Abstract:
The Bible has a variety of perspectives on old age. On the one hand, as exemplified in
Ps 91(90):16 and 92(91):15, old age is a sign of God’s blessing and the elderly are held in
high regard as valuable, while on the other, as exemplified in Ps 39(38):5; 71(70):9; and
90(89):10, life is seen as fleeting and length of days as insignificant and the elderly fear
neglect. The psalms held a high place in Augustine’s Christian identity. This paper
explores Augustine’s use of these verses to consider the extent to which his religious
outlook shaped his perspectives on ageing, as well as addressing the question of whether
or not he was aware of the conflict between the two perspectives. It will be argued that
Augustine was not interested in the contradictions presented by the psalmist, and that
he interpreted all the verses through an eschatological framework, such that an evaluation
of the meaning and value of life is to be found only through a perception of
eternity.
