Augustine: Ancient Thought Baptized

This major work constitutes a significant attempt to provide a detailed and accurate account of the character and effects of Augustine’s thought as a whole. It describes the transformation of Greco-Roman philosophy into the version that was to become the most influential in the history of Western thought. Augustine weighed some of the major themes of classical philosophy and ancient culture against the truth he found in the Bible and Catholic tradition, and reformulated these in Christian dress.

• An exciting and comprehensive reappraisal of the single most influential figure (after Christ) in the history of Christianity • The author is a leading philosopher of antiquity, and the writer of nine previous books • Shows how Augustine’s thought has relevance to us today

Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Works of Augustine; Notes on chronology; Bibliographical note; 1. Approaching Augustine; 2. Words, signs and things; 3. Certainty, belief and understanding; 4. Soul, body and personal identity; 5. Will, love and right action; 6. Individuals, social institutions and political life; 7. Evil, justice and divine omnipotence; 8. Augustinus redivivus; Appendix 1: Porphyry’s account of the sentence in the De Magistro; Apendix 2: Traducianism, creationism and the transmission of original sin; Appendix 3: Augustine and Julian: aspects of the debate about sexual concupiscentia; Indexes.

‘… masterful study … Rist places [Augustine] firmly in the tradition of classical philosophy and uncovers the intellectual unease which made him a deep and original thinker.’

– John Marenbon, The Times

‘… is likely to be reckoned by readers to rank as Rist’s best book so far: the sheer magnitude of the subject and the contemporaneity of some the issues have evoked a book to match’.

– Henry Chadwick, The Times Literary Supplement

‘Rist’s study of Augustine is a stunning achievement … [His] exposition is simple, lucid, based on vast learning and has the sympathetic understanding required for true insight. What distinguishes his study from many others is his acute awaremeess of the problems, obscurities, unresolved tensions and incoherences in Augustine’s thought’.

– R. A. Markus, Theology