Tractates on the Gospel of John 55-111

This is the fourth of five volumes of Rettig's translation of St Augustine's ""Tractates on the Gospel of St John"". In the ""Tractates"", Augustine progressively comments on the Gospel text, amplifying the orthodox doctrinal and moral lessons to be read there. Modern scholars generally concede that ""Tractates"" 55-111 fall within a distinct group, thought to have been composed between AD 414 and 420, where Augustine deftly argues for the teaching of Nicene orthodoxy. In ""Tractate"" 99 there is a defence of the controversial ""Filioque"". There is also an examination of the paradoxes inherent in the Incarnation: the entrance into history of an immanent and transcendent God the Word; the union of that word with human nature ; how that union, in the Person of Christ, does not confound or diminish either Nature. No less significant is Augustine's examination of predestination; the mystery of the elect; love of God as the fruit of contemplation; the Eucharist as the source of the martyr's strength; the divine Nature; and many other notable topics in the discussion of the development of dogma. In these ""Tractates"", Augustine comments upon a discrete portion of the sacred text: the Last Supper and the priestly prayer of Jesus. The reader is left in a state of watch with the Saviour, for his impending Passion, Death and Resurrection, which is discussed in the final volume.