Retractations

Contents

Reading pages: 0.1–1.6 · 1.7–1.11 · 1.12–1.14 · 1.15–1.21 · 1.22–1.26 · 2.1–2.24 · 2.25–2.54 · 2.55–2.67

1. 0.1Augustine explains that he has long planned to review all his writings severely and to mark what he now finds wrong in them.
2. 0.2Citing Scripture on judging oneself and on the danger of many words, Augustine says he must judge his own writings under Christ, the one true Master.
3. 0.3Augustine says he includes even his writings as a catechumen and will review his works in the order written so that readers can follow his progress.
4. 1.1Reviewing Against the Academics, Augustine regrets his frequent talk of fortune, some loose expressions about the senses, the mind, and the soul's return to heaven, and his excessive praise of the Platonists.
5. 1.2Reviewing On the Happy Life, Augustine regrets excessive praise of Mallius Theodorus, his talk of fortune, and placing the happy life in this present life.
6. 1.3Reviewing On Order, Augustine regrets his talk of fortune, his overvaluing of the liberal arts, his own endorsement of Plato's two worlds, and his praise of Pythagoras.
7. 1.4Reviewing the Soliloquies, Augustine corrects expressions about the pure knowing truth, the senses, the Father and Son being “one,” many ways to wisdom, fleeing all bodies, and learning as recollection.
8. 1.5Reviewing On the Immortality of the Soul, Augustine calls it obscure and corrects several statements; he then lists his unfinished books on the liberal disciplines, of which only Grammar and six books On Music were completed.
9. 1.6Reviewing his two books on the morals of the Catholic Church and of the Manichaeans, Augustine corrects arguments built on faulty Latin copies, denies that perfection is reached in this life, and rejects Origen's view that all fallen beings return to God.
10. 1.7Reviewing On the Greatness of the Soul, Augustine explains that learning as “remembering” does not imply a previous life of the soul, and clarifies a phrase about being restored to oneself.
11. 1.8Reviewing On Free Choice, written against the Manichaeans, Augustine answers the Pelagians' use of its statements on the will, arguing that the books already taught that every good, including the good use of free will, is from God and that fallen man rises only by grace.
12. 1.9Reviewing On Genesis against the Manichaeans, Augustine corrects remarks on the will, on whether children would have been born without sin, on Israel's sacrifices, and on nature and original sin, so that the Pelagians cannot claim them.
13. 1.10Reviewing On Music, Augustine clarifies statements on bodily numbers, the resurrection body, and beauty, and says he cannot affirm, as Plato did, that the world is a living being with a soul.
14. 1.11Augustine briefly describes On the Teacher, which concludes that God alone, Christ, truly teaches.
15. 1.12Reviewing On True Religion, Augustine explains that the true religion existed before it was called Christian, defends the sense in which sin is voluntary, affirms that miracles still occur, and withdraws his view that the first couple would have had no children without sin.
16. 1.13Reviewing On the Usefulness of Believing, Augustine refines his remarks on the letter that kills, on who is already blessed, on knowing and believing, on wise and foolish, and on miracles today.
17. 1.14Reviewing On the Two Souls, Augustine explains in what sense sin exists only in the will, how infants are guilty by origin from Adam, why he left open the question of souls given to bodily functions, and how even then he prayed for the grace of conversion for his Manichaean friends.
18. 1.15Augustine describes his recorded debate with the Manichaean Fortunatus at Hippo and clarifies three statements in it.
19. 1.16Reviewing On Faith and the Creed, given before the African bishops at Hippo, Augustine corrects his statement that the risen body will no longer be flesh and blood.
20. 1.17Augustine explains that he left his first literal commentary on Genesis unfinished, kept it as a record of his beginnings, and refers readers to his later twelve books On Genesis according to the Letter.
21. 1.18Reviewing his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, Augustine qualifies statements on perfection in this life, the law, anger, hating relatives, the Lordly man, and daily food, and leaves open what kind of fornication permits putting away a wife.
22. 1.19Augustine describes his abecedarian Psalm against the Party of Donatus, written in unmetrical verse so that ordinary people could sing and remember it.
23. 1.20Reviewing his lost Against the Letter of Donatus, Augustine leaves the reader to choose between two interpretations of the rock in Matt 16:18 and corrects several historical statements about Donatus.
24. 1.21Reviewing Against Adimantus, Augustine says he should have written that “almost” nothing in the New Testament is lacking in the Old, corrects his list of the senses of “son,” and explains that the power to change one's will is given by God.
25. 1.22Reviewing his Exposition of Some Propositions from Romans, Augustine says Rom 7 can also describe the apostle himself under grace, and withdraws his statement that God chose people for their foreseen faith, since faith itself is God's gift.
26. 1.23Reviewing his Exposition of Galatians, Augustine explains “wholly God” of the risen Christ, refines his punctuation of Gal 3:19, and applies Gal 5:17 also to those under grace.
27. 1.24Augustine explains why his exposition of Romans stopped after the greeting and clarifies the relation of grace and peace.
28. 1.25Augustine lists the titles of his Eighty-Three Different Questions, noting which are not his own, and corrects several statements, among them on the image of God, the thief on the cross, and the mercy that precedes the will.
29. 1.26Augustine explains why he kept his book On Lying, though he had meant to suppress it after writing Against Lying.
30. 2.1Reviewing his two books to Simplicianus, Augustine says that in explaining Rom 9 he labored for free choice “but the grace of God conquered,” and notes that he now reads Rom 7 as possibly describing a spiritual man.
31. 2.2Augustine notes that his book against Mani's Letter of the Foundation refutes only its opening, with notes on the rest.
32. 2.3Reviewing On the Christian Combat, Augustine explains that “flesh and blood” will not inherit the kingdom means corruption or fleshly works, not the substance of flesh.
33. 2.4Augustine explains that he completed On Christian Teaching, withdraws his attribution of the Wisdom of Solomon to Jesus Sirach, and corrects remarks on the Old Testament and on Ambrose.
34. 2.5Augustine reports that he once opposed using secular power to compel the Donatists, a view he later changed after experience.
35. 2.6Augustine describes the purpose of the Confessions and corrects a rhetorical phrase in Book 4 and a statement on the firmament in Book 13.
36. 2.7Reviewing Against Faustus, Augustine explains Joseph's two fathers by levirate adoption as reported by Africanus, and corrects remarks on Ham, the sun and moon, and the shame of the genital members.
37. 2.8Augustine describes his two-day public debate with the Manichaean Felix at Hippo, which dealt with free choice but not at length with grace.
38. 2.9Augustine summarizes On the Nature of the Good, written against the Manichaeans.
39. 2.10Augustine describes his reply to the Manichaean hearer Secundinus, which he judges the best of his anti-Manichaean writings.
40. 2.11Augustine describes his lost reply to Hilarus, who objected to singing psalms at the altar during the offering and communion.
41. 2.12Reviewing his Questions on the Gospels, Augustine corrects a misreading caused by a faulty copy and his objection to the levirate explanation of Joseph's two fathers.
42. 2.13Augustine doubts whether the Notes on Job, compiled by others from his marginal notes, should be counted as his.
43. 2.14Reviewing On Catechizing the Uninstructed, Augustine says he should have written “spirits” rather than “souls” of the fallen angels.
44. 2.15Augustine tells how his books On the Trinity were taken before they were finished, how he completed and published them, and corrects remarks in Books 11 and 12.
45. 2.16Reviewing On the Agreement of the Evangelists, Augustine corrects his derivation of “Hebrews,” his phrase on Joseph's adoption, and his identification of Nathan.
46. 2.17Reviewing Against the Letter of Parmenian, Augustine corrects his reading of 1 Cor 5:13 as referring to removing the evil person by church discipline.
47. 2.18Reviewing On Baptism against the Donatists, Augustine clarifies the church “without spot or wrinkle,” doubts the example of the thief, and prefers Tyconius's reading of the vessels in a great house.
48. 2.19Augustine notes his brief reply to testimonies brought by Centurius from the Donatists.
49. 2.20Reviewing his answers to Januarius on church customs, Augustine notes that his statement about the taste of the manna rests only on the book of Wisdom, which the Jews do not accept as canonical.
50. 2.21Augustine explains that he wrote On the Work of Monks at Aurelius's order, because some monks at Carthage refused manual work and wore long hair.
51. 2.22Augustine explains that he wrote On the Good of Marriage against Jovinian, who equated virginity with marriage, and clarifies his statements on carnal pleasure and on Abraham.
52. 2.23Augustine notes that he wrote On Holy Virginity right after On the Good of Marriage.
53. 2.24Reviewing On Genesis according to the Letter, Augustine admits that more was sought than found, and corrects his reading of Gal 3:19, his statement that Adam lost the image of God, and his treatment of the underworld.
54. 2.25Augustine describes the three books of his reply to the Donatist bishop Petilian.
55. 2.26Augustine describes his four books against the Donatist grammarian Cresconius, the fourth built on the case of the Maximianists.
56. 2.27Augustine describes his lost book of proofs against the Donatists, posted on a basilica wall, and corrects the date of Felix's acquittal and his use of Jude 19 and 1 Cor 2:14.
57. 2.28Augustine corrects his lost book Against a Certain Donatist: the tares are not only heresies outside the church but also wicked people within it, as Cyprian said.
58. 2.29Augustine notes a short, lost tract warning the Donatists by the case of the Maximianists.
59. 2.30Reviewing On the Divination of Demons, Augustine says he spoke too boldly about how demons learn human thoughts.
60. 2.31Augustine describes his answers to six questions against the pagans and explains that being “worthy” of salvation depends on God's calling, not one's own merits.
61. 2.32Augustine notes that his exposition of James consists of marginal notes collected by the brothers, made from a poor Latin translation.
62. 2.33Augustine explains how the Pelagian controversy led him to write On the Merits and Remission of Sins, on infant baptism and original sin, and why he at first spared Pelagius by name.
63. 2.34Reviewing On the One Baptism against Petilian, Augustine corrects the order of events in Constantine's hearings of Felix and Caecilianus.
64. 2.35Augustine notes a longer, lost work arguing against the Donatists from the case of the Maximianists.
65. 2.36Augustine describes his work On the Grace of the New Testament, in which he answered five questions while arguing against the Pelagians.
66. 2.37Augustine explains that On the Spirit and the Letter answered Marcellinus's question how sinlessness could be possible if no example exists, and comments on the word “ceremonies.”
67. 2.38Augustine describes On Faith and Works, written against the view that faith without good works suffices for eternal life.
68. 2.39Augustine describes his summary of the three-day Conference of Carthage with the Donatists.
69. 2.40Augustine describes his book to the Donatists after the conference, and a shorter synodal letter of the council of Zerta.
70. 2.41Augustine notes his book On Seeing God and a related memorandum to Fortunatianus, referring the question of seeing God in the resurrection body to City of God 22.
71. 2.42Augustine describes On Nature and Grace, his reply to Pelagius's On Nature, and corrects his attribution of certain sayings to the martyr-bishop Xystus rather than to the philosopher Sextus.
72. 2.43Augustine explains that he wrote The City of God after the sack of Rome by Alaric, outlines the plan of its twenty-two books, and corrects remarks on Abraham's sacrifice and Samuel's descent.
73. 2.44Augustine notes his reply to Orosius on the Priscillianists and Origen's rejected opinions.
74. 2.45Augustine explains why he published, after Jerome's death, his two inquiries to Jerome on the origin of the soul and on Jas 2:10.
75. 2.46Augustine notes a lost book to the Donatist bishop Emeritus after the conference of 411.
76. 2.47Augustine explains that he wrote On the Proceedings of Pelagius to show that the synod of Diospolis acquitted Pelagius only because he condemned the dogmas charged against him.
77. 2.48Augustine notes his book defending the use of imperial laws to correct the Donatists.
78. 2.49Augustine notes his book On the Presence of God, to Dardanus.
79. 2.50Augustine notes his two books On the Grace of Christ and On Original Sin, written after the condemnation of Pelagianism by Popes Innocent and Zosimus.
80. 2.51Augustine describes the proceedings of his meeting with the Donatist Emeritus at Caesarea in Mauretania, where Emeritus made no reply.
81. 2.52Augustine notes his point-by-point reply to an anonymous Arian sermon.
82. 2.53Augustine explains that he wrote On Marriage and Concupiscence to defend the goodness of marriage against the Pelagian charge that teaching original sin condemns marriage.
83. 2.54Augustine describes his Expressions in the Heptateuch, a study of unusual idioms in Genesis through Judges, and corrects one comparison.
84. 2.55Reviewing his Questions on the Heptateuch, Augustine corrects his treatment of Jacob's rods, of the high priest's ritual purity and succession, of the thief on the cross, and of the women in the genealogies.
85. 2.56Augustine describes his four books On the Soul and Its Origin, written against Vincentius Victor, in which he defended his uncertainty about the soul's origin.
86. 2.57Augustine says that in his two books On Adulterous Marriages he did not fully resolve the very difficult question of divorce and remarriage, though he opened many of its recesses.
87. 2.58Augustine describes his two books against an anonymous Marcionite-type tract that denied that the God of the Law and Prophets is the true God.
88. 2.59Augustine describes his two books against Gaudentius, the Donatist bishop of Thamugadi, who threatened to burn himself and his people in his church rather than submit.
89. 2.60Augustine explains that he wrote Against Lying to forbid Catholics from pretending to be Priscillianists in order to expose them.
90. 2.61Augustine notes his four books Against Two Letters of the Pelagians, addressed to Pope Boniface.
91. 2.62Augustine describes his six books Against Julian, which answer Julian's charge of Manichaeism with patristic testimony, and corrects a name he gave from faulty memory.
92. 2.63Augustine notes his Enchiridion On Faith, Hope, and Charity, written for Laurentius.
93. 2.64Augustine notes his book On the Care to Be Taken for the Dead, written for Paulinus of Nola.
94. 2.65Augustine explains why he counts his answers to Dulcitius's eight questions among his books.
95. 2.66Augustine notes his book On Grace and Free Choice, written for the monks of Hadrumetum.
96. 2.67Augustine notes On Rebuke and Grace and concludes that he has reviewed ninety-three works in two hundred and thirty-two books, before turning to his letters and sermons.