Saint Augustine (Penguin Lives)

Rating:
Summary: Informative, Insightful, Interesting, Not Introductory
Review: This deceptively small book contains a wealth of information about the life and thought of one of the foundational thinkers of the Christian Church. Wills approaches Augustine in new, unexpected, informed and refreshing ways. He gives new and vivid translations to old words, new names to nameless people and misnamed books, new life to old phrases, new slants to a character and thought we presumed we were familiar with. He is especially good talking about Augustine's youth which turns out to have been not as bad as our imaginations fancied, and his doctrines not quite as dour and obsessed with sex, and his mother not quite so possessive and controlling. It is a good and insightful read especially for those who are already familiar with Augustine's milieu who have acquired enough of a false impression to appreciate being disabused. Anyone looking for an "introductory" work may well bog down here and there.

Rating:
Summary: Informative, Insightful, Interesting, Not Introductory
Review: This deceptively small book contains a wealth of information about the life and thought of one of the foundational thinkers of the Christian Church. Wills approaches Augustine in new, unexpected, informed and refreshing ways. He gives new and vivid translations to old words, new names to nameless people and misnamed books, new life to old phrases, new slants to a character and thought we presumed we were familiar with. He is especially good talking about Augustine's youth which turns out to have been not as bad as our imaginations fancied, and his doctrines not quite as dour and obsessed with sex, and his mother not quite so possessive and controlling. It is a good and insightful read especially for those who are already familiar with Augustine's milieu who have acquired enough of a false impression to appreciate being disabused. Anyone looking for an "introductory" work may well bog down here and there.

Rating:
Summary: A good stepping stone
Review: This is a very good book for someone who has a basic understanding of Saint Augustine's philosophy and wants to gain a better understanding of his times and how this influenced his development before embarking on further study.

Rating:
Summary: History and Spirit!
Review: This short biography of Saint Augustine is written in an unbiased, readable style by a respected author. Covering the main events of St. Augustine's life from his adolescent years to his death, the author presents Augustine in a well respected manner. His analysis of Augustine's writings from a chronological standpoint sheds light of many of the misconceptions or debates surrounding St. Augustine's life and teachings. The author allows Augustine to basically "grow up" while still allowing him the frivolous excursions of youth and early adult formative years when most people are figuring out who they really are. People can and do change, and this author recognizes and accepts this notion. For this reason, if nothing else this text is worthy of perusal. The book's brevity does leave the reader with a sense that something is missing and hence the lower rating. As many writings as Augustine produced and as complex as his teachings are, the concise nature of this book does a respectable job. For those on the go or if looking for a nice gift, this book will not disappoint with its brevity and attractive cover.

Rating:
Summary: A Fresh Look at a Controversial Figure of Christianity
Review: This short biography of Saint Augustine is written in an unbiased, readable style by a respected author. Covering the main events of St. Augustine's life from his adolescent years to his death, the author presents Augustine in a well respected manner. His analysis of Augustine's writings from a chronological standpoint sheds light of many of the misconceptions or debates surrounding St. Augustine's life and teachings. The author allows Augustine to basically "grow up" while still allowing him the frivolous excursions of youth and early adult formative years when most people are figuring out who they really are. People can and do change, and this author recognizes and accepts this notion. For this reason, if nothing else this text is worthy of perusal. The book's brevity does leave the reader with a sense that something is missing and hence the lower rating. As many writings as Augustine produced and as complex as his teachings are, the concise nature of this book does a respectable job. For those on the go or if looking for a nice gift, this book will not disappoint with its brevity and attractive cover.

Rating:
Summary: an astonishing feat for so brief a life!
Review: To borrow an image often used of St. Augustine's own efforts to explain the Trinity, the effort of trying to delimit so oceanic a writer as Augustine into the water-pail of a 176-page "Brief Life" seems absurd, but Wills has definitely pulled it off. Where his interpretations go against received wisdom, he argues brilliantly; and where he agrees with the tradition he does so more pithily than any other writer, Brown included. And finally, his translations are remarkably vivid -- so suitable to Augustine's own Latin! Here is a book that deserves not just five stars but five Bravo's!

Rating:
Summary: Good bio details; thin theology
Review: Wills has produced a useful biographical sketch of the great St. Augustine. His treatment of the Donatists and their continuing battle with Augustine is very enlightening, as is his information about Adeodatus and Monnica (sic). The material on Augustine's theological thought tends to be, well, sketchy, and quite standard. A good, quick, lucid introduction to the great theologian.

Rating:
Summary: Good but not great
Review: Wills is a fine writer, but the "brief life" format does not allow him to do full justice to a figure of Augustine's magnitude. Peter Brown's biography remains the best introduction to Augustine.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant work, not a starting point.
Review: Wills sets forth an amazing review of the life and work of Augustine of Hippo in this intentionally brief work. Because it is brief by design, it may not be the best starting point for a review of Augustine; some familiarity with the subject is required. Nevertheless, this book presents so many significant insights that I believe it will become an essential reference on its subject.

Rating:
Summary: A balanced view of Augustine's gifts and weaknesses
Review: Wills's book offers balanced and judicious insight into Augustine's gifts to western thought and civilization as well as to his mistakes. One gains a new respect for the man's contributions as well as for his weaknesses as a human being. The book is clearly organized, eloquently written, and rich in references to sources ancient and modern. Augustine's understanding of God's actions in creation and of the nature of the human will in reference to time and memory is clearly distinguished from his Neoplatonic disintegration of human sexuality from the wholeness of human identity and experience. The author makes clear that Augustine's contemporaries and later major theologicans, as well as likely our own generation, have often made hash of his insights and misapplied them to the human condition and our understanding of God.