Doctrinal and Moral Treatises (NPNF I/III: Enchiridion, On the Catechising, On Faith and the Creed, On Continence, On Lying, etc.)

Name: Doctrinal and Moral Treatises (NPNF I/III: Enchiridion, On the Catechising, On Faith and the Creed, On Continence, On Lying, etc.)
Author: Augustine

Augustine

Language:: English
Status:: Selection or partial work
Authorship:: Written by the author
Condition of the text:: Clean text · 2 illegible passages, excluded from answers
Extent:: ~320,000 words · 1,520 passages

Cite this work

APAAugustine. (n.d.). Doctrinal and Moral Treatises (NPNF I/III: Enchiridion, On the Catechising, On Faith and the Creed, On Continence, On Lying, etc.). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/augustine/doctrinal-and-moral-treatises-npnf-i-iii-enchiridion-on-the-catechising-on-faith-and-the-creed-on-continence-on-lying-etc
MLAAugustine. "Doctrinal and Moral Treatises (NPNF I/III: Enchiridion, On the Catechising, On Faith and the Creed, On Continence, On Lying, etc.)." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/augustine/doctrinal-and-moral-treatises-npnf-i-iii-enchiridion-on-the-catechising-on-faith-and-the-creed-on-continence-on-lying-etc.
ChicagoAugustine. Doctrinal and Moral Treatises (NPNF I/III: Enchiridion, On the Catechising, On Faith and the Creed, On Continence, On Lying, etc.). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/augustine/doctrinal-and-moral-treatises-npnf-i-iii-enchiridion-on-the-catechising-on-faith-and-the-creed-on-continence-on-lying-etc.

What it is about

A gathering of Augustine's shorter treatises: the Enchiridion, On Catechising the Uninstructed, On Faith and the Creed, On Continence, and the two writings on lying.

Context and history

The Enchiridion is Augustine summarising himself: a short handbook of the whole faith organised around faith, hope and charity, written for someone who had asked for a brief one. The writings on lying are the ones still argued over: Augustine holds that it is never permissible to lie, not even to save a life, and it is among the severest positions in all Christian moral thought.

Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.

" I also wrote a book on Faith, Hope, and Charity, at the request of the person to whom I addressed it, that he might have a work of mine which should never be out of his hands, such as the Greeks call an Enchiridion [Hand-Book). There I think I have pretty carefully treated of the manner in which God is to be worshipped, which knowledge divine Scripture defines to be the true wisdom of man. The book begins: ' I cannot express,' " etc.1 The Enchiridion is among the latest books of Augustin. It was written after the death of Jerome, which occurred Sept. 30, 420; for he alludes in ch. 87 to Jerome "of blessed memory" (sanctce memoriae Hieronymus presbyter). It is addressed to Laurentius, in answer to his questions. This person is otherwise unknown. One MS. calls him a deacon, another a notary of the city of Rome. He was probably a layman. The author usually calls the book " On Faith, Hope and Love," because he treats the subject under these three heads (comp. I Cor. xiii. 13). He follows under the first head the order of the Apostles' Creed, and refutes, without naming them, the Manichaean, Apollinarian, Arian, and Pelagian heresies. Under the second head he gives a brief exposition of the Lord's Prayer. The third part is a discourse on Christian love. The original is in the sixth volume of the Benedictine edition. A neat edition of the Latin text, with three other small tracts of Augustin, [De Catechizandis Rudibus ; De Fide Rerum quce non creduntur j De Utilitate Credendi), is also published in C. Marriott's S. Anrelius A ugustinus, 4th ed. by H. de Romestin, Oxford and London (Parker and Comp.), 1885 (pp. 150-251.) An English edition of the same tracts by H. de Romestin, Oxford and London, 1885 (pp. 151-251). His English translation is based on that of C. L. Cor

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