Marie-Ange Rakotoniaina: THE CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART AND THE MAKING OF CHRISTIAN IDENTITY IN AUGUSTINE’S ENARRATIONES IN PSALMOS

Circumcision is a recurrent motif in Augustine’s exegesis of the Psalms. Inspired by Andrew Jacobs’ study, Christ Circumcised. A Study in Early Christian History and Difference, this paper argues that Augustine recognizes and fabricates the original Jewishness of the Christian people at the same time as he offers a radical reconfiguration of circumcision: the circumcisio cordis becomes a distinctive mark of Christian identity. Investigating the principles of Augustine’s reconfiguration will focus on the Enarrationes in Psalmos6, 47, 74, 75 and 113, in light of Sermon 260. These texts represent a small part of Augustine’s world of discourse, but are tied together by their topics (the Psalms and baptism) and represent a coherent discourse on Christian identity.HisreconfigurationofJewishcircumcisionfollowsthreestepsthatwilloutline theinvestigation. First, Augustineoperatesa spiritualization and an internalization of circumcisionfromthefleshtotheheart.Thebishopincorporatesthisprocesswithinhistheologyofhistory, whichisnotincidental.Second, Augustine reconfigures circumcision as mirroring the sacrament of baptism, which enables the motif to become a crucial element in the making of the Christian people. Finally, in the context of Augustine’s appropriation of Israel’s history, circumcision stands as one crucial element in the bishop’s meticulous reconstruction of the mythical beginnings of Christian identity. The circumcision of the heart points to the (re)constructed Jewishness of the Christian people.