Customer Reviews

The Cambridge Companion to Augustine (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)

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This book, edited by Eleonore Stump and the late Norman Kretzmann, is a very nice collection of Augustinian scholars and their writings on or about different aspects of Augustine's philosophy.

The book consists of articles (or chapters) which deal with Augustine's view on Time and Creation, Faith and Reason, Evil and the Origin of Sin, Predestination, Pelagianism, and Foreknowledge, the Soul, Free Will, Philosophy of Language, Political philosophy and much more. Some of the contributing scholars are: Mary T. Clark (Manhattanville College), Bonnie Kent (Syracuse University), Scott MacDonald (Cornell University), John Rist (University of Toronto), Eleonore Stump (St. Louis University), Roland Teske (Marquette University), etc.

This book is a perfect demonstration of the influence which Augustine and his thinking has had over the last 1600 years or so. In my estimation this is one of the better secondary compilations which covers the thought of Augustine. The chapters are quite detailed regarding each philosophical issue and lead the reader to a greater understanding of what Augustine was espousing. However, the work is not so "scholarly" that the average person (or non-philosopher) would read it and be completely lost. Thus, it is so well written that anyone who has an interest in Augustine can tackle the issues. Moreover, the book covers several theological issues which Augustine had dealt with in his own day. This, I think, adds a nice dimension to the text. I highly recommend this work (as well as "Augustine Through the Ages" which is also available here at Amazon).