In a 1988 article in the Journal of Literature and Theology<\/em> (2:1), Milbank sketches the contours of a \u201ctheology without substance.\u201d Along the way, he offers a critique of Augustine\u2019s signum-res<\/em>\u00a0distinction and the implied metaphysics.<\/p>\n On the one hand, Augustine pours some of the foundations for a Christian linguistics and semiotics. Milbank says that in de Magistro<\/em>, he \u201cis so aware of the sign-character of words, and the indispensability Beyond the Stoics, for whom signum <\/em>mainly referred to natural relationships (smoke and fire, e.g.), Augustine saw verbum <\/em>as a species of signum. <\/em>This\u00a0innovation had \u201cmomentous\u201d potential, since it \u201copened the way to This was not, however, the path that Augustine followed. Instead, the ultimate result of his semiotics was \u201cto bring the \u2018natural\u2019 realm of the sign itself under the sway of \u2018linguistic equivalent\u2019\u201d (7). Thus, \u201cAugustine finally obliterates the This has massive consequences for hermeneutics: \u201ceven the signs that constitute the Bible are for For Augustine, then, \u201cthe \u2018natural\u2019 sign is In a 1988 article in the Journal of Literature and Theology (2:1), Milbank sketches the contours of a \u201ctheology without substance.\u201d Along the way, he offers a critique of Augustine\u2019s signum-res\u00a0distinction and the implied metaphysics. On the one hand, Augustine pours some of the foundations for a Christian linguistics and semiotics. Milbank says that in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109,463,464,465],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-augustine","category-john-milbank","category-semiotics","category-substance"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nof the artificial system of language for thought, that in De Magistro he
\ndeclares that one can give the meaning of a word only by another word, or
\nelse by a gesture which is still a sort of sign\u201d (7).<\/p>\n
\nseeing that word and \u2018dictionary definition\u2019 are never fully reciprocal. Quite to the contrary, words can only be explicated \u2018intensionally,\u2019 through
\na process of semiotic inference which relates no longer (as for the stoics)
\nmore or less readily to nature, but only to a particular cultural-linguistic
\n\u2018segmentation\u2019 of reality\u201d (7).<\/p>\n
\nstoic vision of reality as a chain of implications and adopts a semantics and an
\nontology founded on denotative unambiguity\u201d (7). Every word can be \u201creduced\u201d to a noun, which stands \u201cin a one-to-one correspondence with reality\u201d (8). His \u201cconcern for a stable order
\nof creation, for free-will and for the ultimacy of the soul leads Augustine to
\nendorse the \u2018linguistic rationalism\u2019 . . . . While signs are necessary, just as teaching is
\nnecessary, both belong to usus<\/em> rather than fruitio <\/em>and their point is to recall
\nres, and finally to recall spiritual res in the soul, where Christ speaks,
\nwordlessly\u201d (8).<\/p>\n
\nAugustine ultimately no more than teaching instruments, almost dispensable
\nfor the mature Christian. And Biblical typology, also, falls under the
\ntyranny of \u2018equivalence\u2019 . . . The possibility
\nof allegorical meanings arises beyond the literal, historical level, because
\ncertain res can also be used as signa<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nthought of on the model of the human linguistic word. Figurative and
\nallegorical meanings are to be resorted to when the literal meaning appears
\nimmoral or unsuitable, and these usages have been \u2018foreseen\u2019 by the Holy
\nSpirit as assisting our instruction \u2013 partly because of the delight which the
\nmind takes in metaphor and the moral usefulness of the hard work involved\u201d (8).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"