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Augustine: A New Biography | 
 enlarge | Author: James J. O'donnell
Publisher: Ecco
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $6.48
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Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 238377
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.6
ISBN: 0060535377
Dewey Decimal Number: 270.2092
EAN: 9780060535377
ASIN: 0060535377
Publication Date: April 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand New Hardcover w/dj (same as picture) ; clean pages, excellent condition; Fast shipping (shelf)
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Product Description
Saint Augustine -- the celebrated theologian who served as Bishop of Hippo from 396 C.E. until his death in 430 C.E. -- is widely regarded as one of the most influential thinkers in the Western world. His autobiography, Confessions, remains among the most important religious writings in the Christian tradition. In this eye-opening and eminently readable biography, renowned historical scholar James J. O'Donnell picks up where Augustine himself left off to offer a fascinating, in-depth portrait of an unparalleled politician, writer, and churchman in a time of uncertainty and religious turmoil. Augustine is a triumphant chronicle of an extraordinary life that is certain to surprise and enlighten even those who believed they knew the complex and remarkable man of God.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 a great St Augustine biography December 2, 2008
Best biography on St Augustine with strong insight on the historical time that he lived in, which in many ways is a reflection of our own time. James O'Donnel knows St Augustine, his work and his time better than any other author/professor that I've ever heard or read. Probably not a biography for somebody who knows very little about the saint.
Rod G.
 A total piece of Jesuit fiction May 20, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
A vile, slanderous attack by a Jesuit hit man on a Father of the Church. O'Donnell completely rewrites history with a seemingly drug-induced plethora of fiction as he seeks to deny every historical fact known to man about St. Augustine. Indeed, if he was to write a history of Germany he is the very type of author who would use 400 pages to show why you should believe the Holocaust never happened too.
A thinly veiled attempt by an ignorant Georgetown "academician" to defame the name of St. Augustine and to defame the hsitory of the Catholic Church. O'Donnell denies all persesecution of Christians, denies the Papacy, denies Augustine' spirituality and suggests that the Catholic Church violently overthrew the only true and legitimate heir to Jesus' teachings.
Revistionist hsitory at its worst ... I suggest we turn this heretic O'Donnell over to the Grand Inquisitor for burning at the stake ... may he ever rot in hell for his absurdly stupid and ignorant comments!!!!!!
 thankfully less than hagiographic May 2, 2008
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
Too many books on Augustine are hagiographic, written either by Calvinistic types who love him or Catholics who while having some doubts still respect his sainthood. Here however is a biography with all the warts, and there are plenty of them. Critics have accused the author of lacking faith, as if that were a good foundation for a scholarly work, which it is not. No one seems to have noticed that the author is a professor at a Jesuit university. The Jesuits have always had many doubts about Augustine's theology and his excessive influence. In the 16th and 17th Century the Catholic church moved away from Augustine with rapidity, condemning not only Calvinists but Catholic Jansenists for a false theology. It did not officially, nor could it easily, break fully with Augustine but it did as much as it could. Augustinian Christianity is not Catholic any more.
This is not an easy book to read or much of a pleasure. But for those who want the truth it may be indispensable.
 Good but Not Great July 4, 2006
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
This author makes needless technical references, vague historical references and largely little known theological ideas to what end? To demonstrate to the average reader how intelligent he is? How about a simple glossary? The average liberal arts university graduate will find several passages difficult to decipher. What a shame. It has all the makings of a brilliant book, but only seeks to speak to other theologians. This writer knew better, if not, his editor certainly did!
 The Naked Augustine March 4, 2006
21 out of 23 found this review helpful
T. van Bavel once compiled a bibliography of all the books and articles published about St. Augustine from 1950 to 1960. It is at least twice the size of O'Donnell's book. And this is a just a list of bibliographical info plus brief descriptions of content. Imagine how thick all those books and articles must have been! Let's see: mutliply all that by 4 and 1/2, and you get a rough estimate of how erudite you have to be now to write an adequate biography of the greatest Christian thinker after St. Paul. If an author on St. Augustine ends up playing the role of one of the six blind men trying to describe an elephant, he has a lot of company.
This much I can grant to anyone who tries to present all about St. Augustine in fewer than 400 pages. What I am more reluctant to concede is a treatment of the man and his thought that recasts him and it as a practitioner of cheap journalism might do to a leading public figure today. Augustine comes out of this book stripped of his own garments--exposed, as they say today, or cheapened, as I say. He's even worse than naked: he is reclothed in contemporary undress--just enough on to make him lurid.
As other reviewers here, I do not recommend this book for Augustine beginners. Try not Peter Brown but the third edition of Gerald Bonner's "St. Augustine of Hippo". And when you feel ready for a recent and really erudite, not sensationalist, study, read Serge Lancel's "St. Augustine".
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