Augustine and Problems of Scriptural Interpretation

In this paper, I examine Augustine's attempts to standardize Scriptural readings in On Christian Doctrine and The Trinity, in which he painstakingly defines sign-theory and other technical aspects of literary production. Much of the paper is devoted to Augustine's explication and application of these principles in his conversion narrative Confessions. Ironically, Augustine's attempts to stabilize scriptural language only expose language's very instability.