James Lee - The Church as Mystery in the Theology of St Augustine

Augustine’s use of “mystery” (mysterium, sacramentum) precisely with regard to the Church provides an entry point into his complex ecclesiology, which resists reduction to a particular concept and defies easy systematization. For Augustine, the Church is a “mystery” that is both “visible” and “invisible,” “inner” and “outer.” These distinctions serve not so much as marks of absolute delineation within the Church, but instead are taken up into a broader theology of transformation whereby, as Augustine proclaims, “Babylon becomes Jerusalem.” Contemplation of the Church as “mystery” arises from contemplation of Scripture, for as Augustine asserts in en Ps 79.1, the “total mystery” (totum mysterium) of Scripture is “Christ and the Church” (Christum et ecclesiam). This study examines Augustine’s exegesis of Scriptural figures such as Noah’s Ark, Jacob and Esau, and the two cities (Babylon and Jerusalem) in significant ecclesiological works, including De baptismo, De fide rerum invisibilium, Enarrationes in Psalmos, In Johannis evengelium tractatus, and De civitate dei, in order to explore how the Church is a “mystery” in the theology of St Augustine.