The surviving body of writings from Augustine includes a large corpus of letters, most from his time as bishop of Hippo in his native North Africa. The letters, which include briefs to as well as from Augustine, cover a remarkable range of topics. Letter 137 is part of a fascinating dossier of letters from around 412 between Augustine and the talented young aristocrat Rufus Antonius Agrypnius Volusianus. Volusian, as we will call him, was the son of the famous Christian patroness Melania the Elder, but not himself a Christian. He did not hesitate to share his doubts about Christian teaching with Augustine, who must have been his senior by at least thirty years. At one particular meeting of young aristocrats, which Augustine mentions in Letter 137, Volusian encountered objections to the Christian doctrine of the incarnation, which he vowed to forward to Augustine for a reply.1 The main issue Volusian notes is the seeming incongruity in the doctrine, which posits that the ruler of heaven was confined in the tiny body of an infant and underwent the ordinary experiences of a human being.