Augustine of hippo biography peter brown

  • Thomas aquinas
  • What is st augustine known for
  • Augustine of hippo died

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    Augustine of Hippo…

    There is admittedly something strange about posting a review of a book whose first edition was published fifty years ago. Even its second edition will soon be turning twenty. My initial thought was that Peter Brown’s classic biography of Augustine (d. 430), bishop of the North African port city of Hippo Regius, might provide one way of engaging with the surprisingly little-marked five-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation’s “first year”.[1] Augustine had, of course, departed for greener pastures over a millennium before Johann Tetzel first cast his unseemly shadow upon the backwater town of Wittenberg. But as students of the Reformation will know, Augustine’s writings and––perhaps more importantly––his authority carried no small weight during the proceedings. Both Roman Catholics and the Magisterial Reformers were determined to keep the venerable Church Father on “their side”.  And was it not, after all, a canta

  • augustine of hippo biography peter brown

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    Specifications

    • Cover Type

      Paperback

    • ISBN

      9780520280410

    • Page Count

      568

    • Publisher

      University of California

    • Publication Date

      November 2013

    Endorsements (5)

    “A model biography. Mr. Brown is an impeccable scholar but also a vivid biographer and a delightful writer; he brings Augustine and his whole age persuasively to life.”

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    “It is an intellectual biography, a portrait in depth of the man, and a brilliant study of the period.”

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    “He has attained to the true stature of his subject.”

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    “Justly applauded for its intelligence, and for the skill with which it relates the life and thought of a man dead for more than 1,500 years to the life we live now.”

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    “I salute Brown's achievement in bringing Augustine out of the tomb of theological doctrine, and setting his mind and emotions working before our eyes.”

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    About the Author

    Peter Brown is Rollins Professor of History emeritus at Princeton University. Brown

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    Augustine of Hippo: A Biography

    August 20, 2014
    Brilliant! I had this on my shelf for a year before I got to it – the size and subject matter just seemed a bit daunting – but it turned out to be engrossing and readable. Brown is a wonderful writer (though his style includes more use of commas than inom am accustomed to), and he does a beautiful job balancing the anställda details of Augustine's life with the history of the period. I would assume that most readers going in to this would have a basic familiarity with traditional långnovell religion, the history of the late Roman Empire, and with the major controversies within the Church in this period, but even without this background I think this book would be enjoyable (though more challenging. For example, the Donatist controversy comes up ganska a bit before Brown goes in to it in detail. Similarly with Pelagianism. And Platonism. But when he does get to explaining things, he does it wonderfully well!)

    I love the way Brown draws connecti