Theology of the symbols in the Saint Augustine’s johaninne writings

Abstract

God reveals himself in the Holy Scriptures, and he frequently communicates his message of salvation through symbols. This can be observed, without great difficulties, through the reading of the johaninne writings. Saint Augustine was very conscious of this and —as such— he carefully interpreted the hidden doctrine that could be found within the johaninne symbology. His reflections proved useful allowing him to make sound theological discourses based —frequently— on foundations provided both by allegory and analogy. On other occasions he took advantage of the theological richness of the johaninne legacy in order to bring the Lord’s message to ordinary people.

This article is composed of three parts. First, we present Saint Augustine’s works on the johaninne literature, to which our study is focused. Second, we explore the theological richness of the twenty johaninne symbols, theologically commented upon by the doctor of the grace. Due to the limitations of space, we only have selected the twenty most important symbols, although the bishop in fact elaborated upon more than eighty of them. Finally, on the third part, we enumerate ten conclusions that the author of these pages has reached, after a hermeneutical analysis of such augustinian texts.