Augustine’s Enchiridion: A little book worth reading

Most anything by Augustine is worth reading. At the top, arguably, is the Confessions, but equally famous, and more lengthy, is a book that might serve as stepladder for some (or as the supreme work on the follies of paganism for others), the massive, City of God. Somewhat less lengthy but no less stimulating is On the Trinity. And what about all the other works he wrote on such topics as rhetoric, Donatism, Pelagianism, semi-Pelagianism, the bible, and so on.

For the uninitiated-to-Augustine The Augustine Catechism: Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love is an excellent place to begin. Why? Mainly because Augustine adumbrates many doctrines in this work which he expands upon in his other works.

For instance, Augustine discusses his conception of evil as “a removal of good” (11). Evil, Augustine says, doesn’t exist of itself, but always corrupts the good. For “evils cannot exist at all without goods, and they can only exist in goods, although goods can exist without evils” (14). This thought reminds me of J.R.R. Tolkien’s orcs: they were once elves that were corrupted. In this respect, Tolkien was very much an Augustinian.

Augustine, ever the rhetorician, has some choice quotes in his little book. Take this one:

“[E]ven in the one sin which came into the world through one man and passed to all men…we can understand there to be many sins, if the one sin is divided into its component parts. For there is pride there, by which the man preferred to be in his own power rather than God’s, and sacrilege because he did not believe God, and murder because he cast himself down to death, and spiritual fornication, because the integrity of a human mind was corrupted by the persuasion of the serpent, and theft, because a forbidden food was wrongfully taken, and avarice, because he sought more than should have been sufficient for him” (45).

Augustine also briefly discusses his theology of depravity, lying, theodicy, grace, original sin, baptism, the church, purgatory, merit, the two cities, and love.

So, for those who want a taste of Augustine’s thought this is a good place to begin. And, by the way, it is also an edifying work, challenging the reader to greater faith, hope and love.