Le sermon 117 d’Augustin sur l’ineffabilité de Dieu. Édition critique

Abstract

Augustine’s sermon 117 was delivered to Christians who had just heard the reading of the Prologue of John. Augustine does not propose a commentary, but wishes to introduce his audience to the ineffable mystery of the Divinity, whose approach is possible only through a negative language. Two issues are developed at great length against the Arians : the co-eternity of the Son and the Father, and their perfect equality. In order to propose an understanding of the relation between God and his Son, the Arians resorted to human paternity. After them Augustine also resorts to analogies - fire and its bright flash, an aquatic plant and its reflection in water -, but he underlines immediately their limits. Rather than a homily preached before a liturgical assembly, his sermon looks like a doctrinal lecture. Here semon 117, datable 415-430, is edited again, according to the two branches of the tradition : the collection De verbis domini, the only one exploited by previous editors, and the sermon collection of Mainz, which conveys a different, sometimes better, recension.