Texts in Conversation
Tobit describes God bringing people down toward death. In the Confessions, Augustine echoes this descent when he describes God pushing him back as he approaches, connecting this rebuff to his own pride.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Tobit 13:2
Deuterocanon
1 And he said Blessed is God that lives for ever, and his kingdom, For he chastises, and shows mercy. 2 He leads down to Hades below the earth, And he brings up from the great destruction; And there is nothing that shall escape his hand. 3 Give thanks to him before the Gentiles, you children of Israel, For he has scattered you among them, 4 And there he has shown you his greatness; And extol him before all the living. Because he is our Lord, and he our God, and he our Father, Yes, he is God to all the ages:
Augustine, Confessions 4.15
Early Christian
But I pushed on toward you, and was pressed back by you so that I might know the taste of death, for "you resist the proud." And what greater pride could there be for me than, with a marvelous madness, to assert myself to be that nature which you are? I was mutable—this much was clear enough to me because my very longing to become wise arose out of a wish to change from worse to better—yet I preferred to think you mutable rather than to think that I was not as you are.
Search:
Notes and References
“... Conybeare (2016:59) notes: ‘The entire prayer of Tobit 13 is
in fact of immense importance for the themes of the
Confessions’. O’Donnell (1992b:6–7) demonstrates that
Tobit 13 was important for the Confessiones not only
because of allusions to its content, but even its structure,
which O’Donnell clearly sets out. Tobit 12:7, after all, has
Raphael say that it is important to reveal and confess the
works of God, which is the major impetus of the
Confessiones. O’Donnell (1992b:6–7) notes several allusions
to Tobit 13 in Confessiones 1.1.1, 1.2.2, 1.16.26, 2.2.4, 2.3.6,
2.6.14, 2.9.18, 3.3.5, 4.15.24, 7.21.27, 8.5.12, 8.6.14, 10.2.2,
10.6.8, 12.16.23, 13.38.53 and so on. ...”
de Wet, Chris L.
The Book of Tobit in Early Christianity: Greek and Latin Interpretations from the 2nd to the 5th Century CE
(p. 9) HTS Teologiese Studies Vol. 76, No. 4, 2020
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,