Augustine
Ancient Thought Baptized

A detailed and accurate account of the character and effects of Augustine's thought.

John M. Rist (Author)

9780521589529, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 12 September 1996

356 pages
22.9 x 15.4 x 2 cm, 0.485 kg

'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

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.

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.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA]