Gerald Boersma offers a lucid and insightful analysis of Augustine's early theology of image that effectively situates it within the wider Latin Nicene and Plotinian philosophical traditions. Boersma's analysis into the crucial role a theology of image plays in the development of fourth- and fifth-century Latin Christianity is especially notable, and can be situated within the scholarly line developed by Lewis Ayres and Michel Barnes, who argue for a Nicene theological tradition that bridges the Latin West and Greek East. Boersma's foray into Plotinus is less ambitious in focusing on the philosophical foregrounding upon which Augustine drew to progress beyond difficulties he inherited from his Nicene predecessors. It does, however, provide a persuasive demonstration of Augustine's Platonist heritage, as Boersma wades into the wider twentieth-century debate on Augustine's indebtedness to Platonism.

The first half of the book is an efficient and careful analysis of the theology of image in the work of Hilary of Poitiers, Marius Victorinus, and Ambrose of Milan. The theology of image that develops in this context is focused foremost around not anthropological, but rather Trinitarian and Christological considerations that emerge from a defense of Nicene theology. Boersma begins with Hilary who, in defending the Nicene equality of Father and Son, argues that the image relation between them is one of ontological identity that carries the same connotation as the Greek term homoousion. Hilary goes on to contend that humans are ad imaginem dei—to or toward the image of God—but not the divine image itself because this would make humans God's equal. Victorinus follows suit and, arguing against the Arians, claims that divine simplicity requires that if the Son is the image of God, he must be one (consubstantial) with the Father. In contrast, humans are not the image of God (homoousios), but rather in the likeness of God (homoiousios). Ambrose follows Hilary and Victorinus in employing the divine image principally as a Trinitarian category to defend Nicene theology, though Ambrose can also be less precise at times in referring to humans as the divine image. For all three thinkers, the fundamental problem that emerges is how humans can be in the image of God when “image” carries the ontological connotation of homoousion. This question becomes all the more problematic in light of Paul's claim that humans are not only “to” the image of God, but also are the image of God.

In the second half of the book, Boersma develops Augustine's answer to this question on the way to articulating a wider account of Augustine's theology of image. Boersma's overarching thesis is that Augustine draws on a Plotinian philosophy of image, and in particular his metaphysics of participation that grounds it, to address the problems inherent in the Nicene tradition and to enrich his own theology of image. Boersma begins with Augustine's image theory in Soliloquia, tracing parallels between it and three specific aspects in Plotinus: the origin of images from the One (i.e., the relation between the One and the many), the true and false nature of images, and the movement of all images back toward the One (i.e., the exitus/reditus schema). Boersma is careful to balance these points of convergence with differences that emerge between Augustine's account of creatio ex nihilo and Plotinus's model of divine emanation. The real differences with Plotinus, however, become more apparent in Contra Academicos, where Boersma focuses on two key passages in 3.5 and 3.17 to develop the interesting argument that the figure of Proteus referenced in 3.17 is in fact a symbol for Christ. For Boersma, this opens onto Augustine's rebuttal of Academic skepticism that weaves together a Plotinian metaphysics of participation, wherein material images participate in spiritual truth, with a Christian doctrine of incarnation, wherein spiritual truth participates in material reality, to argue that spiritual truth can be known within the flux of temporal reality, but only through Christ. This is punctuated in De Vera Religione, which continues to rely on Plotinus's model of ascent to the One, but also diverges from Plotinus through Augustine's accounts of sin and the incarnation. Evil is a problem for Plotinus, but for Augustine it becomes intractable and only resolvable through the grace of Christ and the moral pedagogy he offers that, unlike the elitism and hypocrisy Augustine comes to associate with the Platonists, is able to bridge philosophy with religion and faith with reason, and so open the return for all people to the divine Trinity.

The way Augustine integrates a Plotinian model of image into his Christian vision of salvation leads into some of Boersma's most important analysis on the differences between Augustine and his immediate Latin predecessors on three key terms: image, likeness, and equality. Drawing on a Plotinian metaphysics of participation, Augustine argues that equality is not a simple either/or—either one is equal to God or not—but rather that there are gradations in equality, where some images are closer and some further from God. This allows Augustine to be more consistent with Paul in arguing that both humans and the Son are the divine image, though in different degrees. In this context, Boersma also ranges a bit beyond his core focus on image theory to delve into wider questions of dualism and soul-body relations in Augustine, offering a propaedeutic against facile contemporary critics who still too easily dismiss Augustine on these issues. Admittedly, however, Boersma's correct assessment that Augustine's non-dualism remains hierarchical is unlikely to persuade contemporary critics who reject Augustine as much for the latter as the former.

Clearly and persuasively written, Boersma's work offers an insightful analysis into the important topic of Augustine's theology of image. He demonstrates a good grasp of the relevant secondary literature and effectively anchors Augustine's thought within his wider intellectual milieu, carefully tracing both the points of continuity and divergence from the Latin Christian and the Plotinian philosophical traditions. In this, it is a fine model of historical theology. I highly recommend this book to those interested in Augustine's theology and his relation to the wider Latin Christian tradition.