Augustine’s appreciation of the Septuagint in light of his semiotic theory

Abstract

The article locates the first phase of the exchange of letters between Augustine and Jerome in the context of the Augustinian literary production of that period. Scholars tend to consider separately the two problems raised by Augustine in Letter 28 to Jerome, namely the criticism of Jerome’s interpretation of Galatians 2:14 and the claim of the value of the Septuagint compared to Jerome’s from Hebrew. In reality, for Augustine the two arguments are closely linked. In those same months, Augustine deals with the Septuagint in the second book of De doctrina christiana reflecting on the relationship between signa and res in the Bible, with accents similar to those of the exchange of letters with Jerome. For Augustine, it is impossible that the Sacred Scripture contains something false, even if it were a utilis simulatio, as in Jerome’s exegesis of Galatians 2:14, because the function of the verba of the Bible is to univocally refer to the divine res and, on the contrary, a false statement would not refer to anything. The prophetic and providential character of the Septuagint makes it more effective in its reference to the divine res than the Hebrew text itself. However, not receiving an answer to his letters, Augustine interrupted the composition of De doctrina christiana and resumed it only after the death of Jerome.