St. Augustine's prayerful reading or the Psalms

Abstract

In St. Augustine's prayerful reading of the Psalms, a reading which is often itself a prayer, there are several themes which are simultaneously influencing and contributing to his manner of exposition. Augustine's treatment of prayer in his interpretation of the Psalms is shaped by his understanding of the intention of the Psalms; it is shaped by his formation in the philosophical milieu of his day, most especially the Neo-Platonic writings of Plot in us and his contemporaries; and, finally, it is expressive of Augustine's own style of exegesis: a manner of approaching the Psalms which is both very much in the Patristic tradition of Scriptural interpretation which views the entirety of the Old Testament as speaking directly to its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.