On Christian Doctrine

“[A]s to those who talk vauntingly of Divine Grace, and boast that they understand and can explain Scripture without the aid of such directions as those I now prepare to lay down […] however justly they may rejoice in God’s great gift, yet it was from human teachers they themselves learned to read.”

Augustine addresses Christians who claim they can understand scripture independently without the aid of teachers and only through “Divine Grace,” by reminding them that it was teachers who made it possible for them to read in the first place. It is only thanks to the gift of literacy that such Christians can access scripture for themselves, which is a tribute to the inherent bonds of dependency between men. By stressing this, Augustine offers a rebuttal to their vanity while also asserting the importance of education, a key theme throughout the work. This passage also alludes to Augustine’s respect for authority and hierarchy more generally, which is here embodied in the figure of the teacher. Augustine believes that, to become a good Christian, it is crucial to defer to the proper religious authorities and to maintain a willingness to learn from others.

“[L]ove itself, which binds men together in the bond of unity, would have no means of pouring soul into soul, and, as it were, mingling them one with another, if man never learned anything from their fellow-men.”

In this passage from the Preface, Augustine forges a link between two key themes in this work: the centrality of love in the life of a Christian and the importance of education. Augustine depicts teaching itself as an act of love, as something that can bring people together and help them form stronger connections with one another.