"Whoever, then, appears in his own opinion to have comprehended the Sacred Scriptures, or even some part of them, yet does not build up with that knowledge the two-fold love of God and his neighbor, has not yet known as he ought to know."

De Doctrina Christiana, or "On Christian Instruction", is listed among Augustine's contributions to the Great Books of the Western World, alongside the Confessions and City of God. It is considered to be the most important early Latin treatise on scriptural interpretation and a foundational work for the field of Biblical hermeneutics. It ranks among the most important works of classical rhetoric, along with works by Cicero and Quintillian. Its fourth and final book was one of the very first works to be printed, only about one decade after the Gutenberg Bible.

De Doctrina Christiana is composed of four books. According to St. Augustine, the first three books "help to an understanding of the Scriptures, while the fourth instructs us how to present the facts which we have comprehended."

00:39 Part 1 (Book 1 with Prologue)

1:15:19 Part 2 (Book 2, Ch.1-18)

2:02:56 Part 3 (Book 2, Ch.19-42)

2:56:03 Part 4 (Book 3, Ch.1-23)

3:41:37 Part 5 (Book 3, Ch.24-37)

4:21:01 Part 6 (Book 4, Ch.1-16)

5:19:34 Part 7 (Book 4. Ch.17-31)

Links

Christian Instruction: https://verbum.com/product/120407/saint-augustine-christian-instruction-admonition-and-grace-the-christian-combat-faith-hope-and-charity

De Doctrina Christiana Full Text: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=3275

Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.