Saint Augustine’s Sermons 38–41 on the Book of Ben Sira

Abstract

St. Augustine's sermons on the Book of Ben Sira are impressive, both in his rhetorical skills and his use of the Holy Scripture. Augustine quotes from the book of Ecclesiasticus, the Latin title of the Book of Ben Sira, about three hundred times. It is striking that more than once he quotes a text that is somewhat different from the Vetus Latina, which for the Book of Ben Sira, serves as the traditional Latin text. Within the huge collection of St. Augustine's sermons, there are four that are explicitly devoted to the Book of Ecclesiasticus, listed as Sermones 38-41. Apart from Speculum in which Augustine for his quotations from the Book of Ben Sira usually follows the Latin, in his other works he rather frequently appears to correct the Latin Ben Sira quotations according to the Greek. Keywords:Ben Sira; Book of Ecclesiasticus; greed; Holy Scripture; Sermons 36-41; St. Augustine; Vetus Latina