I guess it's an alright overview.

"A triumph of compression and lucidity," reads one blurb on the back. Hear hear.

Exactly what the title says: short (150 pages) but comprehensive. Recommended as an easy-to-understand summary of his life and beliefs.

Interesting how his influence on Christian religious philosophy continues close to 1700 years later. But it's philosophy so even though it's a very short introduction, it feels dense for me.

To read in combination with Peter Brown's biography of Augustine. A very clear explanation of all the main theological themes in the writings of Augustine. (I should have read it when I began writing my final paper for my theology degree.)

A great read! It is not an easy subject, but the author made it interesting and clear.

Augustine: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Henry Chadwick (2001)

great intro to St Augustine, i’m ready to read Confessions now

مقدمة قصيرة عن أوغسطينوس، نعرف من خلالها نبذة عن حياته ونشأته والمفكرين الذين تركوا أكبر الأثر على تفكيره في موضوعات مختلفة مثل الخلق والحرية والثالوث.
للأسف كان اختياراً غير موفقا لي فأنا غير مهتمة بهذا الموضوع.

This book offers good tips to depict properly the main features of Augustinism, the style is plain and most of the times very easy going. Nonetheless, this Introduction is not to be considered as a text available for every student devoid of any ground in the fields of Patristic theories, Paleo-Christian history and even knowledge of the intellectual context of Augustine. Moreover, some parts are too redundant and others are excessively technical (e.g. the argument of the Neoplatonic heritage, the one about the controversy around sexuality with the Pelagians). In short, have some other readings before this and use this book to enhance your knowledge of the topic.

A reasonable chronological description of Augustine’s ideas. Chadwick adds little, rarely discussing even links among the ideas.

I like this series, but it does strike me that the supposedly succinct introductions can become a deceptively long read. In this case, the author made up for space with big vocabulary, which actually results in a nice challenging piece of work. I still advocate my principle of reading the source before the commentary (in this case, especially the Confessions. This author shows the diversity of Augustine's thoughts, as they apply to philosophy, religion, and literature. He also brings out Augustine's life and personality. And he shows the way Augustine's writings affected future doctrine. In particular, Augustine believed in the force of government (he was a Roman citizen), but he would have opposed the severe practices adopted later by the Catholic and Byzantine church. The author also explains Augustine's thoughts about prayer (not to change God's will but to conform to it - mostly silent and and then OK to pray in hope for the basics of health and food). Chadwick also discusses briefly that Augustine believed that Peter as "the rock" reflected the first of many redemptions Christ would make, rather than positioning Peter as the one leader (though he later left open that possibility). With respect to religion and state, Augustine believed in the power of the latter, but also felt a government without justice was the equivalent of a very powerful thug. He believed the redistribution of resources through taxation was necessary as the church's charitable efforts would not be sufficient.