A Text with Teeth: Augustine’s Exegesis of Song of Songs 4:2 as Paradigm of His Hermeneutics

Abstract

In the second book of his treatise on scriptural interpretation, On Christian Doctrine, Augustine introduces the theme of the obscurity of some biblical texts with a quotation from the notoriously difficult Song of Songs: ‘‘Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes coming up from the washing, which all give birth to twins, and there is not one among them that is barren’’ (4:2). Unsurprisingly, he finds references to baptism and the double commandment of love of God and neighbour. What strikes a modern reader is Augustine’s unembarrassed use of violent imagery to describe how the saints cut off errors and then chew the newly converted until they are soft for digestion by the Church. In later texts, Augustine will advert to the violence of biblical imagery to emphasize the necessity of transformation into the likeness of God and to reinforce the eschatological hope of the Church. This paper will examine the role of difficulty and obscurity in Augustine’s understanding of the process by which Scripture forms and orients its readers to prepare them for the vision of heaven.