ABSTRACT
Augustine assumes all along that the true source of his authority and the credibility of Catholic teaching lay not so much with the competence of its teachers, but in the Teacher, namely Christ. For Augustine, trust is foundational in all forms of inquiry and human knowing. The inquirer or seeker, trusting in the authority of the teacher, and beyond that, in the community of learning, builds a body of knowledge and puts to the test what he or she acquires. Without the spirit of inquiry and the desire to pursue the truth to which Augustine appeals over and over again in De utilitate credendi, the insistence on trust and authority as prerequisites for true knowledge falls on deaf ears. Much of what Augustine does in De utilitate credendi is to establish his credibility. Augustine sets belief and trust against what can be established by demonstration or reasoning.
