No doubt Augustine was a genius. This book was very heavy going at places - for example Augustine discusses trinities in man such as understanding, will and memory in a thorough but long-winded fashion. I went through this book on audio to make these sections less arduous!

With that being said there are some absolute gems in this book. Augustine pretty much starts with the Incarnation encouraging his readers to think of Christ's statements about himself as falling into one of two categories: "form of a servant" and "form of God". When Jesus says "the Father is greater than I" he is talking in the form of being a servant therefore this statement can't be imposed onto the existence of the Word prior to the Incarnation.Book 5 (out of 15) was a highlight as well. It's worth reading this book alone to get a taste for the book.

This is an incredible work but it might not be worth your time as there are concise works that are much more accessible existing today!

Prayer from the final chapter:

"O Lord, our God, we believe in You, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For the Truth would not say: ‘Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,’ unless you were a Trinity. Nor would You command us, O Lord God, to be baptized in the name of Him who is not the Lord God. Nor would it be said by the divine voice:‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord your God is one God,’ unless you were such a Trinity as to be the one Lord God."

I had to Skim this book over about a week, so I didn't get the chance to savor it. Given how dense it was, maybe I actually did myself a favor. Still, very moving and profound insights.

Partial.

Nice little breezy beach read.

Let me remember you, let me understand you, let me love you. Increase these things in me until you refashion me entirely. Amen

Through a long series of byzantine neoplatonic arguments, Augustine locates the image of God (ie the Trinity) in the trinity of man’s mind remembering, understanding and loving itself. But the big reveal is that this trinity is only properly in God's image when the mind is remembering and understanding and loving Him by whom the mind was made! But the even bigger and more obvious reveal is that we of course see now through the glass darkly, and it is only in eternity that we will know Him face to face. But in any case faith seeks understanding, and is the better for it.

How do I review a book like this? It has taken me some time to work through this book, but I have found it essential to understanding later writers, particularly St. Thomas Aquinas. In its own right, it is a wonderful read and an intellectual journey for those seeking to live in the mystery of the triune God. Also essnetial for those seeking to understand the development of Trinitarian thought.

A beautiful classic; I wish I could go back in time and listen to Augustine speak. So grateful we have his writing. Four stars are mainly for the translation, which, although it is clear and easy to read, it includes anachronisms such as "secular scientist," "embryonic formation," and "psychoanalytic," that leave me wondering what Augustine really wrote in the Latin. I won't comment about my thoughts on the Trinitarian theology because I think this is a must-read for anyone grappling with understanding Trinitarian doctrine. The first half of the book was much more Scriptural, and more enjoyable to read. A large book to work through, but well worth the effort!

One of the most brilliant minds of the Christian tradition (and beyond!), St. Augustine plunges into the most captivating, yet also the most incomprehensible pillar of the Christian faith--the Triunity of God. Arguably Augustine's most taxing and enigmatical work, The Trinity is a rite of passage for all students and learners of Trinitarian theology (and beyond!). Inflexible in his meticulous bend, Augustine exacts demanding intellectual and spiritual prowess to delve deep into the most wondrous mystery: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. How can this be? Why is this be? Searching for an appropriate explanation of the Trinity, Augustine, in the end, falls into humble surrender: "What is the reason then that you cannot fix your gaze on it to see it, but weakness obviously; and what brought this weakness on you but wickedness obviously? Who then is to heal all your infirmities but he who is gracious to all your iniquities?" (15.27.50). In daring hope, we will see God face to face (1 Cor 13:12), but until then we wait in faith in the Triune God to purify us in grace and love. Amen.

cf. www.sooholee.wordpress.com

It's too simple to simply grasp

I have this book 5stars primarily because of the power of Hilary's thought and the clarity of his faith. I must admit that sometime he lost me, but the firmness of the truth of our faith never wavered. If you're interested in a view of the intellectual battles over the faith of the Church, Then you'll probably like this book. In it Hillary parents what the heretics taught and thought and how the orthodox Faith opposed them. The book deal mainly with the Church's on Jesus Christ. Not very much about the Holy Spirit.

My personal notes, should anyone wish to see:

1.tAgainst the assertion that ‘God loves me as I am – therefore I will obstinately cling to my former self.’
“Wherefore He certainly does not exclude Himself from that which He says, The Father Himself loves you; but He means it to be understood after that manner which I have above spoken of, and sufficiently intimated — namely, that for the most part each Person of the Trinity is so named, that the other Persons also may be understood. Accordingly, For the Father Himself loves you, is so said that by consequence both the Son and the Holy Spirit also may be understood: not that He does not now love us, who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all; but God loves us, such as we shall be, not such as we are, for such as they are whom He loves, such are they whom He keeps eternally; which shall then be, when He who now makes intercession for us shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, so as no longer to ask the Father, because the Father Himself loves us. But for what deserving, except of faith, by which we believe before we see that which is promised? For by this faith we shall arrive at sight; so that He may love us, being such, as He loves us in order that we may become; and not such, as He hates us because we are, and exhorts and enables us to wish not to be always.” (Book I, Ch. 10).

2.tOn true friends.
“How then shall we make it good that nothing is said of God according to accident, except because nothing happens to His nature by which He may be changed, so that those things are relative accidents which happen in connection with some change of the things of which they are spoken. As a friend is so called relatively: for he does not begin to be one, unless when he has begun to love; therefore some change of will takes place, in order that he may be called a friend.” (Book V, Ch. 16).

3.tOn the term subsist
“Chapter 5. – In God, Substance is Spoken Improperly, Essence Properly. 10. If, however, it is fitting that God should be said to subsist — (For this word is rightly applied to those things, in which as subjects those things are, which are said to be in a subject, as color or shape in body. For body subsists, and so is substance; but those things are in the body, which subsists and is their subject, and they are not substances, but are in a substance: and so, if either that color or that shape ceases to be, it does not deprive the body of being a body, because it is not of the being of body, that it should retain this or that shape or color; therefore neither changeable nor simple things are properly called substances.) — If, I say, God subsists so that He can be properly called a substance, then there is something in Him as it were in a subject, and He is not simple, i.e. such that to Him to be is the same as is anything else that is said concerning Him in respect to Himself; as, for instance, great, omnipotent, good, and whatever of this kind is not unfitly said of God. But it is an impiety to say that God subsists, and is a subject in relation to His own goodness, and that this goodness is not a substance or rather essence, and that God Himself is not His own goodness, but that it is in Him as in a subject. And hence it is clear that God is improperly called substance, in order that He may be understood to be, by the more usual name essence, which He is truly and properly called; so that perhaps it is right that God alone should be called essence. For He is truly alone, because He is unchangeable; and declared this to be His own name to His servant Moses, when He says, I am that I am; and, Thus shall you say unto the children of Israel: He who is has sent me unto you. However, whether He be called essence, which He is properly called, or substance, which He is called improperly, He is called both in respect to Himself, not relatively to anything; whence to God to be is the same thing as to subsist; and so the Trinity, if one essence, is also one substance. Perhaps therefore they are more conveniently called three persons than three substances.” (Book VII, Ch. 5).

This is obviously a formative Theological text, but with a few flaws. So: "fractured masterpiece", then? There are some contradictory passages, and some big assumptions, some of which seem extra-biblical, such as "God never changes"(God's plan for man changed a few times, though). Augustine is at pains to separate the mind and the soul, but writes two long portions of the book about the mind, as if to ascribe the soul to the mind.

However, if the doctrine of the book was not of benefit to me(I agree with it, actually), then certainly his interspersed musings about contemplating God are worth the price of admission alone.

It's a very clear and important book, yet I couldn't help but notice the ambiguity in some parts, especially when it came to explaining how the image of God was present in a different way in mand and woman. This article makes a good summarizing: https://commons.pacificu.edu/cgi/view...