الكتاب على تناوله السيرة الفكرية لواحد من أهم مُفكرّي المسيحية، إلّا أنه بدا جامع تاريخي وفكري وفلسفسي للعصر المذكور
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قرأت تعليقًا على الكتاب يقول بحاجة القارئ إلى خلفية فلسفية خاصةً فلسفة أفلاطون، وهذا بلا شك واجب
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أكبر فائدة من اكاتب كانت "كيف تطورت العقيدة المسيحية حتى أصبحت بشكلها الحالي" ومن أغرب النتائج المستنتجة إنها عقيدة جزء كبير منهل = فلسفي..
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كثير منّا كمسلمين، يرتبط بعقلنا مفهوم "الآب" بالله الخالق ، و"الإبن" بسيدنا عيسى "البشري" وروح القدس الذي يساوي عندنا سيدنا جبريل، ولذا فنحن نفهم العقيدة المسيحية بالإعتماد على الخلفية المعلوماتية المتخيلة وهذا خاطئ، لأن الثالوث يعني عندهم غير ذلك إطلاقًا، الأمر يشبه -إلى حدٍ ما أن أقول لك، أنت روح وجسد وإرادة، هذا ثالوث، لكنّه في النهاية شخصك الواحد!
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هذا بالنسبة لي شيئًا مهما مع عدم اقتناعي به، وذا لأنّي -قبل اليوم- كنت أرى العقيدة المسيحية غير منطقية بالمرّة..
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سأقرأ الكتاب مرّة أخرى يومًا ما!

Accomplished what it set out to do. Lots of punchy and concise summaries of Augustines philosophy and theology

Henry Chadwick in this excellent work avoids going into the biography of Augustine, sticking to his philosophy and how the mind of Augustine developed over his lifetime. The man was far more open minded even into old age than one might assume about a person completely dedicated to religion and was genuinely dedicated to finding the proper way to think about things for which there was, and still is, no clear evidence as we moderns understand it.

Those, like me, who put little value in discussion of whether the Father and the Son are one and the same, or the nature of the three-in-one, the detailed handling of Augustine's theology may hold little appeal, but Chadwick doesn't leave it out because of its profound impact on the Church. Augustine is the very rock upon which Catholic theology has been built. We are told of the influences on Augustine that educated his thinking. He was a man of his times who did not develop his philosophy in a vacuum.

What interesting times they were in the 4th century. Discussion of the various Christian sects, the tensions between them and between Christians and the authorities at a time when pagan practices were still popular I found fascinating.

Decent primer on the North-African church father; some biographical information, and a brief but handy discussion of the well known works, recommenden reading; will read his most known works somewhere down the line; City of God and The Confessions of St. Augustine.

A helpful introduction to Augustine's thought from one of his preeminent translators and scholars. Heavy on the philosophy and theology, light on the biography. Chadwick is especially excellent on the nuances of Augustine's thought in relation to those in his own time as well as his reception history. I definitely listened through it too quickly while I was doing other things to get the most out of it.

3.5 - Would recommend for anyone who wants what this compact little book has to offer!

(Audiobook)

الكتاب رغم صغر حجمه الا انه يقدم دراسة عميقة لحياة أوغسطينوس الذي عاش في الفرن الرابع ونشأته في شمال افريقيا (الجزائر وتونس) لقد علم نفسه بنفسة وكونه وثني اعتنق المناويا وبعد سن الرجولة ونتيجة لانتقاله للعيش في روما اعتنق المسيحية الكاثوليكية لينتقل من الوثنية الى التوحيد المسيحي
كانت اشهر مؤلفاته الاعترافات وهي اول سيرة ذاتية كتبت في التاريخ ولازالت موجودة الى الان وكذلك كتب مدينة الله محاولا في هذا الكتاب توصيف الايمان بالله وهل يمكن لمن ولد من صلب ادم ان لا يحمل اثم خطيئة ادم وهل من الممكن النجاة بدون هداية الله نتيجة لقيام الشخص بالاعمال الحسنة ، كما ان الخطية بالنسبة اليه تتمثل في الجنس ممثلة في جسد المرأة التي اليها تعود الخطيئة
الكتاب جميل والافكار التي تحدث عنها اوغسطينوس جديرة بالمراجعة حتى بعد مرور ١٥ قرن على وفاته

I love these short introduction books. If you're not sure of interest in a topic just read a snippet to try it out.

A good introduction. Chadwick writes with his characteristically British back-handed praise. Sometimes the VSI can be oddly organized, but this one is concise and covers all the bases without feeling overly rushed.

Decent introduction of the historical life and context of St. Augustine. A good overview of Augustine's thought and some of what his writings are about. Very philosophically dense though, and not an overly compelling read, but readable.

It might be short but it is excellent. Not at all surprising when you notice Chadwick wrote it.

I think I needed a stronger background in philosophy to get something out of this work.

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Augustine: A Very Short Introduction by Henry Chadwick

Henry Chadwick's book lives up to its subtitle. It is a short and effective survey of the life and thinking of one of the seminal thinkers of Western civilization. Chadwick structures his survey by looking at topics such as free will, grace, Creation, and the Trinity. Chadwick intersperses these chapters with biographical chapters on Augustine's approach to vocations and a chapter on The City of God.

Chadwick begins by explores Augustine's intellectual influences, including Manichianism, Cicero and Neoplatonism. This chapter was particularly useful because Chadwick offers a lucid and comprehensible explanation of the ideas of Neoplatonism. For example, Chadwick explains:

"This way of thinking of causative emanation in the great chain of being enabled Plotinus to achieve several things at once. On the one hand it solved the problem of how to keep the transcendent One and the world from losing all relation to each other, without the Absolute ceasing to be Absolute, and without the world logically dropping out of existence altogether. It expressed a kind of redemption by ‘conversion’ to the source of being. On the other hand, it alleviated a problem which caused acute mental gymnastics for all Platonists, namely answering the question how evil could ever have entered into the continuum of things, when that was an overflow of supreme goodness and power.
Plotinus taught that at the apex of the hierarchy are three divine existences: the One, Mind, and Soul. The One is supremely Good, and therefore all lower levels of the hierarchy below the One must be also distinct from the Good; in short, less than perfectly good. Even Mind has some inferiority about it, some delusions about its own grandeur. Soul, still further down the scale, has the power to produce matter. Matter, being at the opposite extremity of the hierarchy from the good One, is in cosmic terms utter evil, formless non-being."

These are ideas that interface with classical Christian theology. How does a perfect God create an imperfect world? How does a perfect, infinite and transcendent God enter into a finite and changing creation? Augustine viewed Platonism as the philosophy closest to Christianity, so he had to deal with these issues.

Because I am currently reading The City of God, I found Chadwick's chapter on Augustine's great work to be particularly useful. For example, Chadwick advises:

"The title came from the Psalter, and was chosen to offer a conscious contrast to the Republics of Plato and Cicero, with whom parts of the work were a running combat."

Bazinga! I immediately started to read references to Plato and Cicero as oppositional points to the arguments that Augustine was making, rather than Augustine supporting those writers.

Significantly, Chadwick splices autobiographical details into his discussion of The City of God. For example, he writes:

"In regard to justice, the city of God had an obvious bias to the poor. Augustine noticed that the most vocal defenders of paganism were in general defenders of the old social order in which the poor fawned on the rich, and the rich exploited their dependent clients (CD 2.20). He realized how inadequate was private almsgiving and the Church chest with its register of paupers daily fed from the soup kitchen. The dimensions of destitution were too great to be met except by redistributive taxation (CD 5.17)."

And:

"The domination of one man over another may be abused, but it is the lesser of two evils where the alternative is anarchy and every man for himself. Augustine hated the slave trade. Whenever feasible, he used the church chest to emancipate slaves oppressed in bad households. On one occasion his people took direct action to liberate slaves from a ship in Hippo harbour, and the chest was used to reimburse the aggrieved owners. It was hard to stop destitute parents selling their children. Augustine was once nonplussed by a reasonably well-to-do tenant farmer who sold his wife and, when Augustine expostulated, declared that he preferred the money. Yet slavery was not an unmitigated evil when slaves in good homes were better clothed, fed, and housed than the free wage labourers who were the great majority of the labour force.'

These are fascinating insights that bring Augustine, the man and author to life, and make his theological writings more relevant to the modern reader.

I recommend this as an excellent source of information for anyone interested in learning more about Augustine's life and thoughts.