Wednesday, October 23, 2019

October 22nd -- Adult Ed Series on the City of God, Session 11 of 16, From Moses to Christ (Father Ryan Erlenbush, Corpus Christi Parish)

In this series, we are discussing the City of God by St Augustine. In books XV to XVIII, St Augustine gives a commentary on the Old Testament, tracing the history of the City of God from the Creation of the world to the coming of Jesus.

We follow St Augustine's commentary on the Biblical History from Samuel and David through to the end of the Prophets.




Listen online [here]!





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The City of God
By St Augustine of Hippo
Session 11, Book XVI: From Moses to Christ

The gods of the nations are demons. (Ps 95)
Glorious things are said of thee, o City of God! (Ps 86)

Note on schedule: We are now in the final portion of the book, in which St Augustine will make a commentary on the whole of Scripture moving through the Bible much more quickly than he has until now. We will meet every Tuesday in October and November, focusing for one month on the commentary on Scripture found in Books XV-XVIII and the second month on the discussion of the Last Things found in Books XIX-XXII.


Old Testament Timeline: Abraham 2100-1991 BC, Israelites go to Egypt 1800 BC, Moses and Exodus 1500 BC, King David 1000 BC, The Kingdom is divided 931 BC, Elijah taken to Heaven 851 BC, Assyrian Invasion of Israel 732 BC, Babylonian Invasion of Judah 597 BC, Return from Captivity 537 BC, Temple rebuilt 515 BC.


I. Overview of the Biblical History from Moses to Samuel
A. Review of Exodus (the story of Moses and the Exodus), Leviticus (containing many of the ceremonial precepts, laws and rituals), Numbers (beginning with the numbers of Jews who left Egypt), Deuteronomy (the second telling of the story).

B. Events which point to Christ: The Passover, the Manna, the Bronze Serpent, the Rock, Joshua leading the people to the Promised Land.

C. Review of Joshua (conquest of the Land), Judges (time of formation of the Nation), Ruth (the line of David).  Question: How can we justify the wars of the Old Testament, and especially “the ban” by which an enemy was totally annihilated?


II. Overview of the Biblical History of Saul, David, Solomon, and the Divided Kingdom
A. Overview of the History of 1 Samuel (Saul), 2 Samuel (David), 1 Kings (Solomon, Elijah), 2 Kings (Elisha and up to Babylonian Captivity), 1 and 2 Chronicles (retelling of the story)

B. Discussion of the Psalms: The Book of Prayer for Jews and Christians, and Christ’s own prayer.  Consideration of the use of the Psalms in the Breviary, how they prophecy of Christ’s life.


III. Overview of the Prophetic Age, Assyrian Invasion and Babylonian Captivity
A. The chronology of the Prophets (according to St Augustine, Book XVIII, 28-35)
Before the Assyrian Invasion: Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, Micah, Jonah, Joel
Others for whom we do not have a definite date: Obadiah, Nahum, Habakkuk
After Babylonian Invasion: Jeremiah (Lamentations, Baruch), Zephaniah
During the Babylonian Captivity: Daniel, Ezekiel
After the Return from Exile: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi (aka Ezra)

B. That prophecies of the Old Testament may refer only to past events (the Earthly Jerusalem), or only to future events (the Heavenly Jerusalem), or to both.  However, the prophetic utterances are not wholly fulfilled except by Christ.


IV. Overview of the Rebuilding of the Temple, and the time of the Maccabees
St Augustine stresses that there was no prophecy among the Chosen People from the rebuilding of the Temple until the time of John the Baptist – this shows that the Second Temple did not fulfill the prophecies of old.

              


VII. Recommended reading for Books XIX-XXII
A. Book XIX, Chapters 4-20, 24-27
B. Book XX, Chapters 1-30
C. Book XXI, Chapters 1-3, 10-27
D. Book XXII, Chapters 1-7, 12-24, 29-30

V. Recommended listening on LibriVox for Books XIX-XXII
Book XIX, Chapters 5-12, 13-21, 22-28
Book XX, All Chapters
Book XXI, All Chapters
Book XXII, All Chapters

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