Michael Cameron: How Did Augustine Understand Reading Texts ad litteram?

About 401, Augustine began to write De Genesi ad litteram, his great commentary on Genesis in twelve books according to the mode of reading texts “in terms of the letter.” The phrase ad litteram seems to describe straightforwardly a pattern of reading “literally” as opposed to “allegorically.” So he portrays it in the commentary and in his retrospective Retractationes. Yet this characterization presents some problems. First, on reading the commentary one quickly learns that readingad litteramgenerates, for Augustine, interpretations that go wildly beyond what moderns consider “literal.” Second, this use of the phrase ad litteram masks Augustine’s long and sometimes difficult history with understanding “the letter” of Scripture. Only a few years before beginning the Genesis commentary, he characterized reading ad litteramas a snare and a way of death for the soul, following the statement of Paul in 2 Cor. 3:6, “the littera kills” (Conf. 5.14.24). What phases did his understanding pass through to arrive at the positive understanding of ad litteram that functioned in the Genesis commentary? Analysis uncovers a story of a shift in hermeneutical perspective and a development of themes as varied as the person of Christ, the character of redemption, the function of law, and the workings of language. This paper will study Augustine’s pursuit of a spiritually satisfying and intellectually compelling understanding of the biblical texts ad litteram.