Abstract
For Christian authors in antiquity, John the Baptist was an embodiment of biblical prophecy, eclipsed by the Messiah he heralded. Before his birth, during his life, even after his death, John prefigured Christ. The circumstances surrounding his birth and his death were all interpreted symbolically in this manner. This was particularly true of his birth, dated on the summer solstice, which acted as a counterpoint to the birth of Jesus, fixed at the winter solstice. Augustine’s Questions 44 and 58-60, written between 393 and 395, offer a glimpse of the material that helped him to elaborate his personal interpretation of the Gospels. His principal sources were Hilary of Poitiers’ commentary On Matthew, Ambrosius’ treatise On Luke, and the Ambrosiaster’s Questions on the Scriptures. He read an apocryphal text, most likely the Epistola apostolorum. It is possible that he used Victorinus of Poetovio’s commentary On Matthew, as well as a non-extant source also known to Maximus of Turin. The influence of Tertullian (Against Marcion) and of Jerome (On the Epistle to the Galatians) can also be discerned.
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