A Question of God, Part 1: Why Does God Ask Questions?

A Question of God, Part 1: Why Does God Ask Questions?
The influential Christian theologian believed that some scripture was meant to be interpreted figuratively. A detail from “The Triumph of Saint Augustine,” 1664, by Claudio Coello. Prado Museum. Public Domain
James Sale
Updated:

St. Augustine observed long ago that “whatever appears in the divine Word that can be referred neither to virtuous conduct nor to the truth of faith must be taken to be figurative.” I think the key word in his sentence that we have to come to terms with is the word “figurative.”

The “divine Word” means, of course, the scriptures. And it is easy to see that the Ten Commandments, for example, are a clear case of exhorting us to virtuous conduct. Equally, we can delve into the Epistles of Paul in the New Testament and find plenty of examples of what constitutes “the truth of faith.”

James Sale
James Sale
Author
James Sale has had over 50 books published, most recently, "Gods, Heroes and Us" (The Bruges Group, 2025). He has been nominated for the 2022 poetry Pushcart Prize, and won first prize in The Society of Classical Poets 2017 annual competition, performing in New York in 2019. His most recent poetry collection is “DoorWay.” For more information about the author, and about his Dante project, visit EnglishCantos.home.blog
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