A Companion to Augustine ed. by Mark Vessey with Shelley Reid (review)

Besides an introduction by Mark Vessey, this truly impressive volume has seven parts; each of the parts has many articles by some of the finest Augustinian scholars and historians of late antiquity. The introduction explains that recent scholarship has moved away from regarding St. Augustine as a Father of the Church or as the object of theological investigation or from the perspective of any Christian denomination. Hence, the present volume introduces “the subject of Augustine as it has begun to reappear after the invention of late antiquity” (p. 4). Despite all this, there is still much for those of us who still see Augustine as a Father of the Church and the greatest of the Western Fathers.

The first part presents the context of the study of Augustine, first a discussion by Christopher Kelly of the political history of the late Roman Empire. It then moves on to William J. Klingshirn’s geography of Roman North Africa and concludes with Éric Rebillard’s study of what it meant to be a Christian in the time of Augustine.

The second part bears the title of Augustine’s most famous work, Confessions, and has four chapters. The first by R. S. O. Tomlin focuses on Augustine’s worldly ambition and career as an orator and teacher of oratory and the rise to power that his parents had envisioned for him, a perspective often overlooked. In the second chapter Kate Cooper discusses Augustine’s relation to women in Carthage and Milan, the marriage Monica arranged for him, his pain over the loss of his mistress, his commitment to celibacy, and his later friendship with various powerful women. Next, Paula Fredriksen argues the Confessions should be read in the light of the theological questions that Augustine confronted in the years before writing them. Next, Catherine Conybeare presents a delightful chapter on reading the Confessions as a song in relation to its hearers as well as a song of incompleteness and otherness.

Part 3 on media begins with Philip Burton’s discussion of Augustine and language, touches upon his relation to other languages, and illustrates his various levels of style. Claire Sotinel then explores Augustine’s social networking, especially in his vast correspondence, and Guy G. Stroumsa focuses on Augustine’s preoccupation with books.

In part 4 on “Texts” Danuta Schanzer discusses Augustine’s relation to the Latin classics, Sarah Byers deals with Augustine and the philosophers, Johannes Van Oort examines Augustine’s relation to the books of the Manichees, and Michael Cameron focuses on his relation to the scripture. Mark Edwards studies his relation to his Greek and Latin Christian predecessors, whereas Michael Stuart Williams turns to his reading of his contemporaries. Finally, Mark Vessey writes on Augustine as a writer of the Church.

Part 5 turns to “Performances.” Gillian Clark writes on Augustine’s early retirement to philosophy, and Theresa Fuhrer takes us through the early dialogues. John Peter Kenney takes up the topic of Augustine as a mystic and master of the spiritual life, and Hildegund Müller presents Augustine as a preacher. Neil B. McGinn shows us Augustine as a diocesan administrator, and Caroline Humfries deals with Augustine as controversialist.

In part 6 James Wetzel writes on Augustine and the will, whereas David Hunter turns to Augustine and the body. Stefan Rebenich examines Augustine on friendship and orthodoxy, whereas Alexander Evers studies Augustine’s ecclesiology in relation to the Donatists. Robert Dodaro writes on Augustine and the cities of God and of man, whereas Sabine McCormick writes on the scriptural foundation of his trinitarian theology, and Lewis Ayres presents his theology of the redemption.

In the last part, “Aftertimes,” Clarence Weidmann writes on the survival and transmission of Augustine’s work from the early manuscripts to critical editions and their electronic reproduction. Conrad Leyser studies Augustine in the Latin West up to 900, and Eric L. Saak...