week 5 blog
I thought that there were many interesting points made by St. Augustine about the ideas of signs and how they are used and what purpose they serve. The two ideas I thought were especially interesting were the fact that some signs are intended as signs (given signs) and some are not intended as signs (natural signs). Augustine defines given signs as signs "which living things give to each other, in order to show, to the best of their ability the emotions of their minds or anything that they have felt or learnt" (30). Augustine natural signs as signs "which without a wish or any urge to signify cause something else besides themselves to be known from them" (30). He uses smoke and fire as an example of natural signs and he uses facial expressions or shouts of pain as examples of given signs.

It is interesting to look at the Psalms with these two types of signs in mind. It can help to try and look at when something seems to be intended to be a sign, rather than just standing for something by accident. The meaning of the Psalms can change drastically if it is found that something is a sign that did not previously seem to be a sign. Also, it can give meaning and motivation to the writer of the Psalms when they are looked at with intent like this. If a sign is seen to be a given sign that means that the writer had an intent for it to stand for something and had a specific point that he wanted the reader to get out of the sign. This changes the Psalms by giving them more meaning and gives them power to influence people.

Another point Augustine makes about signs is that they are esthetically pleasing. He notes how people much prefer to learn things that they must interpret rather than things that are very obvious. "It gives me more pleasure to contemplate holy men when I see them as teeth of the church tearing men away from their errors and transferring them into its body, breaking down their rawness by biting and chewing" (33). Augustine admits that it is more pleasing to even him when symbols, such as "holy men...as teeth," are used to give a message rather than making the message outwardly clear. He says that this is a characteristic of all people and that works that need interpretation are better than those that don't. This is an advantage that the Psalms have. The meaning in the Psalms often need to be interpreted and surely Augustine would credit their popularity and timelessness with their complexity. Sings are useful to challenge people and keep them interested.