We know more about Augustine of Hippo than perhaps any other figure from antiquity. At the same time, Augustine is one of the most difficult classical figures to approach. Specialists and non-specialists alike struggle to find points of entry into Augustine's voluminous writings and the extensive scholarly literature spawned by interest in his life, thought and times. K.'s volume sets out to orient readers to the complex terrain of Augustine and his commentators. This is no easy task, but K. succeeds with remarkable precision and elegance. With clear organisation, meticulous annotation and engaging prose, the book provides an essential starting point – a global positioning system, as it were – for those wishing to survey the field of scholarship on Augustine, whether for general interest or in the hope of finding a foothold for further research on a particular theme.
The first three chapters review Augustine's life, major books and his theological controversies and pastoral works. Chapters 4 and 5 consider Augustine's legacy from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and from the Reformation to the present day. The final two chapters account for new directions in recent research and new studies, including biographies, journals and institutes, anthologies, collected essays and introductory texts. K. also provides a very helpful chronology, a list of Augustine's works in translation and an up-to-date bibliography. Always concise, but never superficial, K. offers accurate and even-handed assessments of scholarly controversies. To do so in a way that illuminates scholarly experts and informs lay readers is a considerable accomplishment.
Like the balance of contemporary Augustine scholarship, K.'s account is primarily forward looking – there is little attention to Augustine's debt to the classical past. This fact does not take away from K.'s achievement. Indeed, K. makes Augustine come alive, both as a classical figure and as a thinker who still has something to say about our own circumstances. For students of Classical and Late Antiquity who are interested in Augustine, there is no better place to get one's bearings.
With the What Are They Saying About series, Paulist Press has undertaken to provide guides to complex issues in scripture, doctrine and interpretation. K.'s book is the first (of more than two dozen volumes in the series) devoted to a single, non-Apostolic figure. The format is a valuable one, and one can hope that the press will add to its list works on other seminal figures in the history of Christian thought. K.'s book is a model of how other such studies might be undertaken.
