Augustine on the Non-Perspicuity of Scripture
Perspicuity refers to the clarity and “understandable-ness” of scripture.
Augustine, in his De Doctrina Christiana 2.6.7, writes:
What the scriptures are; in what way they are written; what is required in order to understand them:
But those who read them in a light-minded spirit are liable to be misled by innumerable obscurities and ambiguities, and to mistake the meaning entirely, while in some places they cannot even guess at a wrong meaning, so dense and dark is the fog that some passages are wrapped in. This is all due, I have no doubt at all, to divine providence, in order to break in pride with hard labor, and to save the intelligence from boredom, since it readily forms a low opinion of things that are too easy to work out.
To be fair, Augustine employs an allegorical hermeneutic, so nothing really means what it appears to mean 
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My name is Aaron Rathburn. I am a senior in philosophy at Calvin College, and formerly studied at Trinity School of Theology (Wales, UK). I am a husband, and father of two. This site is a collection of musings on theology, culture, and more. 
So, according to Augustine,
Granted, Augustine’s approach is helpful in freeing us moderns from rationalism and the common sense approach to Scripture in general (that the bible plainly says this or that) we see so often in the church but, how does one go about understanding the Scripture as God’s Word, if it is a mystery?
In the passage that follows, Augustine then goes on to prescribe a kind of “interpreter’s curriculum” to learning and study that will help prepare the interpreter.
He gives an example that a thorough knowledge of the things of the world (liberal arts?) helps to shed light on parts of scripture. So, if you know a lot about serpents, you’ll know that when they are attacked, they protect the head and hurl their entire body at their adversary. So when Christ commands his disciples to be “cunning as serpents,” we are to protect the head which is Christ, and to disregard even our own bodies for the sake of the gospel.
Allegorical interpretations are fun
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Hopefully I’ll post some followup points from Augustine. It’s an excellent read, though, and he also talks about scripture, translations, canon (non-Protestant), and more.
Sounds good.
I look forward to keeping up.
I haven’t been keeping up with everyone’s blogs as of late, so it’s good to “see” ya again =D
“So, if you know a lot about serpents, you’ll know that when they are attacked, they protect the head and hurl their entire body at their adversary.”
is that what they’re teaching in liberal arts colleges these days? oof!
Something like that ;-D
I think Reformed people just like to say “perspicuity” instead of “clarity” because it makes a better acronym at the end of “sufficiency,” “necessity,” “authority”… SNAP is way cooler than SNAC.
Does that really say, “God made scriptures tough to read in order to strengthen our minds?”
Hey, BTW, you know, it is clear looking from your sidebar “ClustrMaps” that you need to write posts of greater interest to desert and tundra folks ! (smile)
Despite what Simon will tell you, Augustine isn’t right about everything
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Hehe, I’ll get on those desert/tundra posts! ;-D