It is a daunting task, methinks, for a biographer to tackle a subject who has already written his/her own life story. Augustine's 'Confessions' (author Wills prefers to refer to the book as 'The Testimony') is one of the classics in the field and has stood the test of time. But Garry Wills has tackled the life of the Bishop of Hippo anyway -- and, moreover, has done so succinctly and in a lucid style that helps the reader to clarify many aspects of Augustine's life and, along the way, dispel some misconceptions that have sprung up around him. (I found it particularly poignant that Augustine, realizing his end was near, chose to isolate himself in his monastic cell -- and to have the penitential Psalms, in large lettering, posted around on the walls.) At 160 pages, this is not one of the elephantine biographies that seem to be the darlings of the publishing world these days. -- Recommended to those who want to quick overview of the life of an important Christian thinker or those who are looking for a helpful introduction to Augustine's life and times.

More genius by genius Wills

This was a good introduction to the life of St. Augustine.

Granted it only touches on certain aspects of his life, it can be used as a stepping stone to understand what religious life was like 345 C.E. and onwards.

It has me interested in learning more about the schism in Christian belief during St. Augustine’s lifetime.

An intriguing character from the pages of church history, no doubt. His thoughts have shaped the format and framework of much of Christian theology. But the minutia of the theological discourse and the splitting of hairs can be very wearisome. I am glad this book only lasted 4 CDs. I pushed on to the bitter end. I did learn a lot about Augustine and the author gives a good overview of his life and major influences as well as his significant theological entanglements.

Not a bad introduction on Augustine's life. Wills presented a good sketch of Augustine's life and the theological debates of his time. I'm looking forward to the next books by Augustine on my reading list. I did think it was rather funny that Augustine was always referred to as "Catholic" since even the primacy of Rome (and, thus, the Papacy) had just been established in Augustine's lifetime.

I listened to this one on CD, which probably made it easier. The style was a little dry, but parts of it were very interesting and it was written as a short biography. If you are interested in St. Augustine, this gives a good, brief overview of his life.

As with Karen Armstrong's Buddha (review: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21...), I can't do justice to Garry Wills' biography of Augustine of Hippo because I listened to it via audio cassette as I drove to and from work.

I will say this, despite its brevity (less than 200 pages in print), Wills' manages to present a surprisingly complex and insightful portrait of the man and his thought. He actually managed to turn the saint into a sympathetic figure. I've never liked Augustine much as a person but the author's interpretation made me sympathize with the decisions Augustine made in his life (like sending his long-time concubine and mother of his son away).

Highly recommended, print or audio (in fact, I should read the print version because I know I missed a lot just listening to it). Garry Wills is a brilliant writer and anything he authors is worth the effort to read.

A young African man with a taste for sex and a highly developed sense of both religion and mission travels across the Mediterranean. He decides to sail. Once in Italy, he communes with the rich and powerful and then, some years later, makes the return journey via the same means of transport, and thereby completes the sum total of his life’s travels.

We know a lot about the man, not only from his own writings which are both extensive and preserved, but also from the accounts of many of those contemporaries who met him, engaged in intellectual and theological debates with him, or merely reported.

The Roman Empire had only recently espoused Christianity. It was an era when the young faith was divided by schism. A strength of this biography of Augustine is that it brings home the passion that characterised these differences. A weakness, however, is tat the different variants of fourth century Christianity are not clearly delineated. This would, perhaps, be too much to ask in a short account of a life, but there are times when understanding of the text is compromised because of this omission. What does come alive, however, is how recent were the memories of persecution under Diocletian. It was a difference in attitude to some of those who succumbed to denial of their faith under that persecution that created one major schism.

Donatists refused to re-admit those who had renounced their faith under threat and were the main expression of Christianity in North Africa. Our young African man chose to ally himself with the Roman church, thus placing himself in a local minority.

Pelagius who was around at the time denied the concept of original sin. Quite often it seems that he didn’t, then he did, and then he didn’t again. It was a heresy, needless to say. But, and I feel it might be an attractive concept even today, the idea that the Church was not full of sinners had its adherents.

Arians stressed the humanity, not the divinity of Jesus Christ. This allowed them to avoid at least some of the problematic concept of three deities in one, a holy trinity. The concept has been a confusion and for many outside of Christianity it appears to be a wholly unnecessary complication. Arian thought, however, Gary Mills points out, is only reported by those who opposed them, so an accurate representation of their philosophy is difficult to establish.

Manicheans, unlike Christians, saw the universe in black and white, a competition between good and evil. There were aspects of light and dark in everything and everyone, but it was the interplay between the two that determined where an individual might be placed in the overall scheme of things. Manichaeism has largely disappeared from world religion, its only remaining bastion being Hollywood, where it provides the basis of most films aimed at the popular audience.

All of these ideas, heresies and religions were themselves in competition in the homeland of Augustine of Hippo. And through Gary Wells’ book we gain an insight into how an individual thinker and philosopher grappled with the contradictions and tried to make sense of what he regarded as the correct line. The book is a window on Augustine’s thoughts , thoughts that often deal with the base as well as the obviously spiritual. Gary Wills provides real insights into Augustine’s charm, the magnetism of his rhetoric and the logical processes of his thought. And he manages to this in just 150 pages, pages that also include significant and poignant quotes from Augustine’s work.

The stained glass analogy on religion applies. If you look at windows from outside, they are merely sold grey. On the inside, they reveal full and splendid colour. There might be many a modern reader who would be confused as to why it matters that a concept is associated with this or that belief. But for a Christian and certainly for someone who sees the windows in full colour it clearly does matter. Gary Wills’s book brings the debates and issues alive even for the general reader, though it has to be said that sometimes the detail of the theological debate is less than penetrable. This is a book of many surprises.

Philip Spires is author of Mission and A Fool's Knot, African novels set in Kenya

Found a used copy at the Chapel Hill library booksale... A quick, sympathetic introduction to the storied doctor. A good introduction for undergrads and those laboring under caricatures of Augustine as repressed, but I still prefer Brown's biography.

St. Augustine of Hippo: A Helpful & Informative Overview written by Garry Wills

The book, "Saint Augustine: A Life," written by Garry Wills gives a good amount of introductory biographical information concerning Aurelius Augustinus (St. Augustine of Hippo.) The book covers the major parts of Augustine's life from his birth to his death, and gives insight to understanding the time in which he lived, as well as insight into Augustine, himself.
The book, in my opinion, is well worth a read for those beginning a study of Aurelius Augustinus.

interesting, unsure how accurrate and complete, better to go with GKC's excellent bio

I feel Wills thought the Penguin Lives series was not to provide a brief, wise, and informed biography of its subject but instead to provide a running commentary on what the biographer thinks of everyone else’s take on the subject. Augustine does not come alive in these pages, nor do we gain an appreciation for why he was so distinctive and significant. But we do learn what Wills thinks, which I appreciate, since he is an important figure, but I wish I understood Augustine better after reading this.