The Political and Social Ideas of Saint Augustine

By Herbert A. Deane

Book Overview

A critical essay on St. Augustine's social and political thought.

In describing Augustine, the author captures the essence of the man in these words: "Genius he had in full measure... he is the master of the phrase or the sentence that embodies a penetrating insight, a flash of lightning that illuminates the entire sky; he is the rhetorician, the epigrammist, the polemicist, but not the patient, logical systematic philosopher."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231085699
• ISBN13: 9780231085694
• Release Date: February 1966
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 376 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.1"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Required reading for intellectual Catholics.

This is a wonderful book. Firstly it is important to understand what this book is not. It's not a biography of St. Augustine so if you want to know details about the man and his life there are better choices out there. To me the details about him are interesting but really not that important intellectually. What is important are the ideas he had about life, religion and specifically Christianity. He is one of the highest saints in the Catholic Church and one of the most brilliant minds that has ever lived on the plant earth. His mind is one of the founding pillars of all of Western culture. However for the average man, myself, learning about the thoughts and teachings of St. Augustine can be difficult if not impossible. Reading The City of God would take me a lifetime just to read. I must admit I don't have the time and I'm just not brilliant enough to really 'get it'. I have job, wife, kids and busy life. Really grasping this Saint's thoughts would almost required me living in a monestry and studing him for hours a day. That's were this book comes in for people like me. Herbert Deane's book about the St. Augustine takes much of the thought and the ideas of this great saint and makes them accessible to me. It took me about 3 weeks to read this book and it was realitivly easy to read and I must say, 'I got it'. I know have a solid understanding of what St. Augustine's core ideas and thoughts were and what impact they had on developing the Catholic Church and to a larger extend western culture. Am I an expert on the Saint? No way. It has however made me a better person, Mass seems deeper and more important to me on Sunday morning, my understanding of Christiany is significantly improved, my understanding of democracy and the political structure is much better, my ability to love my fellow man is better, my ability to have a moral and ethical position is improved, and overall I'm am able to understand who I am and why I am at a deeper level. So who should read this book? At the top of list I would say this should be required reading for any deeply commited Catholic who really wants to have a deep understanding of Christianity. But its not just for Catholics, anyone interested in understanding western history, religion, a brilliant mind, morals/ethics, and spiritual living would find this book facinating and useful. Bottom line - I would put this book in the top 5 best in my library along with the Bible, the Catecism of the Catholic Church, Plato's Republic, and the teaching of Aristotle. I learned about this book through James Schall's, "Another Sort Of Learning" which is another great book.

Of course this book is full of "religion"

In response to the above review - there is no way of extracating Augustine from "religion". He is one of the great Saints and Doctors of the Church. And this is very good book about him.