From a netfriend:

I was reminded of this passage from Alister McGrath's Understanding Jesus: "When I began to study theology at Oxford, one of my tutors was a Jesuit at Campion Hall. As I climbed the staircase leading to his room, I used to pass a gigantic painting of a man and a small boy by the sea. Eventually, I asked someone to explain the painting and was told the following story. Once upon a time, Augustine of Hippo was writing a work on the Trinity, exploring the Christian understanding of God. As he was walking along the coast one day, he encountered a small boy pouring seawater into a hole in the ground. Augustine watched him for some time, and eventually asked him what he was doing. `I'm pouring the Mediterranean Sea into this hole,' replied the boy. `Don't be so stupid,' replied Augustine, `you can't fit the sea into that little hole. You're wasting your time.' `And so are you,' replied the boy, `trying to write a book about God.'" (McGrath writes that if this story isn't true, it should be!)

McGrath comments: "But even with this sobering thought in mind, Augustine still felt it was important to try and speak about God - and inevitably to speak of him in terms of doctrines....But it will be obvious that the Christian experience of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit was something common to Christian experience long before it was expressed in words or doctrines or wrapped up in some sort of doctrinal formula."

I believe that Scripture, as opposed to Augustine's or anyone else's reflections on God, is normative and supremely authoritative even though not exhaustive about God. It is the totally reliable "map" that enables people to encounter the same divine reality others have encountered and experienced. I base this belief on Scripture being "theopneustos" (2Tim.3:16). However, I would want to distinguish between just reading about God (even in God-inspired words) and having a relationship with God.