I would strongly recommend that any reader be familiar with at least Augustine's major works before tackling this book. With that said, the book is truly fascinating. This interpretation of Augustine is brilliantly original and remarkably timely. Intensely written, the author nevertheless keeps the book manageable and not overly-scholarly. For anyone who has ever wondered about knowledge, self-knowledge, reflection and action, please be my guest.

A great introduction to the writings of St. Augustine. What is also wonderful about the book is he traces different aspects of St. Augustine's personality such as "Augustine as a mystic" and gives excerpts supporting his conclusions.

In this book we are given a psychobiographical treatment of Augustine's life and work, with a particular emphasis on his early period. The book draws in a good deal of detail and theory about the society surrounding Augustine in the fourth century, and looks at some of the issues with the way moderns approach the investigation of Augustine the man and Augustine the later inventions.

In the first chapter, Dixon takes up the issue of how Augustine is to be viewed.

Even if one disagrees with him, rejects his ideas, or positively excoriates him, one has to admit that he described human life powerfully and inspired many readers with the hope for the participation of humans in the love of God.'

Dixon points out that, going beyond the field of religion and history, Augustine's influence extends to other fields in ways subtle and gross. Citing influences through William James and Erik Erikson, she points out that, 'the influence of Augustine might be lurking in the thought of any scholar of psychology.'

She uses the image of a water buffalo listening to a symphony, an old Javanese image, to ask what, in fact, do we hear when we listen? Not all hearings are equal.

'I will use the metaphor of the symphony, and its contrast to the tuneless water buffalo, as a reminder of the challenge to bring together hermeneutics, historical studies, literary considerations, and social sciences in the effort to understand how Augustine's Christianity helped him discover and compose, from elements of culture and experience, a meaningful view of his crowded and disparate life.'

Dixon looks at society, culture and the person of Augustine as the broad categories of examination. Drawing on the tools of sociology, psychological anthropology and cultural psychology, Augustine is laid bare from the inside out. But this is not meant to be a methodological straightjacket, either.

The categories society, culture and person were always intended as tools of analysis, not definitions of fixed truths.

The primary lens through which this book treats Augustine is through the pivotal work 'Confessions.' A work unique for its time and the first of its kind, the 'Confessions' of Augustine represent in varying degrees the first modern autobiography, the first psychological examination of an individual, and a cutting-edge literary work that helped define both an end to the classical period and the beginnings of medieval thought strands.

The second chapter examines the ideas of person and world, which are in late antiquity quite different from modern ideas. The one and the many are vastly different; the idea of individual liberties and freedoms, the idea of personal ambition and social mobility are foreign concepts for the most part. Only the loftiest of persons could entertain ambitions, and rare indeed was the lower/working class individual who achieved or even aspired to much more. Dixon explores the various modern psychological explanations of how individuals achieve identity, comparing this with the data found in the 'Confessions.' She also draws in some theory of symbolic meaning a la Ricouer to explore hidden and intended meanings throughout his text and society.

The remaining primary chapters deal with Augustine's life period by period, exploring the ideas of culture, society and person in Augustine's childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. These were the formative years for Augustine, and while Augustine's life and product certainly continued to mature throughout his years, he had a remarkable consistency of reflection and consideration of his early influences, many of which he continually held before himself, perhaps out of guilt, perhaps out of a sense of regret, perhaps even as a reminder of what he needed to guard against in his future. The information contained in these chapters is indeed interesting, rather unique in approach among Augustinian scholarship. While bits and pieces are certainly used elsewhere, and are adequately documented and referenced, the collection as a whole is worthwhile.

Perhaps my highest praise goes to the final chapter, 'Reflections on Hearing Music in Life.' Dixon does a good job at tying the strands together and presenting, once again drawing on the metaphor of the water buffalo and the symphony, what scholars and other interested readers should be listening for in the works of Augustine, and those who write about him.

'One of the most challenging questions about Augustine, given my interpretation of his life and thought, asks whether he remained bound by his childhood experiences and his infantile unconscious dynamics, or whether he moved on to a mature adult redirection of them, perhaps even a transcendence of them.'

Dixon finally asks why we need to set up the dichotomy of child versus adulthood that early psychological theory puts forward. Do any of us escape our early influences? Is this even desirable? Quoting Peter Brown's authoritative biographical work on Augustine, that the Confessions are 'the self-portrait of a convalescent', Dixon agrees that there is some element of self-healing going on here, and that in this process, Augustine shows us a very real element of the human condition.

'Having been taught by Augustine, we could do a great deal more for each other'. We could act on love for our neighbours, offer care for their bodies and instruction for their minds, and discover joy in their apprehensions of music in their lives. W could apply our conscious efforts to hearing the music of our own lives, even if we never perceive its unconscious sources. We might even discover in these efforts an approach to God in the company and service of our neighbours'human, animal, inanimate, and those already hallowed beyond this earthly life.'

The book contains a worthwhile bibliography of primary and secondary sources (13 pages of such), extensive endnotes (42 pages for a 220-page text), and a good index. It is produced by the Chalice Press, the publishing arm of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), who are the denomination that founded my seminary. The author, Sandra Lee Dixon, is associate professor of religious studies at the University of Denver.

Take and read.

Dostoyevsky once wrote that beauty will save the world. Carol Harrison's remarkable study demonstrates that such an emphasis on beauty is no less a critical element of St Augustine's theology. Not only does her book solidly establish the relevance of aesthetics in Augustinian theology, it also provides an excellent point of departure for thinking about the significance of beauty in Late Antiquity more generally. For this reason, Beauty and Revelation will be interesting to students of Late Antiquity and anyone who wishes to learn more about the multifaceted Doctor of the Church.

This book, edited by Eleonore Stump and the late Norman Kretzmann, is a very nice collection of Augustinian scholars and their writings on or about different aspects of Augustine's philosophy.

The book consists of articles (or chapters) which deal with Augustine's view on Time and Creation, Faith and Reason, Evil and the Origin of Sin, Predestination, Pelagianism, and Foreknowledge, the Soul, Free Will, Philosophy of Language, Political philosophy and much more. Some of the contributing scholars are: Mary T. Clark (Manhattanville College), Bonnie Kent (Syracuse University), Scott MacDonald (Cornell University), John Rist (University of Toronto), Eleonore Stump (St. Louis University), Roland Teske (Marquette University), etc.

This book is a perfect demonstration of the influence which Augustine and his thinking has had over the last 1600 years or so. In my estimation this is one of the better secondary compilations which covers the thought of Augustine. The chapters are quite detailed regarding each philosophical issue and lead the reader to a greater understanding of what Augustine was espousing. However, the work is not so "scholarly" that the average person (or non-philosopher) would read it and be completely lost. Thus, it is so well written that anyone who has an interest in Augustine can tackle the issues. Moreover, the book covers several theological issues which Augustine had dealt with in his own day. This, I think, adds a nice dimension to the text. I highly recommend this work (as well as "Augustine Through the Ages" which is also available here at Amazon).

The process of moving from promiscuity toward chastity is difficult and demands the courage of a soldier. Augustine gathers the steps from his personal experience and writes about them in his Confessions. The nine step process is outlined as follows:

1. Become attracted to the goal of chastity. "Oh that the tides of my youth might have spent themselves upon the conjugal shore" (Book II. Chapter 2.);

2. Be honest and admit that promiscuity is very alluring. "It was foul, and I loved it. I loved to perish. I loved my own error-not that for which I erred, but the error itself" (II.4);

3. Realize that promiscuity is eagerly chosen with a small amount of reflection. "I was most certain that it was none but myself who was willing and unwilling, and immediately perceived that there was the cause of my sin" (VII.3);

4. Become informed of the strength of promiscuity. "Because of a perverse will lust was made; and lust indulged in became custom; and custon not resisted became necessity." It seems impossible to become chaste. "For the law of sin is the violence of custom" (VIII.5);

5. Procrastinate and put-off the attainment of chastity. "I, miserable young man, supremely miserable even in the outset of my youth, had entreated chastity of You, and prayed 'Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet'" (VIII.7);

6. Develop a healthy desire for chastity. There "was nothing else but to will to go, but to will it resolutely and throughly" (VIII.8);

7. Become courageous and enter the struggle. "I all but came to a resolve. I all but did it, yet I did not do it.Yet I did not fall back to my old condition, but took up my position hard by, and drew breath" (VIII.11);

8. Cry. "I flung myself down, how, I know not, under a certain fig-tree, giving free course to my tears, and the streams of my eyes gushed out" (VIII.12);

9. Receive the power of God and become secure. "I grasped ... the volume of the Apostle, ... and in silence read: 'Let us live honorably as in daylight; not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual excess and lust, not in quarreling and jealousy. Rather, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the desires of the flesh' (Romans 13: 13-14). No further would I read, nor did I need to, for instantly, as the sentence ended-by a light, as it were, of security infused into my heart-all the gloom of doubt vanished away" (VIII.12).

Why is it that a person becomes chaste? Is it because he is secure? According to St. Augustine, security is that which enables a person to adjust the intensity of every human attraction and repulsion. Security belongs to the chaste person, the sensible eater, the one who is calm and logical and generous.

Let me put it this way, and I quote another translator of this book, "You have not read 'Confessions' until you have read the Sheed translation."

Maria Boulding's translation of the Confessions has been justly praised for its balance of literary style, non-sexist language, and clarity of expression. She now has turned her efforts to the translation of the Ennarationes in Psalmos, a collection of preached sermons and written commentary on all one-hundred fifty psalms. This first volume includes commentaries on the first thirty-two psalms, with two expositions of six psalms, three of Psalm 32, and four of Psalm 30.

These expositions show Augustine at prayer, albeit public prayer in front of a congregation, and addressing a mixed audience, i.e. one composed of more learned and less learned hearers, a distinction he sometimes make reference to as determining the nature of his discourse on a particular day. And thus they show Augustine to be the great preacher and teacher he is. Some of the expositions show Augustine thinking aloud, as when he considers verse six of the first psalm, "I rested and fell asleep," which he variously interprets. He notes that different translations interpret the original Greek differently, and he offers his own thoughts on possible interpretations.

For one not used to patristic interpretation of scripture, Augustine's commentary can be jarring, since he does not just deal with the text on the level of literal interpretation, but he also includes what have come to be known, since the middle ages, as the analogical and anagogical interpretations, i.e. interpretations of what the psalm means in terms of Christianity and what it says to us about moral behavior, all part of Augustine's sensus plenior.

Some of his well-known themes appear, also, and the commentary offers another light on them. In the exposition of Psalm 5, Augustine treats of lying, commenting on the verse, "You hate all those who work iniquity." He gives a brief summary of the discussion on lying and concealing the truth that are found in more expansive forms in his treatises on that subject. The footnotes often are helpful in noting echoes of other works, although here, strangely, there is no reference to his other discussions of lying. He also offers a reflection on God as father and mother in Exposition 2 of Psalm 26, a discussion that might be surprising to some readers.

Overall, the Expositions of the Psalms offers what amounts to a mini-course in Augustinian theology, since all of his keys themes are treated in an abbreviated manner at some point in the exposition. And Augustine offers his advice to the people on praying the psalms in his fourth exposition of Psalm 30: "If the psalm is praying, pray yourselves; if it is groaning, you groan too; if it is happy, rejoice; if it is crying out in hope, you hope as well; if it expresses fear, be afraid."

Michael Fiedrowicz's introduction offers a good exposition on how to read this work, placing it in historical and literary context, with an especially good explanation of Augustine's method of interpretation. At the back of the book is an index of Scripture citations and a general index.

This book is a collection of four different works of Saint Augustine. The table of contents is as follows:

"Christian Instruction", introduced and translated by John J. Gavigan

"Admonition and Grace", introduced and translated by John Courtney Murray

"The Christian Combat", introduced and translated by Robert P. Russell

"Faith, Hope, and Charity", introduced and translated by Bernard M. Peebles

Index

The supplemental materials in this book consist of fairly short introductions to each work written by the translator of that work, footnotes that explain translation issues, references to other works, including scripture references, and finally, a shared index.

Each of the four works which comprise this book will be discussed in turn.

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The title of the first work, "Christian Instruction", leaves the reader to wonder whether the work is intended to instruct him in Christianity or to be an instructor of others in Christianity. The answer is: yes. To quote Augustine himself, in his discussion of it in his "Retractions":

"I...completed the work in four books. The first three of these help to an understanding of the Scriptures, while the fourth instructs us how to present the facts which we have just comprehended."

Of the "books" alluded to by Augustine, the first prescribes the proper attitude for the study of scriptures, specifically from the perspective of "faith, hope, and charity". The second prescribes a program of education, central to which is knowledge of language: both the general knowledge of language as a system of signs, and specific knowledge of Hebrew and Greek. The third prescribes a system of hermeneutics or interpretive principals and rules. Finally, the fourth is essentially a discussion of rhetorical methods of persuasion and their application to teaching Christianity to others.

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The second work, "Admonition and Grace", was written because a number of monks had been disturbed by an a letter of Augustine which they thought so exalted the importance of divine grace as to leave no place for human free will (and responsibility). The specific question they asked was:

"Why are we preached to, and given commands, in order to have us avoid evil and do good, if it is not we ourselves who do these things, but God who effects in us the will and the deed?"

To the immediate question, Augustine in reply developed the doctrine that while man of his own free will could do no good without grace, he could recognize his own evil, and in that power lay his responsibility:

"Whenever you fail to follow the known commands of God and are unwilling to be admonished, you are for this very reason to be admonished, that you are unwilling to be admonished...You are unwilling to have yourself shown to yourself, that you may see your own deformity, and seek one to reform you, and beg Him not to leave you in your ugliness of soul."

Not content with having answered the question at hand, Augustine went further, and discussed the ultimate origin of sin, and the state of man and the fallen angels before their respective falls and the nature of those falls. Going further yet, he discusses grace with regard to Mary and the elect, and still further, ultimately ending in a theodicy.

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The third work, "The Christian Combat" is a short, muscular work "written in a plain style for brethren not proficient in the Latin language". Its end is to lay out how a Christian should live, and to identify heresies that Christians should avoid falling into. As befitting its audience and purpose, it is simple and direct. The basics of Christian belief and scriptural justifications for them are quickly described, then then warnings are given a series of heresies that must be rejected.

The points of Christian belief covered are the nature of evil (Manichaean dualism being explicitly rejected), the governance of Providence, salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and God as the Trinity.

The list of heresies to be rejected is actually the bulk of the work. Each begins with a "Let us not heed..." introduction, followed by a description of the particular heresy, and then a justification (generally scriptural, sometimes logical) for why it should be rejected.

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"Faith, Hope, and Charity", the fourth and final work in the book, is also known as the "Enchiridion", or handbook. It was written in response to a letter containing a list of questions pertaining to Christian doctrine.

"Faith, Hope, and Charity" begins by discussing is a wide-ranging work, as its origin might suggest. Most of the work is loosely organized around the apostles' creed as a framework for explaning the faith. As such, it discusses belief in God, the goodness of creation, the nature of sin, the origin of sin, God's grace and Christ as the means of man's salvation, the church, the resurrection of the dead, the relation between providence and free will, hope and the Lord's prayer, and finally charity as the crowning principal of the commandments and the true good at which man should aim.

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For my part, the work that really stood out was "Grace and Admonition". The subtlety and power of Augustine's solutions to the problems of grace and free will make truly impressive reading. Several times, I went back to the beginning and started reading again - not because I didn't understand it, but because I was so floored by it, that I simply had to read it again right away.

This book contains a pair of unfinished works by Augustine on the Book of Genesis. The table of contents is as follows:

Introduction (Roland J. Teske)

Entries from "The Retractions" on the two works

"Two Books on Genesis against the Manichees"

"On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis: An Unfinished Book"

General Index

Index of Holy Scripture

Augustine regarded the interpretation of Genesis as important to Christian belief, but also found it difficult. These works were his two first attempts at writing interpretations of it, but he thought them only partly successful and did not see fit to complete them. Neither work is to be confused with Augustine's "The Literal Meaning of Genesis", which is a later and much longer work on the same subject that he successfully completed (that work is available in two volumes from Paulist Press).

Augustine's special interest in Genesis had two roots: apologetic and theological. His apologetic interest was a response to frequent attacks on Genesis by non-Christians and what he felt were inept defenses of it by uneducated Christians. His theological interest sprang from the critical importance of the Fall to Augustine's theology.

The first work, "Two Books on Genesis against the Manichees", was primarily apologetic. It was written not long after Augustine left the Manichees to return to the Church, and was intended as a rebuttal to the Manichee attacks on Genesis. In this context, Augustine discussed Creation, Eden, and the Fall, but the work ended there - Augustine felt that he had not yet learned enough to complete the task he had undertaken successfully. The section on Creation was largely literal - reading it as a record of events that had occurred, but the section on Eden and the Fall was largely allegorical, reading it for the spiritual truth within the literal account. The chief interest I found in the work was that the description of the Eden and the Fall shows the strong influence on Augustine of classical virtue ethics, but none of the theology of Original Sin that is of such importance in his later writings.

The second work "On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis: An Unfinished Book", was aporetic in character: in it, Augustine deepens the reader's understanding of the text by raising questions about it rather than by giving answers. This work was written not long after the previous one, and again Augustine found himself ultimately unequal to the task he had set. This work is even shorter than the previous one, and gets less far into Genesis, ending after the Creation days. I found the work pleasant to read; the aporetic style provides a sense of intimacy - that the author is sharing not only his answers with the reader, but also his questions, even if he doesn't have an answer to give.

The supporting material in the book is quite good - the only fault I would find is that the introduction generally refers to works by the abbreviations of their Latin names, which made me break from reading the text to his table of abbreviations (about 30 in all) far too often, a fault compounded by the fact that English translations for the titles in that table were not provided. Still, this is a pretty minor quibble.

As a final note, thanks are due to Teske and CUA Press for providing the first translation of these works into English.