The revelatory Psalm: A fundamental theology of Augustine's "Enarrationes in psalmos" (Saint Augustine).

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Augustine's <italic>Enarrationes in psalmos</italic> are a collection of notes and sermons on the psalms given over the course of almost thirty years. Although the work spans such a vast period of time, Augustine's governing conception of the psalms is both stable and theologically unique. The psalms, as he repeatedly points out, make up the <italic>uox totius Christi</italic>, the voice of the whole Christ, head and body.
While previous studies have considered the nature of Augustine's exegesis and specific doctrines in the <italic>Enarrationes in psalmos</italic>, the present dissertation argues that Augustine's conception of the psalms as <italic> uox totius Christi</italic> itself implies a dynamic theology of revelation. Such a conception of the <italic>uox totius Christi</italic> locates the practice of praying and interpreting the psalms within the present and ongoing activity of God, and therefore it provides an excellent model for understanding the basic structure of God's revelation. A study of Augustine's dynamic conception of the psalms as a moment in the revelation of God yields what many 20<super> th</super> century Catholic theologians would call a “fundamental theology.&rdquo.
In order to elucidate this fundamental theology behind his psalm exegesis, the present dissertation sets the <italic>Enarrationes in psalmos</italic> against the background of Augustine's teaching on God's revelation in creation and history, on the person of Christ, and on the church. It asserts that the psalms are unique for Augustine among other books of the Bible, precisely because they provide us with words that we may recognize as describing our own experiences within the body of Christ. By praying them with understanding, we gradually find ourselves transformed into Christ, who is for Augustine the fullness of revelation.
Thus, the dissertation retrieves from the <italic>Enarrationes in psalmos </italic> a theology of revelation which grounds Augustine's exegesis of the psalms. Not only does this theology anticipate the thought of many significant late twentieth-century theologians but it redresses a tendency among students theological method.