The Berean Codex™Scripture Research Project
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Augustine — Luke 15 as a pattern of recovered sinners and divine joy

A reusable research record with provenance and relationships kept separate from the presentation layer.

INTERPRETATION_HISTORY_RECORDHISTINT_LUK_15_AUGUSTINE_CONF_8_3

Evidence state: documented historical interpretation

Statement layerScholar argues
Historical attribution chain

c. 397–400 CE · Patristic · Primary Source Via Translation

Interpreter: Augustine of Hippo

Work: Augustine — Confessions

Tradition / method: Latin patristic / early Western Christian interpretation

Historically documented reading

In Confessions VIII.3 Augustine explicitly brings together the lost sheep, lost coin, and younger son of Luke 15 while reflecting on the greater joy associated with the recovery and salvation of one who had been lost.

Interpretive use: Augustine uses Luke 15 as a theological pattern for conversion/recovery and for divine, angelic, and communal rejoicing over a repentant sinner.

Original context: This occurs inside Augustine's reflection on conversion and joy in the Confessions, not as a continuous verse-by-verse exposition of Luke 15.

Authority boundary: A primary source can establish what this interpreter wrote; it does not make the interpretation correct by age, fame, office, or tradition.
Interpretive Evidence Audit

Documented Reception Only · Curated Pass As Reception History

Inference depth: Direct · Original-meaning weight: No Automatic Weight From Reception

Augustine’s reception is historically important, but this specific Confessions use is not a complete original-context exegesis of Luke 15.

Open complete evidence audit

Quality-gate boundary: This audit measures evidentiary support and inferential distance. It does not make the Codex infallible or convert scholar/tradition authority into evidence.
Interpretation Dependency Profile

Reception History Only

Premises mapped: 3 · Development threads: 1

Curated chronology: c. 397–400 CE · Earliest In Curated Corpus Only

This date identifies this curated reception witness, not the historical origin of its ideas. This is not a historical-origin claim.

Open complete dependency profile

Chronology boundary: “Earliest in the curated Codex corpus” is not a claim of historical origin. Missing earlier records cannot be treated as evidence that a premise did not exist.

Supporting evidence

Work Id: WORK_AUGUSTINE_CONFESSIONS

Role: primary historical work

Citation Id: CIT_AUGUSTINE_CONFESSIONS_8_3_LUKE15

Role: specific locator

What this does not establish

That Augustine's use exhausts Luke 15's original literary meaning.
That every detail of the younger-son narrative should be allegorized.
That patristic age or Augustine's later influence makes the interpretation correct by authority.
That Augustine is offering a full interpretation of the elder son in this specific Confessions passage.
Release Introduced
v53
Passage Id
PASSAGE_LUK_15_1_32
Evidence Classification
documented historical interpretation
Status
CURATED_PUBLIC