Fourth century bishop of Hippo in North Africa.
(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Pages 38.)
He was present at the Third Council of Carthage (A.D. 397).
(A General Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament: Fourth Edition, with New Preface, by Brooke Foss Westcott, D.D., Regius Professor of Divinity, and Late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1875, Pages 435-436, @ https://archive.org/details/ageneralsurveyof00westuoft/page/388/mode/2up?q=%22carthage%22)
Augustine's literary approach to the Bible
Augustine's approach is defined in On Christian Doctrine IV, 6-7. It's narrow, only analyzing rhetoric or style.
- He asserted the writers of the Bible followed the ordinary rules of classical rhetoric. He explicated passages from Amos and the Epistles to prove the Bible can be compared to familiar literature.
- He admired the eloquence and beauty of the Bible as having inherent value.
- He foreshadowed a cornerstone of modern literary theory when he claimed that the style of the Bible is inseparable from the message that it expresses
- For all his enthusiasm over the literary eloquence of the Bible, he showed an uneasiness about viewing the Bible as being totally similar to other literature, claiming, for example, that the eloquence of the Bible was not "composed by man's art and care" but instead flowed "from the Divine mind."
(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. The Bible as Literature by Leland Ryken, Page 114-115)