This is the definitive biography of the great saint. Peter Brown is a gifted historian and a master story teller and in his able hands, Augustine comes alive to the modern reader, not just as a saintly bishop, but as a flesh and blood human being. Brown engages each of Augustine's major works and provides the background for their composition. This book is a must for anyone interested in the history of Christianity.

I really wasn't expecting this biography to be so engaging. It can be dense material but the author did an amazing job telling Augustine's story, using his own words from his own work. Really enjoyed it.

Anything by Peter Brown is well worth the read and this is no exception. This has been for me a really life-giving experience allowing me to drink deeply from Augustine's inner life while learning about the outer events that shaped it. I seldom recommend books to friends but have encouraged every close friend I have to pick up a copy of this important historical, philosophical, and theological work.

A very readable, scholarly book (thank you Stephen Dalton for leaving it accidentally) that was very interesting. The book was originally published a couple decades ago but the author revised and expanded it because of all the new manuscripts discovered (from Augustine, contemporaries and peers and a large number of Donatist manuscripts), plus a more seasoned perspective.

Not only is A himself revealed in the complexity of a living man, but also quite a perspective on life the late Roman Empire, the arguments and issues of the professing Church and the growing differences between the European, Greek and North African branches. While the gospel of God's grace through Christ alone, from first to last was still being preached, raucous feast days celebrating the martyrs, veneration of relics, and attributing a salvific element to baptism was already common. Augustine labored hard to change the first two and was definitely in the minority position.

The new information from Donatist writers was of special interest. They held identical doctrines and practices to the Roman church of the time. The origin of the split was "who should be a member of the church." The Donatists held that anyone who had compromised with the Roman authorities in the previous generations (who, of course, by this time were long dead) could never belong to Christ or the church again. The opposing view was if proper repentance and manner of life were observed, such could rejoin the church and accepted as true brethren. Some extensive quotes from Donatist bishops indicate they really regarded their retaining God's favor depended on their purity of doctrine and of life as local congregations without what they viewed as compromise.
It would be interesting to read further in such documents.

While the author obviously is not a fan of Augustine's formulating the doctrine of election, he does treat it in a very fair and balanced manner, or so it seemed to me.

Overall, it not only brought A to life but also that whole period with all the dynamics of human interactions and the issues of the day. It clearly shows that human nature is not a whit different between then and now. One amusing anecdote was Augustine bewaling the enthusiasm of young men compelling their fellows to come see "such-and-such charioteer." Fandom and hero worship were just as present then.

I highly recommend this book for those with interests in these areas.