Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T13:24:47.545Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Augustine's Doctrine of the Totus Christus: Reflecting on the Church as Sacrament of Unity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2013

Kimberly Baker
Kimberly Baker
Affiliation:
Saint Vincent College
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines Augustine's doctrine of the totus Christus, “the whole Christ” with Christ as Head and the Church as Body. It considers the new identity as Christ that Christians receive in the sacraments of initiation that unite individuals in the Church community, and the sacramental presence of the Church in the world as one of unifying love. This new identity forms the Church for mission as it joins Christ in a mission of love that unites people to one another as it unites them to God. The Church joins Christ in standing in solidarity with those in need, thus radiating Christ's unifying, transformative love in the world. The article ends with a suggestion that Augustine's view of the totus Christus might be a valuable resource for delving more deeply into Vatican II's vision of the sacramental unity of the Church.

Type
Articles
Information
Horizons , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , Spring 2010 , pp. 7 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © The College Theology Society 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 See The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century [WSA], trans. Hill, Edmund, ed. Rotelle, John E., pt. 3, vol. 1–11: Sermons (New Rochelle, NY: New City Press, 1993–1997), 3/7:301 n.1.Google Scholar

2 Sermon 272 (WSA 3/7:300). “Ista, fratres, ideo dicuntur Sacramenta, quia in eis aliud videtur, aliud intellegitur. Quod videtur, speciem habet corporalem, quod intelligitur, fructum habet spiritualem. Corpus ergo Christi si vis intelligere, Apostolum audi dicentem fidelibus, Vos autem estis corpus Christi, et membra (1 Cor. XII, 27). Si ergo vos estis corpus Christi et membra, mysterium vestrum in mensa Dominica positum est: mysterium vestrum accipitis. Ad id quod estis, Amen respondetis, et respondendo subscribitis. Audis enim, Corpus Christi; et respondes, Amen” (Sancti Aurelii Augustini, Hipponensis episcopi opera omnia, ed. Migne, J.-P., Patrologiǽ Cursus Completus, Series Latina [hereafter PL], vol. 38 [Paris: Garnier Fratres, 1865], 1247).Google Scholar Unless otherwise noted, Latin texts of Augustine's sermons (abbreviated “s.”) are quoted from PL, English translations from WSA.

3 Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium) §1, http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vaticanii_ const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html (accessed May 4, 2010).

4 Turning to Augustine for guidance on Church unity could have particular value to ecumenical dialogue considering the role that the interpretation of Augustine played in the Reformation. A consideration of Augustine's reception by the reformers is given in Martin, Thomas, Our Restless Heart: The Augustinian Tradition (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2003), 113–37.Google Scholar

5 In particular, Augustine faced the Donatist controversy in the early years of his work as bishop. The Donatists split from the Catholic Church in the early fourth century over the consecration of bishops who allegedly had cooperated with Roman authorities who persecuted the Church. For an basic introduction to the Donatist controversy, see Markus, Robert A., “Donatus, Donatism,” in Augustine through the Ages: An Encyclopedia, ed. Fitzgerald, Allan D., Cavadini, John, and Djuth, Marianne et al. , (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), 284–87.Google Scholar For a fuller discussion of the Donatist controversy as well as Augustine's conflicts with the Manichees and Pelagians, see Bonner, Gerald, St. Augustine of Hippo: Life and Controversies, 3rd ed. (Norwich: Canterbury, 2002).Google Scholar

6 Much of the study of the doctrine of the totus Christus has been done by Tarsicius van Bavel. His studies include “The ‘Christus Totus’ Idea: A Forgotten Aspect of Augustine's Spirituality,” in Studies in Patristic Christology: Proceedings of the Third Maynooth Patristic Conference, ed. Finan, Thomas and Twomey, Vincent (Portland, OR: Four Courts Press, 1998), 84–94.Google Scholar Also, with Bruning, Bernard, “Die Einheit des Totus Christus bei Augustinus,” in Scientia Augustiniana: Studien über Augustinus, den Augustinismus und den Augustinorden, ed. Mayer, Cornelius Petrus, and Eckermann, Willigis, (Wurzburg: Augustinus-Verlag, 1975), 43–75.Google ScholarBavel, Van also has written on the totus Christus in his book on Augustine's spirituality, Christians in the World, tr. Bryn, Marcella van (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1980), 80–95.Google Scholar

7 This article does not attempt to stake a claim in the current discussion of communion ecclesiology, although I recognize that this study of the doctrine of the totus Christus may resonate with some trajectories that discussion has taken. For an overview of a number of streams of thought in communion ecclesiology, see Doyle, Dennis M., Communion Ecclesiology: Vision and Versions (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2000).Google Scholar

8 Enarrationes in Psalmos 30[2].3 (Expositions of the Psalms, trans. Boulding, Maria, ed. Rotelle, John E., WSA 3/15–20 [New York: New City Press, 2000–2004], 15:323Google Scholar). “Nam sine illo, nos nihil; in illo autem, ipse Christus et nos” (Enarrationes in Psalmos, ed. Dekkers, D. Eligius and Fraipont, Johannes, Corpus Christianorum Series Latina [hereafter CCL] 38–40 [Turnhout: Brepols, 1956]), 38:192.Google Scholar All Latin texts of the Enarrationes (abbreviated “en. Ps.”) are from the CCL, English translations are from WSA.

9 Ibid., WSA 3/15:322–23. “Verumtamen quia dignatus est assumere formam serui, et in ea nos uestire se, qui non est dedignatus assumere nos in se, non est dedignatus trans-figurare nos in se, et loqui uerbis nostris, ut et nos loqueremur uerbis ipsius. Haec enim mira commutatio facta est, et diuina sunt peracta commercia, mutatio rerum celebrata in hoc mundo a negotiatore caelesti. Venit accipere contumelias, dare honores; uenit haurire dolorem, dare salutem; uenit subire mortem, dare uitam. Moriturus ergo ex eo quod nostrum habebat, non in se, sed in nobis pauebat; quia et hoc dixit, tristem esse animam suam usque ad mortem, et utique nos ipsi omnes cum illo. Nam sine illo, nos nihil; in illo autem, ipse Christus et nos. Quare? Quia totus Christus caput et corpus. Caput ille saluator corporis, qui iam adscendit in caelum; corpus autem ecclesia, quae laborat in terra” (CCL 38:192).

10 Augustine is particularly generous in his use of bridal imagery in his Enarrationes in Psalmos. See, for example, en. Ps. 18[2].2, 6, 10; 30[2].2.1; 34[2].1; 37.3; 40.1, 6, 10; 41.2; 44.1, 3, 12, 24; 47.1; 54.3; 56.11; 59.9; 61.4; 64.14; 68[2].1; 71.17; 74.4; 83.2; 88[2].2, 14; 90[2].5, 12; 101[1].2; 103[1].4–6; 103[4].6; 120.9; 122.5; 127.8, 11, 13; 131.14; 138.2; 142.2, 4; 143.18; 147.17.

11 Fiedrowicz, Michael provides an extensive study of Augustine's writings on the Psalms in Psalmus vox totius Christi: Studien zu Augustins Enarrationes in Psalmos (Freiburg: Herder, 1997).Google Scholar A condensed, English translation of Fiedrowicz's book serves as the introduction to the New City Press English translation of the Enarrationes: Fiedrowicz, “General Introduction,” in WSA 3/15:13–66. Another recent study of Augustine's exegesis of the Psalms is Byasee, Jason, Praise Seeking Understanding: Reading the Psalms with Augustine (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2007).Google Scholar

12 Ps. 38:1, 3–4, as quoted in en. Ps. 37.3–6 (WSA 3/16:147–50). “Domine, ne in indignatione tua arguas me neque in ira tua emendes me…. Non est sanitas in carne mea a uultu irae tuae…. Non est pax ossibus meis a facie peccatorum meorum” (CCL 38:383–86).

13 Ps. 22:1 as quoted in en. Ps. 21[1].2 (WSA 3/15:221). “Deus, Deus meus, respice me, quare me dereliquisti longe a salute mea?” (CCL 38:117).

14 While Matthew presents Christ quoting this Psalm in a particular point of his historical life, Augustine does not limit this cry to one moment in time. Instead, he considers Christ's cry of agony to transcend time and space as it joins the cry of suffering humanity throughout human history. See, for example, en. Ps. 21[2].3; 37.6; 43.2; 56.5; 58[1].2, 4; 90[2].1.

15 Tyconius, , The Book of Rules, ed. and trans. Babcock, William S. (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1989), rule 1.Google Scholar

16 See, for example, en. Ps. 30[2].3 and 103[1].5.

17 In continuing the narrative of the totus Christus, Augustine explains that at the end of time, the Body will follow Christ into heaven where the union of divinity and humanity will be complete. See en. Ps. 57.16, 126.7, 127.4; s. 227, 264.6, 335M.3, 395.2.

18 en. Ps. 30[2].3 (WSA 3/15:323). “Hoc autem corpus nisi connexione caritatis adhaereret capiti suo, ut unus fieret ex capite et corpore, non de caelo quemdam persecutorem corripiens diceret: Saule, Saule, quid me persequeris? Quando eum iam in caelo sedentem nullus homo tangebat, quomodo eum Saulus in terra saeuiens aduersus christianos aliquo modo iniuria percellebat? Non ait: Quid sanctos meos, quid seruos meos, sed: quid me persequeris, hoc est, quid membra mea? Caput pro membris clamabat, et membra in se caput transfigurabat” (CCL 38:192).

19 Ibid. “Vocem namque pedis suscipit lingua. Quando forte in turba contritus pes dolet, clamat lingua: Calcas me. Non enim ait: Calcas pedem meum, sed se dixit calcari, quam nemo tetigit; sed pes qui calcatus est, a lingua non separatus est.” See also en. Ps. 140.3.

20 Ibid. “Nam sine illo, nos nihil; in illo autem, ipse Christus et nos.”

21 Augustine turns to bridal imagery to describe the Church as being created from the pierced side of the crucified Christ just as Eve was created from the side of Adam. The sacraments flow forth in the blood and water: “And, as Adam was a type of Christ, so too was the creation of Eve from the sleeping Adam a prefiguration of the creation of the Church from the side of the Lord as he slept, for as he suffered and died on the cross and was struck by a lance, the sacraments which formed the Church flowed forth from him…. As Eve came from the side of the sleeping Adam, so the Church was born from the side of the suffering Christ” (en. Ps. 138.2; WSA 3/20:257). “Si ergo Adam forma futuri, quomodo de latere dormientis Eua facta est, sic ex latere Domini dormientis, id est, in passione morientis, et in cruce percusso de lancea, manauerunt sacramenta, quibus formaretur ecclesia…. Ergo dormitio intellegitur passio. Eua de latere dormientis, ecclesia de latere patientis” (CCL 40:1991). See also en. Ps. 40.10; 56.11; 102.10; 126.7; 127.11, 12; s. 218.

22 s. 229A.2 (WSA 3/6:270). “Quomodo fit panis? Trituratur, molitur, a consparsura, in coctura: in consparsura mundatur, coctura firmatur. Ubi tritura vestra? Hoc facti estis: ipsa fuit in ieiuniis, in observationibus, in vigiliis, in exorcismis. Molebamini, quando exorcizabamini. Consparsura non fit sine aqua: baptizati estis. Coctura molesta est, sedutilis. Quae est enim coctura? Ignis temtationum, sine quibus haec vita non est. Sed quomodo est utilis? Vas figuli probat fornax, et homines iustos temptatio tribulationis. Quomodo autem de singulis granis in unum congregatis et quodam modo sibimet consparsione commixtis fit unus panis, sic fit unum corpus Christi concordia caritatis. Quod autem habet corpus Christi in granis, hoc sanguis in acinis: nam et vinum de pressura exit, et quod in multis singillatim erat, in unum confluit, et fit vinum. Ergo et in pane et in calice mysterium est unitatis” (PL, Supplementum, vol. 2, ed. Hamman, Adalberto [Paris: Garnier Frères, 1960], 555Google Scholar). See also s. 227.

23 en. Ps. 30[2].4. Pasquale Borgomeo emphasizes that Christians are not with Christ nor inserted into Christ, but are united with Christ. He adds that Christians are not “other” christs. See his L'Èglise de ce temps dans la predication de Saint Augustin (Paris: Études Augustiniennes, 1972), 212–13.

24 “And Christ is one with his body, because he graciously consents to be, not because he has to be.” s. 341.19 (also known as “Dolbeau 22”) (WSA 3/11:299). “Et unus est Christus cum corpore suo dignatione, non necessitate” (François Dolbeau, “Nouveaux sermons de saint Augustin pour las conversion des païens et des donatistes [VII], Revue des Études Augustiniennes 40 [1994]: 190, http://hdl.handle.net/2042/23007 [accessed February 20, 2010]). This quotation comes from a section of Sermon 341 that François Dolbeau discovered in 1990 along with 25 other “lost” sermons of Augustine's in a fifteenth-century manuscript in Mainz. The full collection has been published as Vingt-Six Sermons au Peuple d'Afrique, ed. and trans. Dolbeau, François (Paris: Institut d'Études Augustiniennes, 1996).Google Scholar Peter Brown discusses the amazing discovery of these sermons as well as the 1975 discovery of letters by Divjak, Johannes in Augustine of Hippo: A Biography, new ed. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), 441–81.Google Scholar

25 Tractate 65.2 on the Gospel of John, in Tractates on the Gospel of John, trans. Rettig, John W., Fathers of the Church, vol. 90 (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1994), 52.Google Scholar “Ad hoc ergo nos dilexit, ut et nos diligamus inuicem; hoc nobis conferens diligendo nos, ut mutua dilectione constringamur inter nos, et tam dulci uinculo connexis membris corpus tanti capitis simus” (In Johannis evangelium tractatus CXXIV, ed. Radbodus Willems, D., CCL 36 [Turnhout: Brepols, 1954], 492).Google Scholar

26 The implications of this union for contemporary ecumenical efforts merit study. Because Augustine's doctrine developed in the midst of the Donatist controversy, there is a polemical edge to some of Augustine's preaching on the totus Christus that we would do well to set aside in our own efforts at dialogue. Nonetheless, the emphasis on the unity of the one Body calls us to recognize the common ground the Christian communities share in Christ.

27 Augustine's insistence that Christ continues to be present in needy humanity lends some ambiguity in his doctrine of the totus Christus. At times, he specifies that Christ is present in needy Christians; see s. 18.4, 53A.6, 113.1, 178.4–5, 197.5, 236.3. In other places, Augustine is less specific about the needy ones with whom Christ identifies and seems to suggest that Christ is present in needy humanity as a whole; see s. 9.20, 25.8, 42.2, 86.3–4, 103.2, 107A.2, 113B.4, 114A.4, en. Ps. 49.19–20. In s. 38.8, however, Augustine explicitly identifies Christ with all people who are poor regardless of their religious status.

28 See van Bavel, Tarcisius J. OSA, “The Double Face of Love in Augustine,” Augustinian Studies 17 (1986): 169–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

29 s. 90A.12 (“Dolbeau 11”) (WSA 3/11:83). “Si ergo diligis, dilige unde diligis, et deum diligis. Non audisti? … Si diligis, dilige et hoc ipsum unde diligis, et deum diligis. Vnde enim diligis, caritas est. Diligis caritate, dilige caritatem, et dilexisti deum, quoniam deus caritas est, et qui manet in caritate, in deo manet” (Dolbeau, François, “Sermons inédits de Saint Augustin prêchés en 397 [2ème série],” Revue Bénédictine 102 [1992]: 72).Google Scholar The ellipsis marks a quotation of Psalm 11:5, which the English translator has judged to be a later insertion to the text. As the verse is not pertinent to the present discussion, I have chosen to follow the translator's example.

30 s. 296.13 (WSA 3/8:211). “Amate Deum, ut amet vos Deus…. quid præstes Deo? … Qualiscumque tu eris, ille hoc erit quod erat. Ergo attende juxta te, ne forte proximo præstare debeas quod perveniat ad Deum…. tu pulsanti debes ecclesiam claudere?” (PL 38:1358). The PL lists this section as s. 296.11. Cf. s. 90A.8–9.

31 “You don't know what the person, who for the moment seems to be your enemy, really means to you in God's foreknowledge. Since God's patience, you see, is leading him to repentance, perhaps he will come to acknowledge and follow your lead” (s. 149.18; WSA 3/5:27). “Nescis quid tibi sit in præscientia Dei homo, qui tibi ad tempus videtur inimicus. Quia enim patientia Dei ad pœnitentiam eum adducit, fortassis cognoscet et sequetur ducentem” (PL 38:807).

32 It is important to note that while Augustine gives particular attention to care for those in great need, he recognizes value in meeting the more ordinary human needs as well. For example, in preaching on Martha of Bethany, he says that Christ honored her by presenting himself to her to be fed, and Christ continues to honor future generations wherever there is hunger, particularly in the least of the least. See s. 103.2.

33 Augustine does acknowledge, of course, the variety of roles within the Church. The beauty of the doctrine of the totus Christus, though, is that in it, all Christians are held together in an organic whole regardless of their place in the hierarchy of the Church. For example, Augustine recognizes that while he holds a particular office as bishop, his primary identification is as a member of Christ: “For you I am a bishop, with you, after all, I am a Christian. The first is the name of an office undertaken, the second a name of grace; that one means danger, this one salvation” (s. 340.1; WSA 3/9:292). “Vobis enim sum episcopus, vobiscum sum Christianus. Illud est nomen suscepti officii, hoc gratiæ; illud periculi est, hoc salutis” (PL 38:1483).

34 See, e.g., Putnam, Robert, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

35 City of God 19.5: “How could that City [of God] have made its first start, how could it have advanced along its course, how could it attain its appointed goal, if the life of the saints were not social? And yet, who would be capable of listing the number and the gravity of the ills which abound in human society amid the distresses of our mortal condition? Who would be competent to assess them? … If, then, safety is not to be found in the home, the common refuge from the evils that befall mankind, what shall we say of the city? The larger the city, the more is its forum filled with civil lawsuits and criminal trials, even if that city be at peace, free from the alarms or—what is more frequent—the bloodshed, of sedition and civil war. It is true that cities are at time exempt from those occurrences; they are never free from the danger of them” (Concerning the City of God against the Pagans, trans. Bettenson, Henry [London: Penguin Books, 1984), 858–59Google Scholar). “Nam unde iste Dei ciuitas, de qua huius operis ecce iam undeuicensimum librum uersamus in manibus, uel inchoaretur exortu uel progrederetur excursu uel adprehenderet debitos fines, si non esset socialis uita sanctorum? Sed in huius mortalitatis aerumna quot et quantis abundet malis humana societas, quis enumerare ualeat? quis aestimare sufficiat? … Si ergo domus, commune perfugium in his malis humani generis, tuta non est, quid ciuitas, quae quanto maior est, tanto forum eius litibus et ciuilibus et criminalibus plenius, etiamsi quiescant non solum turbulentae, uerum saepius et cruentae seditiones ac bella ciuilia, a quorum euentis sunt aliquando liberae ciuitates, a periculis numquam?” (De civitate Dei, Libri XI–XXII, ed. Dombart, Bernard and Alphonsus Kalb, , CCL 48 [Turnhout: Brepols, 1955], 669–70).Google Scholar

36 Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes) §42, http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_coun cil/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html (accessed May 4, 2010).