A Companion to Augustine

Augustine (354–430 CE) stands with Homer, Plato, and Aristotle among the pre–eminent authorities in Western culture, and his Confessions is the only literary work from the early Christian centuries (aside from the New Testament) that is still widely read today. Long recognized as an outstanding Christian theologian, he has in recent decades also acquired a reputation as an exceptional exponent of the culture of the late Roman world, one whose texts vividly bring the era to life. This companion is the first to present Augustine as a historical figure within an expanded world of late antiquity. State–of–the–art essays by leading specialists in this field provide orientation to his material, social, and intellectual milieu; his life and career; his writings; issues of the day with which he was engaged; and the main phases of his latter–day reception and influence. Each chapter pulls together resources for readers who want to anchor historically important Augustinian ideas and impulses in the complex realities of the author’s life and afterlife. The result is a multifaceted portrait of Augustine in action in his own and later times.

List of Figures xi Notes on Contributors xii Preface xviii Source Acknowledgments xix Abbreviations xxi The Works of Augustine xxiv Chronology of Augustine’s Life xl 1 Introduction 1 Mark Vessey PART I Contexts 9 2 Political History 11 Christopher Kelly 3 Cultural Geography 24 William E. Klingshirn 4 Religious Sociology 40 Éric Rebillard PART II Confessions 55 5 Spes Saeculi: Augustine’s Worldly Ambition and Career 57 R. S. O. Tomlin 6 Love and Belonging, Loss and Betrayal in the Confessions 69 Kate Cooper 7 TheConfessions as Autobiography 87 Paula Fredriksen 8 Reading the Confessions 99 Catherine Conybeare PART III Media 111 9 Augustine and Language 113 Philip Burton 10 Augustine’s Information Circuits 125 Claire Sotinel 11 Augustine and Roman Public Spectacles 138 Richard Lim 12 Augustine and Books 151 Guy G. Stroumsa PART IV Texts 159 13 Augustine and the Latin Classics 161 Danuta Shanzer 14 Augustine and the Philosophers 175 Sarah Byers 15 Augustine and the Books of the Manicheans 188 Johannes van Oort 16 Augustine and Scripture 200 Michael Cameron 17 Augustine and His Christian Predecessors 215 Mark Edwards 18 Augustine as a Reader of His Christian Contemporaries 227 Michael Stuart Williams 19 Augustine among the Writers of the Church 240 Mark Vessey PART V Performances 255 20 Philosopher: Augustine in Retirement 257 Gillian Clark 21 Conversationalist and Consultant: Augustine in Dialogue 270 Therese Fuhrer 22 Mystic and Monk: Augustine and the Spiritual Life 284 John Peter Kenney 23 Preacher: Augustine and His Congregation 297 Hildegund M€uller 24 Administrator: Augustine in His Diocese 310 Neil B. McLynn 25 Controversialist: Augustine in Combat 323 Caroline Humfress PART VI Positions 337 26 Augustine on the Will 339 James Wetzel 27 Augustine on the Body 353 David G. Hunter 28 Augustine on Friendship and Orthodoxy 365 Stefan Rebenich 29 Augustine on the Church (Against the Donatists) 375 Alexander Evers 30 Augustine on the Statesman and the Two Cities 386 Robert Dodaro 31 Augustine on Scripture and the Trinity 398 Sabine MacCormack 32 Augustine on Redemption 416 Lewis Ayres PART VII Aftertimes 429 33 Augustine’s Works in Circulation 431 Clemens Weidmann 34 Augustine in the Latin West, 430–ca. 900 450 Conrad Leyser 35 Augustine in the Western Middle Ages to the Reformation 465 Eric L. Saak 36 The Reception of Augustine in Modern Philosophy 478 Johannes Brachtendorf 37 Augustine and Postmodernism 492 John D. Caputo 38 Envoi 505 James J. O’Donnell References 517 Index 563 A Companion to Augustine

Mark Vessey is Professor of English and Principal of Green College at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of Latin Christian Writers in Late Antiquity and Their Texts (2005), and has edited Augustine and the Disciplines: From Cassiciacum to Confessions (2005) and The Calling of the Nations: Exegesis, Ethnography, and Empire in a Biblical–Historic Present (2011).

"As such, this present inter–and interdisciplinary companion to Augustine gathers and presents new flavours within Augustine research, which certainly leaves us yearning for more."  ( Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses , 1 December 2012) “Besides an introduction by Mark Vessey, this truly impressive volume has seven parts; each of the parts has many articles by some of the finest Augustinian scholars and historians of late antiquity . . . All told, the volume is a fine contribution to Augustinian studies by some of the best scholars of the present day.”  ( Catholic Historical Review , 1 January 2013) “For those of us who teach Augustine on a regular basis, but who are not members of the sprawling familia of scholars who have structured their research agendas around the work of this fascinating and deeply influential late antique bishop, this volume is a treasure trove of judicious assessments and learned insights.  It would not be difficult to structure a veryworthwhile seminar on the age of Augustine using its contents, particularly Parts I–V. Mark Vessey has performed an exceptional service by marshalling this legion of specialists to produce what will surely be one of the most important resources for the study of Augustine for many decades to come.”  ( Bryn Mawr Classical Review , 16 February 2013)               “Summing Up: Recommended.  Lower–level undergraduates through rearchers/faculty.”  ( Choice , 1 November 2012)