Review by Choice Review
The strength of this book lies in its careful and insightful examination of some of the most important aspects of Augustine's thought in terms of the intellectual context of his time. For example, the existence of God was so universally accepted that the issues between Augustine and his opponents concerned not God's reality, but God's nature. After discussing Augustine's cultural setting, Scott (Purdue Univ.), a long-time student of Augustine, focuses on Augustine's prereflective opinions about God's nature, examines the Manichaean and Platonic influences on him, and, finally, considers the imperialistic conception, which Scott concludes to be Augustine's ultimate view. The author believes that Augustine's conception of God generated unresolvable tensions in his thought, notably between human responsibility and God's active direction of every event. Although the book has many virtues, it fails to deal with the full context of Augustine's thought; little is said of the Christian theological and exegetical tradition that so clearly influenced Augustine's thinking. Nevertheless, highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate; graduate; faculty. P. L. Urban Jr. emeritus, Swarthmore College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Scott's is an existential Augustine who sees human beings as atomistic individuals seeking God. As far as it goes, this interpretation is fine. Of necessity, Scott chooses what he considers the specifically Augustinian themes. In doing so, he makes Augustine the forerunner of Locke and Rousseau. Scott considers Augustine's world, his search for God, and his struggle with the interrelated doctrines of free will, divine foreknowledge, grace, and original sin, using well-chosen quotations to illustrate his points. One sees Scott honestly struggling to come to grips with Augustine's true meaning, and in this he is to be commended. This is meant to be a handbook for those studying Augustine and should be supplemented by a work that portrays a more political Augustine, perhaps James J. O'Donnell's Augustine (Twayne, 1985).Augustine J. Curley, Newark Abbey, N.J. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Library Journal Review
