Introduction

In this chapter I take a second look at Markus's interpretation of the Augustinian saeculum to show how the scholarly interpretation of Augustine's saeculum changes as soon as the extrinsic orientation is corrected. The scope, in other words, is to make manifest the effect of the correction, not to offer a complete, novel interpretation of Augustine. The reader should be aware of this limited scope in addressing this chapter. I offer an alternative interpretation, an interpretation in which his extrinsic perspective is corrected, and a sacramental worldview is re-established. The reader will be the judge. In my opinion, Markus's interpretation is, in the end, weak: he places the Augustine of The City of God against the Augustine of The Literal Meaning of Genesis. If, as Barth would say, the whole world is in Christ, then the relationship between the human order and the divine order cannot limit itself to a simple matter of subordination. In my interpretation, the entire relationship between the human order and the divine order is re-established, and only general eschatology, “the sovereign providence of the one Lord,” is lost.

The cautionary note is particularly necessary with regard to a couple of aspects of my interpretation. First, Augustine's theory of providence is presented in this chapter as if providence is the only driving force in the evolution of human affairs. This is an approximation. Augustine was conscious that providence plays a crucial role in directing human affairs toward salvation, but providence neither expropriates nor limits humanity's freedom. Providence and human nature cooperate and mutually adjust to each other. Human nature, in its own autonomous movement—namely in its freedom—operates in the flux of time, although conserving an orientation toward providence. Second, the ancient secular is, for Markus, a third, neutral space between the sacred and the profane. In this chapter, I address this statement. I show that the third, neutral space is not only the result of Markus's interpretation of Augustine but also of assumptions that may be questioned. In particular, I focus on Markus's ambivalence about the saeculum, which is supposed to be a time, but which Markus sometimes handles as a space. I do not offer an entire reinterpretation of the saeculum.

Prophecy and Sacred Institutions

In the previous chapters I showed the characters, sources, and motivations of Markus's extrinsic orientation. Here I return to the extrinsic orientation itself.