Charity and the Formation of Spiritual Judgment

Abstract Chapter 1 focuses on Augustine as expositor of Scripture, with special attention paid to his self-presentation in the Confessions. By looking at Augustine as reader of Scripture, one can decipher the first image of Augustinian solidarity. This chapter argues that Augustine is attempting to bring about in his congregation a form of unity that they can plausibly inhabit in this world. The thread that is running through the Confessions is the persistence of something outside the individual or community that challenges any pre-existing or received conception of the good one might have. The consequence of taking on Scripture’s ratio is not simply some intellectual or affective transformation: it brings forth a community held in solidarity by acts of love. The chapter examines closely the way this can be seen in Confessions 13.