Remember That You Are Catholic" ( serm. 52.2): Augustine on the Unity of the Triune God

Abstract

That Augustine's Trinitarian theology "begins" with the "unity" of God is a persistent but strongly erroneous perception. In this article I offer an alternative reading of Augustine through seeing his Trinitarianism as embedded in fourth-century Latin pro-Nicene theology and as hence focused around the need to explain the inseparable operation of the triune God. This theme is common to both Greek and Latin pro-Nicene theology. Augustine approaches this task through extensive discussion of the ways in which the Incarnation provides the means for elevating our imaginations to true contemplation of the divine unity and diversity. Augustine is also explicit that there can be no formal analogy for the Godhead. I end by showing how Augustine's use of divine simplicity does not mark his theology as necessarily "neoplatonic" and distinct from his Latin predecessors, but indicates the extent to which his theology may be read as a development of that tradition.