Fear of God is the first step; wisdom is the last. Between them Augustine sets a climb that ends in a single eye—one that will not put neighbor, or self, before the truth. Then he comes back down to the third step and names the books: the canon judged by the churches, forty-four of the Old, and the New from the four Gospels to John’s Revelation. The Confessions still cannot say what time is, only that we measure it—long verse by short syllable—until even that measure slips, and he wonders whether the protraction is of the mind itself. Aquinas sorts the prophets the same way Augustine sorts signs: the image is one gift; the light that understands it is a greater one.

### Today’s Readings:

Augustine of Hippo — On Christian Doctrine, Book 2, Chapters 7–8 (Sections 11–13)

Augustine of Hippo — The Confessions, Book 11, Chapters 25–26 (Sections 32–33)

Thomas Aquinas — Summa Theologica, Part 2–2, Questions 173–174 (The Reception and Degrees of Prophecy)

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