What are they saying about Augustine?
By: Joseph T. Kelley
Series: What are they saying about series; WATSA series
Publisher: Paulist Press
Published: 2014
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 258
ISBN-13: 9780809148547; 9781587683282
Description: This book presents an overview of the best of contemporary scholarship on the fourth and fifth century bishop, Augustine of Hippo. His life, his sermons and letters, doctrinal writings and pastoral work, as well as his own faith and spirituality are reviewed in light of new research. This Father of the Church emerges as a dynamic thinker struggling to integrate his Christian faith with the demands of reason, and to discern Christian meaning amidst the political and social controversies that plagued the late Roman world. The circumstances of his life and the dynamism of his faith are more relevant to the contemporary Christian than one might suspect. The early- and mid-twentieth century saw new scholarly interest in and understanding of Augustine. His persistent influence on Christian theology, especially in the West, was evident, mid-century, at the Second Vatican Council; his thought is cited liberally in Council documents. Since the Council there has been an explosion in Augustine studies, marked largely by the shift from doctrinal to historical approaches and methodologies. New appreciations of Augustine s pastoral role have arisen from careful study of his sermons and letters, several of which have been rediscovered in the past several decades. Controversy about Augustine s teachings on original sin, human sexuality, and the relationship of church and state continue. However, contemporary Augustinian scholarship invites a reconsideration of long-standing presumptions about Augustine, among both those who defend him as well as those who revile him.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Chronology of Augustine's life; title: Introduction; title: Life: meeting Augustine; title: Writings I: major books; title: Writings II: theological controversies, sermons and letters, and Revisions; title: Legacy I: Middle Ages and Renaissance; title: Legacy II: Reformation to today; title: New directions in recent research; title: Meeting Augustine anew: new studies of his life and other resources; title: Conclusion; title: Appendix. The complete works of Saint Augustine: a translation for the 21st century.