Topics in Modern Christian Thought: Theologians - Augustine on the Gospel of John

Augustine's Tractates (Homilies) on the Gospel of John is one of his greatest and most influential works. It is the first sustained treatment of the Fourth Gospel in the Latin tradition. John was considered by the Patristic authors to be the preeminent Gospel and they based much of their doctrinal reflection on it. We will look at Augustine's understanding of the complexities of interpreting the biblical text, the detail of his analysis of the verses of the Gospel, the arc of his interpretation, how he develops doctrine from it, and how he applies the text to the lives of his auditors. We will compare his approach to that of John Chrysostom.