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The Christian Philosophy of Saint Augustine
"A truly outstanding full-length study of Augustine's thought". Sign & Times, Yale Divinity School
398 pages, cloth
Published September 1, 1967
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About the author
Étienne Gilson
248 books164 followersÉtienne Henri Gilson was born into a Roman Catholic family in Paris on 13 June 1884. He was educated at a number of Roman Catholic schools in Paris before attending lycée Henri IV in 1902, where he studied philosophy. Two years later he enrolled at the Sorbonne, graduating in 1907 after having studied under many fine scholars, including Lucien Lévy Bruhl, Henri Bergson and Emile Durkheim.
Gilson taught in a number of high schools after his graduation and worked on a doctoral thesis on Descartes, which he successfully completed (Sorbonne) in 1913. On the strength of advice from his teacher, Lévy Bruhl, he began to study medieval philosophy in great depth, coming to see Descartes as having strong connections with medieval philosophy, although often finding more merit in the medieval works he saw as connected than in Descartes himself. He was later to be highly esteemed for his work in medieval philosophy and has been described as something of a saviour to the field.
From 1913 to 1914 Gilson taught at the University of Lille. His academic career was postponed during the First World War while he took up military service. During his time in the army he served as second lieutenant in a machine-gun regiment and was awarded the Croix de Guerre for bravery upon relief from his duties. After the war, he returned to academic life at Lille and (also) Strasbourg, and in 1921 he took up an appointment at the Sorbonne teaching the history of medieval philosophy. He remained at the Sorbonne for eleven years prior to becoming Professor of Medieval Philosophy at the College de France in 1932. During his Sorbonne years and throughout his continuing career Gilson had the opportunity to travel extensively to North America, where he became highly influential as a historian and medievalist, demonstrating a number of previously undetermined important differences among the period’s greatest figures.
Gilson’s Gifford Lectures, delivered at Aberdeen in 1931 and 1932, titled ‘The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy’, were published in his native language (L’espirit de la philosophie medieval, 1932) before being translated into English in 1936. Gilson believed that a defining feature of medieval philosophy was that it operated within a framework endorsing a conviction to the existence of God, with a complete acceptance that Christian revelation enabled the refinement of meticulous reason. In this regard he described medieval philosophy as particularly ‘Christian’ philosophy.
Gilson married in 1908 and the union produced three children, two daughters and one son. Sadly, his wife died of leukaemia in late 1949. In 1951 he relinquished his chair at the College de France in order to attend to responsibilities he had at the Institute of Medieval Studies in Toronto, Canada, an institute he had been invited to establish in 1929. Gilson died 19 September 1978 at the age of ninety-four.
Gilson taught in a number of high schools after his graduation and worked on a doctoral thesis on Descartes, which he successfully completed (Sorbonne) in 1913. On the strength of advice from his teacher, Lévy Bruhl, he began to study medieval philosophy in great depth, coming to see Descartes as having strong connections with medieval philosophy, although often finding more merit in the medieval works he saw as connected than in Descartes himself. He was later to be highly esteemed for his work in medieval philosophy and has been described as something of a saviour to the field.
From 1913 to 1914 Gilson taught at the University of Lille. His academic career was postponed during the First World War while he took up military service. During his time in the army he served as second lieutenant in a machine-gun regiment and was awarded the Croix de Guerre for bravery upon relief from his duties. After the war, he returned to academic life at Lille and (also) Strasbourg, and in 1921 he took up an appointment at the Sorbonne teaching the history of medieval philosophy. He remained at the Sorbonne for eleven years prior to becoming Professor of Medieval Philosophy at the College de France in 1932. During his Sorbonne years and throughout his continuing career Gilson had the opportunity to travel extensively to North America, where he became highly influential as a historian and medievalist, demonstrating a number of previously undetermined important differences among the period’s greatest figures.
Gilson’s Gifford Lectures, delivered at Aberdeen in 1931 and 1932, titled ‘The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy’, were published in his native language (L’espirit de la philosophie medieval, 1932) before being translated into English in 1936. Gilson believed that a defining feature of medieval philosophy was that it operated within a framework endorsing a conviction to the existence of God, with a complete acceptance that Christian revelation enabled the refinement of meticulous reason. In this regard he described medieval philosophy as particularly ‘Christian’ philosophy.
Gilson married in 1908 and the union produced three children, two daughters and one son. Sadly, his wife died of leukaemia in late 1949. In 1951 he relinquished his chair at the College de France in order to attend to responsibilities he had at the Institute of Medieval Studies in Toronto, Canada, an institute he had been invited to establish in 1929. Gilson died 19 September 1978 at the age of ninety-four.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 15, 2025
"Jeśli prawdą jest to, że prawdę doświadczam tylko własnym umysłem, to tym prawdziwsze jest to, że nikt inny nie może cieszyć się moim szczęściem za mnie." - Gilson pięknie wykazuje to czym augustynizm jest - filozofią praktyczną, której nie można traktować rozłącznie od praktyki. "Wszelkie niby dziury, które w niej dostrzegamy nie są tyle niedopowiedzeniami św. Augustyna, co pauzą dla naszych własnych słów, doświadczeń." (parafrazy)
Świetne wprowadzenie do augustynizmu, aczkolwiek trzeba nadmienić, że wymaga ono znajomości historii filozofii starożytnej i podstaw Platona oraz neoplatonizmu, no i oczywiście chrześcijaństwa. Dobrze jest też przeczytać Wyznania przed i potem po lekturze tego opracowania przeczytać je jeszcze raz. Gilson zwięźle i zrozumiale tłumaczy myśl św. Augustyna, choć zdarza mu się nieco pokręcić i niedopowiedzieć (rozdział o Trójcy, ale Trójca i tak jest tematem arcytrudnym), ale i tak zaznajomienie się z jego objaśnieniami daje wystarczający podkład do czytania dzieł samego św. Augustyna (z tą Trójcą to chyba nawet lepiej czytać oryginalne augustyńskie De Trinitate niż męczyć się z Gilsonem na siłę) - zwłaszcza ostatnie księgi Wyznań w których Augustyn dokonuje egzegezy księgi Rodzaju są ciężkie do zrozumienia samemu jeśli nie zna się kontekstów, które podaje Gilson - też rozdziały o społeczeństwie chrześcijańskim jak najbardziej są idealnym wstępem do Państwa Bożego i na pewno polecam przeczytać specjalnie przed jego lekturą.
Na pewno każdemu polecam pierwszą 1/3 - omówione podstawy epistemologii, które koniecznie trzeba znać, a są to rzeczy o których nie myśli się na codzień i przez nieznajomość których łatwo można wpaść w różne pułapki poznawcze czy logiczne.
Sam język jest trudny z uwagi na dość wyszukane słownictwo (czytane w tłumaczeniu na angielski z oryginału), ale to jest lektura do powolnego trawienia i własnego rozkminiania, a nie do konsumpcji w kilka dni; zważając na to leksykon nie sprawi problemu chętnemu adeptowi Augustyna.
Świetne wprowadzenie do augustynizmu, aczkolwiek trzeba nadmienić, że wymaga ono znajomości historii filozofii starożytnej i podstaw Platona oraz neoplatonizmu, no i oczywiście chrześcijaństwa. Dobrze jest też przeczytać Wyznania przed i potem po lekturze tego opracowania przeczytać je jeszcze raz. Gilson zwięźle i zrozumiale tłumaczy myśl św. Augustyna, choć zdarza mu się nieco pokręcić i niedopowiedzieć (rozdział o Trójcy, ale Trójca i tak jest tematem arcytrudnym), ale i tak zaznajomienie się z jego objaśnieniami daje wystarczający podkład do czytania dzieł samego św. Augustyna (z tą Trójcą to chyba nawet lepiej czytać oryginalne augustyńskie De Trinitate niż męczyć się z Gilsonem na siłę) - zwłaszcza ostatnie księgi Wyznań w których Augustyn dokonuje egzegezy księgi Rodzaju są ciężkie do zrozumienia samemu jeśli nie zna się kontekstów, które podaje Gilson - też rozdziały o społeczeństwie chrześcijańskim jak najbardziej są idealnym wstępem do Państwa Bożego i na pewno polecam przeczytać specjalnie przed jego lekturą.
Na pewno każdemu polecam pierwszą 1/3 - omówione podstawy epistemologii, które koniecznie trzeba znać, a są to rzeczy o których nie myśli się na codzień i przez nieznajomość których łatwo można wpaść w różne pułapki poznawcze czy logiczne.
Sam język jest trudny z uwagi na dość wyszukane słownictwo (czytane w tłumaczeniu na angielski z oryginału), ale to jest lektura do powolnego trawienia i własnego rozkminiania, a nie do konsumpcji w kilka dni; zważając na to leksykon nie sprawi problemu chętnemu adeptowi Augustyna.
March 18, 2023
A well-written and well-organized overview of the philosophical system that can be gleaned from Augustine’s writings.
The book is structured so as to mirror an individual’s journey to God from the unreality of the world to the reality of God’s pure Being. This structure has its limitations, but Gilson does a good job minimizing the errors inherent in any chosen structure.
Although it may be wrong to attribute an entire system of philosophy to Augustine—he certainly would not have said he was laying out a philosophy—it is helpful in understanding his place in the history of Western civilization, especially as regards philosophy and theology.
The book is structured so as to mirror an individual’s journey to God from the unreality of the world to the reality of God’s pure Being. This structure has its limitations, but Gilson does a good job minimizing the errors inherent in any chosen structure.
Although it may be wrong to attribute an entire system of philosophy to Augustine—he certainly would not have said he was laying out a philosophy—it is helpful in understanding his place in the history of Western civilization, especially as regards philosophy and theology.
April 5, 2011
I read this book for Father David Hassel's course, "The Philosophy of St. Augustine", at Loyola University Chicago during the first semester of 1981/82.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews