the New Testament. The use of correspondence of events, persons, and things between the two Testaments can be useful in understanding the Old Testament as both Gerhard von Rad and Walther Eichrodt have shown. However, one must be careful not to transform typology into allegories.

If the use of typology helped Augustine develop a better appreciation for the Old Testament, maybe it can help Christians today understand the unity of the Bible and realize that the Old Testament is a book that speaks of God’s work in the world.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Augustine, Pope Benedict XVI, Typology

Augustine and the Canon

Augustine (he is also called Augustin), the Bishop of Hippo (354-430 A.D.), in his treatise, On Christian Doctrine, Book 2, Chapter 8, deals with the study of Scripture and introduces the biblical canon as it existed in his day. This list which mentions all the books that should be considered part of the Christian canon was introduced in the fourth century during the Council of Hippo in 393 A.D. This list of canonical books was also affirmed by the Council of Carthage in 397 A.D.

In his book, Augustine wrote:

But let us now go back to consider the third step here mentioned, for it is about it that I have set myself to speak and reason as the Lord shall grant me wisdom. The most skillful interpreter of the sacred writings, then, will be he who in the first place has read them all and retained them in his knowledge, if not yet with full understanding, still with such knowledge as reading gives, — those of them, at least, that are called canonical.

For he will read the others with greater safety when built up in the belief of the truth, so that they will not take first possession of a weak mind, nor, cheating it with dangerous falsehoods and delusions, fill it with prejudices adverse to a sound understanding.

Now, in regard to the canonical Scriptures, he must follow the judgment of the greater number of catholic churches; and among these, of course, a high place must be given to such as have been thought worthy to be the seat of an apostle and to receive epistles.

Accordingly, among the canonical Scriptures he will judge according to the following standard: to prefer those that are received by all the catholic churches to those which some do not receive. Among those, again, which are not received by all, he will prefer such as have the sanction of the greater number and those of greater authority, to such as are held by the smaller number and those of less authority. If, however, he shall find that some books are held by the greater number of churches, and others by the churches of greater authority (though this is not a very likely thing to happen), I think that in such a case the authority on the two sides is to be looked upon as equal.

Now the whole canon of Scripture on which we say this judgment is to be exercised, is contained in the following books: — Five books of Moses, that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; one book of Joshua the son of Nun; one of Judges; one short book called Ruth, which seems rather to belong to the beginning of Kings; next, four books of Kings, and two of Chronicles— these last not following one another, but running parallel, so to speak, and going over the same ground. The books now mentioned are history, which contains a connected narrative of the times, and follows the order of the events.

There are other books which seem to follow no regular order, and are connected neither with the order of the preceding books nor with one another, such as Job, and Tobias, and Esther, and Judith, and the two books of Maccabees, and the two of Ezra, which last look more like a sequel to the continuous regular history which terminates with the books of Kings and Chronicles.

Next are the Prophets, in which there is one book of the Psalms of David; and three books of Solomon, viz., Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes. For two books, one called Wisdom and the other Ecclesiasticus, are ascribed to Solomon from a certain resemblance of style, but the most likely opinion is that they were written by Jesus the son of Sirach. Still they are to be reckoned among the prophetical books, since they have attained recognition as being authoritative.

The remainder are the books which are strictly called the Prophets: twelve separate books of the prophets which are connected with one another, and having never been disjoined, are reckoned as one book; the names of these prophets are as follows: — Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi; then there are the four greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel. The authority of the Old Testament is contained within the limits of these forty-four books.

That of the New Testament, again, is contained within the following: — Four books of the Gospel, according to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke, according to John; fourteen epistles of the Apostle Paul — one to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, two to the Thessalonians, one to the Colossians, two to Timothy, one to Titus, to Philemon, to the Hebrews: two of Peter; three of John; one of Jude; and one of James; one book of the Acts of the Apostles; and one of the Revelation of John.

Notes on Augustine’s View of the Canon

1. Augustine recommends that Christians read and retain the content of the canonical books.

2. It is clear that in his day the canon was not fixed, since he does not include the Book of Lamentations (see below) and since he speaks of accepting as canonical only those books that were widely accepted by the church.

3. His canon of the Old Testament contains forty-four books. These books are divided as follows:

a. The five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

b. The historical books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, four books of Kings (1 and 2 Samuel; 1 and 2 Kings), and 1 and 2 Chronicles.

c. Other books which he says are not connected: Job, Tobias, Esther, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, and the two books of Ezra (Ezra and Nehemiah).

d. The Wisdom books, which Augustine called “The Prophets.” These are: one book of the Psalms of David, three books of Solomon, that is, Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes, and Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus, which Augustine believed were written by Jesus the son of Sirach.

e. The Prophetic books. Augustine lists the Minor Prophets first and then he lists the Major Prophets.

The Minor Prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

The Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel.

Augustine does not mention the book of Lamentations which was excluded from his list of canonical books. In his list, Daniel precedes Ezekiel, probably following a chronological arrangement of the two books.

f. New Testament. Augustine is credited as the first person to list all the New Testament books as they appear in today’s Bibles. According to Augustine, the New Testament in composed of the following books:

Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Pauline Epistles: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews. Augustine accepted the traditional view that Paul wrote Hebrews.

The Other Epistles: 1 and 2 Peter; 1, 2, and 3 John; Jude; and James.

The Other Books: The book of the Acts of the Apostles; and the Revelation of John.

Thus, it seems that the canon of the biblical books, including the New Testament, was almost fixed by the end of the fourth century. Although Augustine rejected the book of Lamentations, Jerome included the book in his translation of the Bible.

Before there was the canonical list of Augustine, there was the list developed by Athanasius in 367 A.D. In my next post I will compare Athanasius’ list with Augustine’s list.

Next in the series: Athanasius and the Canon.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Augustine, Bible, Canon