St Augustine - the Lord's Sermon on the Mount

ST. AUGUSTINE THE LORDS SERMON ON THE MOUNT by THE VERY REVEREND JOHN J. JEPSON. Contents include: CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION ........... 3 By J. Quasten TEXT ................ ii By J. . Jepson BOOK ONE ............. n BOOK Two ............. 9 2 NOTES .............. i75 By J. C. Plumpe To THE iNTRODUCmON .......... 177 To BOOK ONE ............ 179 To BOOK Two ............ 196 INDEX ST. AUGUSTINE THE LORDS SERMON ON THE MOUNT INTRODUCTION: Among the sermons of the Lord found in die New Testa ment there is none of such importance as the Sermon on the Mount, that is, the sermon which the Lord addressed to His disciples and the crowds near Capharnaum in the mountain ous region north of Lake Genesareth. 1 It is small wonder that St. Augustine should dedicate a special treatise to this sermon in order to assist those who sought an authentic in terpretation of its challenging content. The intimate relation ship between ethics and religion as it appears in this sermon had a special appeal for St. Augustine, and the importance of the leading idea, that God is our Father and we are His chil dren, prevailed upon him to analyze its contents thoroughly. He who had investigated all philosophical systems o his times in the search of truth, found here a complete rule of life, the hest philosophy of life. He wrote his work during the years 393 to 396 when he served as a priest at Hippo. It is possible that the care for the souls entrusted to him was one of the reasons why Augustine became especially interested in the Sermon on the Mount, containing as it does the solu tion of all problems of human life. Later, during the years 426 and 427, he reviewed the treatise and set down a very considerable number of criticisms and corrections in his Retractaiiones i. 19. The New Testament has two versions of the Sermon on the Mount which differ considerably from each other as regards length and extent. 2 St. Matthew offers the text in chapters 5-7, St. Luke in chapter 6, verses 20-49. Augustine 4 uses the version of St. Matthew as the basis of his treatise which comprises two books. In the first book he answers the question of the true mean ing of the Sermon on the Mount. This question has re mained an object of lively discussion up to our own times, It was asked Is it humanly possible to put the Sermon on the Mount into practice Many theological authors believed that they had found the correct answer to this question by limiting the sermon to the extent that it is meant for only a chosen few and not for the rank and file, that its demands do not represent commandments but counsels for those aiming at perfection. 3 The representatives of the eschatological school 4 find the demands of the Sermon on the Mount too radical to be meant for all times and all generations. They think that these moral obligations applied only to the early Christians, to whom, since they believed that the end of the world was impending, the worldly goods of culture and civilization meant nothing. Again, there are those 5 who are of the opinion that the moral demands in the Sermon on the Mount are purposely exaggerated to a point where they appear para doxical and senseless, in order to make man feel that he should indeed fulfill these obligations, but that he is simply unequal to the task. The result supposed is that man will thus be led to do penance and to believe and so will be saved...