Letter
LVI. From Augustine.
Augustine’s first letter to Jerome (printed in his
correspondence in this Library as Letter XXVIII.): through a series of
accidents it was not delivered until nine years after it had been
written. In it Augustine comments on Jerome’s new Latin version
of the O.T. and advises him in his future labours to adhere more
closely to the text of the LXX. He also discusses Jerome’s
account (in his commentary on the epistle to the Galatians) of the
quarrel between Paul and Peter at Antioch. This according to Jerome was
not a real misunderstanding but only one artificially ‘got
up’ to put clearly before the Church the mischief of Christians
conforming to the now obsolete Mosaic Law. Augustine strongly
controverts this view and maintains that it is fatal to the veracity
and authority claimed for scripture. Written from Hippo about the year
394
a.d.