Abstract
De Catechizandis Rudibua, one of Augustine’s minor works but one which subsequently exerted great and lasting influence, unfolds before the reader a masterful .plan for teaching religion. The unique feature of his method is that the instruction should range from 9 In the beginning God created Heaven and earth'1 to the present period of the Church. Throughout the development of this treatise the central figure is God in the Person of Christ; the ever- recurring theme is love--love of God and neighbor. To develop his narrative Augustine referred constantly to the Old and New Testaments—the Bible. Hence, the return to his idea that both Bible and Church history to the present period should be taught on the level of the pupil and only to the degree that the material could be absorbed. From this plan of teaching religion on the basis of universal history Augustine produced in the De Catechizandis Rudibus the plan for his De Civitate Dei.