Augustine and the Supremacy of Scripture
This post will heavily rely on Martin Chemnitz's comments on Augustine in his first volume of Examination of the Council of Trent. It is possible that Chemnitz is misrepresenting Augustine here and is only quoting from parts of Augustine that suit his view. If that is the case, then please correct me!
Consider here the following quotations from Chemnitz
All of this can be found in section V of Chemnitz's First Topic in his first volume.
To add onto these citations, we can note Augustine's letter to Jerome where he states unequivocally that he yields uncritical assent to the Scriptures alone.
Taken together, these quotations suggest that Augustine held onto the canonical Scriptures as uniquely authoritative for faith and morals. He constantly emphasizes that we ought to turn to the Scriptures as opposed to other sources in order to settle religious disputes. He also affirms that the Scriptures clearly contain all things necessary for faith and morals. Chemnitz likes to bring up Augustine on that point specificially because, at that time, Papalists were affirming that certain dogmas were necessary for faith and morals even though they are not found in Scripture.
However, even though Chemnitz cites Augustine many times, even he admits that there are certain passages which appear to go against this grain.
Here, Augustine establishes infant baptism on apostolic tradition and is rather apathetic to what the explicit testimony of Scripture is. "We believe that infant baptism is founded by apostolic authority, but if you'd like Scriptural testimony, then feel free to use this argument." In other passages we can see exactly what Augustine means by 'apostolic authority':
How can Augustine's emphatic defense of Scripture as the canon by which all religious matters are to be judged, and the insistence that all things believed by the Church are to be found in Scripture, fit with his seeming belief that certain rites are to be found ultimately in apostolic tradition with a seeming indifference to explicit Scriptural testimony.
We can see this same phenomenon in Augustine's treatment of Christ's descent into Hell and preaching to Adam.
Augustine insists that the Church must believe this for a reason even though it does not contain explicit Scriptural testimony. It is noteworthy here that Augustine holds onto this doctrine because it is the widespread belief of the Church even though it does not fit either criteria that he speaks of in his response to Jerome. How are we to reconcile these things? I do not believe we can. We must remember that Augustine is not a reformation-era thinker who is systematically examining the relationship between Scripture and tradition. Instead, it seems that 'apostolic tradition' is an ad hoc category that Augustine uses to fit certain practices of the Church held everywhere that does not command explicit Scriptural testimony inspite of its contradiction with his words elsewhere. It is the Reformers who will apply Augustine's views on Scripture to many practices found throughout the Roman Church. It is the Papalists who will elaborate and expand on Augustine's category of apostolic tradition. This highlights how the Reformation and the Papal Church are not the exclusive heirs of patristic thought. Oftentimes both views are found within the Patristic tradition.
Sources: Examination of the Council of Trent Volume 1 - https://z-library.sk/book/VOwWZ8NmO3/examination-of-the-council-of-trent.html
Augustine's Letter 82 to Jerome. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102082.htm
Consider here the following quotations from Chemnitz
All of this can be found in section V of Chemnitz's First Topic in his first volume.
To add onto these citations, we can note Augustine's letter to Jerome where he states unequivocally that he yields uncritical assent to the Scriptures alone.
Taken together, these quotations suggest that Augustine held onto the canonical Scriptures as uniquely authoritative for faith and morals. He constantly emphasizes that we ought to turn to the Scriptures as opposed to other sources in order to settle religious disputes. He also affirms that the Scriptures clearly contain all things necessary for faith and morals. Chemnitz likes to bring up Augustine on that point specificially because, at that time, Papalists were affirming that certain dogmas were necessary for faith and morals even though they are not found in Scripture.
However, even though Chemnitz cites Augustine many times, even he admits that there are certain passages which appear to go against this grain.
Here, Augustine establishes infant baptism on apostolic tradition and is rather apathetic to what the explicit testimony of Scripture is. "We believe that infant baptism is founded by apostolic authority, but if you'd like Scriptural testimony, then feel free to use this argument." In other passages we can see exactly what Augustine means by 'apostolic authority':
How can Augustine's emphatic defense of Scripture as the canon by which all religious matters are to be judged, and the insistence that all things believed by the Church are to be found in Scripture, fit with his seeming belief that certain rites are to be found ultimately in apostolic tradition with a seeming indifference to explicit Scriptural testimony.
We can see this same phenomenon in Augustine's treatment of Christ's descent into Hell and preaching to Adam.
Augustine insists that the Church must believe this for a reason even though it does not contain explicit Scriptural testimony. It is noteworthy here that Augustine holds onto this doctrine because it is the widespread belief of the Church even though it does not fit either criteria that he speaks of in his response to Jerome. How are we to reconcile these things? I do not believe we can. We must remember that Augustine is not a reformation-era thinker who is systematically examining the relationship between Scripture and tradition. Instead, it seems that 'apostolic tradition' is an ad hoc category that Augustine uses to fit certain practices of the Church held everywhere that does not command explicit Scriptural testimony inspite of its contradiction with his words elsewhere. It is the Reformers who will apply Augustine's views on Scripture to many practices found throughout the Roman Church. It is the Papalists who will elaborate and expand on Augustine's category of apostolic tradition. This highlights how the Reformation and the Papal Church are not the exclusive heirs of patristic thought. Oftentimes both views are found within the Patristic tradition.
Sources: Examination of the Council of Trent Volume 1 - https://z-library.sk/book/VOwWZ8NmO3/examination-of-the-council-of-trent.html
Augustine's Letter 82 to Jerome. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102082.htm
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