Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

corpus-paul - Re: "Luther's Trap" and Augustine

corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Corpus-Paul

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Sheila McGinn <smcginn AT jcu.edu>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: "Luther's Trap" and Augustine
  • Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 09:10:01 -0500

... in response to [Mark Nanos'] phrase "Luther's Trap"  ... someone asked if that weren't originally an "Augustinian Trap."  Can anyone point me to an exegesis of Romans by Augustine that might help me answer that question for them?  Jeffrey H. Krantz
Jeffrey, I am not sure if your student was familiar with Augustine and had a particular locus in mind.  I don't know enough about Augustine to make any kind of systematic judgment about his commentary materials on Romans.  I can refer you, however, to his Expositio quarundam Propositionum ex Epistola ad Romanos 78-82, where he deals with the references in Rom 14 to the "strong" and "weak."  [Augustine wrote this piece in the early 390's, during his anti-Manichean period, so keep in mind that the "strong v. weak" paradigm is going to have been strongly influenced by the Manichean view that there are those who are "elect" and those who simply are not.]  In Expos. 78.1, Augustine quotes Rom. 14:1 and says "Paul meant that we should receive him [the man weak in faith -- infirmus in fide] to support his weakness by our strength.  Nor should we dispute his opinions by, for example, daring to pass judgment on the heart of another, which we do not see." [I am quoting Paula Fredriksen Landes' translation, found in her 1982 Augustine on Romans volume for Scholars Press.]  It seems to me that Augustine indeed is doing what Mark was suggesting about Luther.  Given the anti-Manichean context, however, the thing Aug. is trying to emphasize is that "the strong" are obliged to support those they view as "the weak" -- rather than to judge and ostracize them, as the Manicheans were wont to do.  I hope this helps!  SEM
--
Sheila E. McGinn, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Biblical Studies & Early Christianity
John Carroll University


Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page