"The ten chapters of this volume discuss Augustine's views of free choice, vocation, creation, and other
societal questions, while it also reveals biographical facts of the sage's life."
--Worship and Arts
"The book is a marvel of comprehension achieved without a loss of clarity. As a connected account of Augustine,
the thinker, it will doubtless stand as among the most popular which now exist."
--International Philosophical Quarterly
"I do not know of any other summary of the mind of Augustine which serves the reader so well."
--History: Reviews of New Books
"The best brief introduction to Augustine's context and thought for the beginning undergraduate. Excellent
for history, philosophy, and religion courses--clear, elegant, thorough."
--Robert I. Burns, University of California, Los Angeles
"All the main thought elements of Augustine set in the attracively told narrative of a fascinating life."
--John J. Glanville, San Francisco State University
Oxford University Press Web Site, March, 2002
Summary
Augustine was arguably the greatest early Christian philosopher. His teachings had a profound effect on Medieval
scholarship, Renaissance humanism, and the religious controversies of both the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation.
Here, Henry Chadwick places Augustine in his philosophical and religious context and traces the history of his
influence on Western thought, both within and beyond the Christian tradition. A handy account to one of the greatest
religious thinkers, this Very Short Introduction is both a useful guide for the one who seeks to know Augustine
and a fine companion for the one who wishes to know him better.
Table of Contents
List of illustrations
1. The formation of Augustine's mind: Cicero, Mani, Plato, Christ
2. Liberal arts
3. Free choice
4. A philosophical society
5. Vocation
6. Confessions
7. Unity and division
8. Creation and the Trinity
9. City of God
10. Nature and grace