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Vincent Hunink
Christian Nadeau,
Le
vocabulaire de saint Augustin,
Paris:
Ellipses, 2001.
Pp. 63.
ISBN
2-7298-0780-2. text published in: BMCR 2002.04.05 'Il semble pour le moins nai+f
de pre/tendre pre/senter l'ensemble du corpus augustinien par
l'interme/diaire d'un lexique d'une soixantaine de pages'. This is the
first sentence of a new, small lexicon on Augustine, compiled by
Christian Nadeau (N.), and beforehand most readers will readily agree.
How could the vast oeuvre of the Church Father ever be summarized
in so small a space? The unexpected conciseness
of the book appears to be due to the format of the series of which it
forms part. In this series, called 'Vocabulaire de...', the
basic teachings of famous philosophers (from Aristotle to Kant, Hegel,
Marx and Merlau-Ponty) are illustrated by means of the most
significant key words relevant to their thinking. One would expect the
editors to aim only at a very general audience of students and readers of
philosophy and theology. In this book, however, N. also explicitly
addresses himself to specialists of late antiquity and readers who are well
versed in Augustine's thought. Again, this seems a huge claim for a
book of only 60 pages! The shortness of the book
allows me to give a full list of the lemmata, in the exact form in which
they are given in the book (but without the italics): a^me (anima, animus,
spiritus, mens); amour, de/sir (appetere); autorite/
(auctoritas); be/atitude (beatitudo, beata vita, fruitio Dei); beau; bien
(bonum); charite/ (caritas; dilectio proximi); cite/s; cogito; concupiscence
(concupiscentia, cupiditas, libido, pe/che/); Dieu; distension de
l'a^me (distensio animi [sic!]); e/ternite/ (immortalite/);
e^tre (esse, essentia, natura); fin (telos); gra^ce; jouissance et utilite/
(frui-uti); justice; liberte/, libre arbitre; loi naturelle (lex
naturalis); mai^tre inte/rieur; mal; Maniche/isme; me/moire; ordre
(ordo); passions (passiones); Pe/lagianisme; philosophie;
raison (oratio); re/gion de dissemblance (regio dissimilitudinis);
sagesse; signe (signum, verbum, nomen, res); temps; Trinite/; verbe;
ve/rite/; volonte/. All 37 lemmata are divided
into three parts, reflecting three levels of philosophical difficulty.
The first part (marked with one asterisk) contains a working
definition, and is meant for the beginning student; the second one (two
asterisks) reflects a more scientific approach of the theme, and aims at
advanced students; the third part (three asterisks) is described by
N. in rather vague terms as a more free approach allowing for a
broader interpretation, for instance on the echoes of a term within the
context of the whole oeuvre. Let me give one example,
the lemma on the 'word' (verbe). Level 1 distinguishes between the
human and the divine word, the latter being an image of God himself.
The human word reflects human thought, and, by analogy, anything that
approaches or corresponds to the principle of love, as it is established
among the creatures of God. Level 2 describes how the Word for
Augustine is the principle of truth and represents God. Three
passages from Augustine are briefly quoted for further thought: it is
impossible to imitate the divine word in an adequate way; truth may
only be seen in its manifestations, that is, where something is existent
rather than inexistent; whatever exists comes closer to the truth
of the divine word in as much as it imitates the truth of the divine
word. Finally, level 3 briefly argues that the human word proceeds from
the divine word, and that all truth found by man comes from the teaching
of his 'inner master', and so that every act of reason is in essence
an act of belief or an act of love for God. (The whole lemma takes one
page.) As the above summary shows,
matters are quickly brought to a fairly abstract philosophical
level. It is also clear that N. focuses almost exclusively on
philosophical aspects. Much could be added, for instance, on the Word as a
symbol of human communication, on which Augustine has written
several remarkable passages. Finally, the treatment of this lemma is
typical for the systematic approach in the lexicon: every concept is
seen as part of a closed system directed towards God, and there
seems to be no place for any criticism or unsettling questions
whatsoever. Having said this, the
choice of lemmata also seems to reflect this concern of presenting
Augustine only as great thinker of a coherent system. One misses lemmata
which might have tackled more debatable issues, such as
predestination or the use of force, or, to add the inevitable items: women,
sex, and the body. Readers are thus presented
an Augustine who does not seem to be a polemical thinker of flesh
and blood, raising problems and putting questions, but a rather
abstract inventor of what looks like eternal truth beyond discussion.
Accordingly, I doubt whether the lexicon will stimulate many readers in
their reading of Augustine. Personally I would not suggest it as
introductory reading for my students in the department of classics.
Those, however, who are interested in the relation between philosophy
and theology may find some useful points in it. latest changes
here: 30-07-2012 16:01
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