The Retractions

The Fathers of the Church #60

by Augustine of Hippo, Mary Inez Bogan (Translator)

The major portion of St. Augustine's literary output listed, accounted for, and criticized by the author himself―such is the work here published in English translation for the first time. As the aged Augustine reread his extensive production, he sought to identify and to report to his widely scattered readership anything in his writings that had offended him or might offend others. In achieving this purpose, Augustine brought out a book scarcely to be matched in world literature. Happily, it was toward the end of his life that the busy Bishop of Hippo set to this review; thus, but few of his "books" fail here to receive his searching self-criticism. His letters and sermons are in general not dealt with; they were to be covered in further parts of the Retractations that Augustine did not live to achieve. The extensive notes that the translator furnishes supply the background to Augustine's own discussion of each one of his 93 books, and both analyze and synthesize the bishop's large and wide-ranging production.

Genres: Theology, Nonfiction

321 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 428

About the author

Early church father and philosopher Saint Augustine served from 396 as the bishop of Hippo in present-day Algeria and through such writings as the autobiographical Confessions in 397 and the voluminous City of God from 413 to 426 profoundly influenced Christianity, argued against Manichaeism and Donatism, and helped to establish the doctrine of original sin.

An Augustinian follows the principles and doctrines of Saint Augustine.

People also know Aurelius Augustinus in English of Regius (Annaba). From the Africa province of the Roman Empire, people generally consider this Latin theologian of the greatest thinkers of all times. He very developed the west. According to Jerome, a contemporary, Augustine renewed "the ancient Faith."

The Neo-Platonism of Plotinus afterward heavily weighed his years. After conversion and his baptism in 387, Augustine developed his own approach to theology and accommodated a variety of methods and different perspectives. He believed in the indispensable grace to human freedom and framed the concept of just war. When the Western Roman Empire started to disintegrate from the material earth, Augustine developed the concept of the distinct Catholic spirituality in a book of the same name. He thought the medieval worldview. Augustine closely identified with the community that worshiped the Trinity. The Catholics and the Anglican communion revere this preeminent doctor. Many Protestants, especially Calvinists, consider his due teaching on salvation and divine grace of the theology of the Reformation. The Eastern Orthodox also consider him. He carries the additional title of blessed. The Orthodox call him "Blessed Augustine" or "Saint Augustine the Blessed."

Santo Agostinho

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was read for David Hassel's Augustine course taught at Loyola University Chicago during the first semester of 1981/2. Later, Father Hassel helped conduct my oral examination along with two other priests from the philosophy department, Bill Ellos and Ed Maziarz. An extraordinarily kind man, Hassel was authentically cooperative with disabled students before their rights had become part of the common conscience.