A Speechless Child is the Word of God: An Interpretation of Saint Augustine on the Trinity, Christ, Mary, Church, Authority, Sacraments, Prayer, Hope, and the Two Cities (review)

The title of the book invites the curiosity of the reader, but in fact, bears very little relationship to the actual nature and content of this book. "A speechless child is the word of God" is simply drawn from a chapter that deals with Christology and in no way guides the thought and development of the work. This book could best be described as a kind of "handbook," a series of short chapters following the listing included in the subtitle. The topics themselves seem to be chosen more on the basis of a traditional confessional theology manual than on Augustine's own development. The book is certainly intended to be a popularization, clearly not meant for a scholarly audience. This is reflected both in the informal way quotations are used from Augustine as well as in the kind of secondary literature that is employed. The latter all predate any recent treatments of Augustine. The names of Portalie, Henry, Grabowski, Gilson, and Przywara predominate, all Roman Catholic authors who published or were translated into English in the 1960's. There is no reference to recent scholarship; even Peter Brown's landmark Augustine of Hippo is not referred to. Names like Teselle, Markus, Pagels, Miles, and Bonner are noticeably lacking. One is left with the impression that the book combines work done a few decades ago with a few articles recently published in Catholic pastoral periodicals. The author does in fact show a wide acquaintance with the writings of Augustine, and draws abundantly from these writings. But this technique unfortunately becomes tedious: a good part of the work simply consists of quotations from Augustine along with brief comments. All in all, this attempt at distillation manages to convey very little of the excitement and development, the passion and the perplexity of Augustine. If often leaves the impression that Augustine operated in a vacuum despite the author's call to "read him against his fifth-century Christian Roman background." (163) It would certainly seem that there is a place for popularization, for a kind of writing that would also reach a less-specialized audience with the complexities and dynamics of early Christian writers such as Augustine. This book, however, is an indication that "popularization" is a very difficult genre to master, and that someone looking for such a treatment will have to look elsewhere.