Augustine, the Trinity, and the Church

A Reading of the Anti-Donatist Sermons

Adam Ployd

Oxford Studies in Historical Theology

Offers a new perspective on Augustine's theologies of the Trinity and of the church
Presents a close reading of the anti-Donatist sermons

Augustine, the Trinity, and the Church

A Reading of the Anti-Donatist Sermons

Adam Ployd

Oxford Studies in Historical Theology

Description

The legacy of Augustine of Hippo (354-430) continues to shape Western Christian language about both the Trinity and the Church, yet scholars rarely treat these two topics as related in his work. In Augustine, the Trinity, and the Church, Adam Ployd argues that Augustine's ecclesiology drew upon his Trinitarian theology to a surprising degree; this connection appears most clearly in a series of sermons Augustine preached in 406-407 against the Donatists, the rival Christian communion in North Africa.

As he preached, Augustine deployed scriptural interpretations derived from his Latin pro-Nicene predecessors - but he adapted these Trinitarian arguments to construct a vision of the charitable unity of the Catholic Church against the Donatists. To condemn the Donatists for separating from the body of Christ, for example, Augustine appropriated a pro-Nicene Christology that viewed Christ's body as the means for ascent to his divinity. Augustine also further identified the love that unites Christians to each other and to Christ in his body as the Holy Spirit, who gives to us what he eternally is as the mutual love of Father and Son. On the central issue of baptism, Augustine made the sacrament a Trinitarian act as Christ gives the Spirit to his own body.

The book ultimately shows that, for Augustine, the unity and integrity of the Church depended not upon the purity of the bishops or the guarded boundaries of the community, but upon the work of the triune God who unites us to Christ through the love of the Spirit, whom Christ himself gives in baptism.

Augustine, the Trinity, and the Church

A Reading of the Anti-Donatist Sermons

Adam Ployd

Oxford Studies in Historical Theology

Preface
Abbreviations

Introduction
Trinitarian and Pro-Nicene
The Church and the Donatists
Chapter Outline

1. To Know and To Love
Introduction
Knowledge, Love, and the Purpose of Preaching
The Moral Epistemology of trin. 1
The Moral Epistemology of Our Sermon Series
The Primary Disposition of Humility
Conclusion

2. The Body of Christ
Introduction
The Grammar of Unity
From Grammar to Revelation
Fleshing Out the Body of Christ
Conclusion

3. The Love of the Holy Spirit
Introduction
Prolegomena on Love
Love as the Source of Unity
The Spirit of Love
Conclusion

4. The Unity of Baptism
Introduction
The Spirit of Baptism
The Power of Christ
The Unity of the Dove
Conclusion

Conclusion: Appreciating Augustine's Trinitarian Ecclesiology
Bibliography
Subject Index
Augustine Citation Index
Biblical Citation Index

Augustine, the Trinity, and the Church

A Reading of the Anti-Donatist Sermons

Adam Ployd

Oxford Studies in Historical Theology

Author Information

Adam Ployd is Assistant Professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Eden Theological Seminary. His work on Augustine has appeared in Augustinian Studies, Journal of Early Christian Studies, and Scottish Journal of Theology. Ployd, a deacon in the United Methodist Church, lives in St. Louis with his wife, the Rev. Diane Kenaston, and their two dogs.

Augustine, the Trinity, and the Church

A Reading of the Anti-Donatist Sermons

Adam Ployd

Oxford Studies in Historical Theology

Reviews and Awards

"Ployd has executed his thematic approach carefully and purposefully in four clearly arranged chapters, preceded by an introduction and followed by a conclusion. The book has extensive bibliography and includes three indices: one of the names and subjects, one of Augustineâs works, and one of the biblical references." -- Joost van Neer, Augustiniana 67:3.4

"By focusing on Augustine's appropriation of the methods of scriptural interpretation used by Hilary and Ambrose in defense of the Nicene definition, Adam Ployd has proposed a promising approach to the Donatist controversy and a new understanding of Augustine's ecclesiology as Trinitarian." --J. Patout Burns, Edward A. Malloy Professor of Catholic Studies emeritus, Vanderbilt Divinity School

"Adam Ployd invites the reader into a seven-month period of Augustine's preaching early in the fifth century. He moves beyond the Augustine-of-controversy and gives us a picture of him engaged with his people and talking about their faith in down-to-earth ways. Augustine's faith-sharing is intent on building up that community, hoping to move them beyond the century-long division from their neighbors. That history is also pertinent today." --Allan D. Fitzgerald, O.S.A., Director of the Augustinian Institute, Villanova University

"In this very welcome book Adam Ployd offers an exemplary reading of Augustine's sermons as theological texts. Ployd shows us Augustine playing the music of his theology: joining, expanding, and interweaving the great themes of his theology to seduce his audience. Students of early Christianity, theologians, and preachers alike will appreciate this searching account of Trinitarian theology and ecclesiology in one of the most fundamental of early Christian writers." --Lewis Ayres, Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology, University of Durham

"Readers will find a wealth of theological insight in Augustine, Trinity, and the Church."--Exploring Church History