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Peter Robert Lamont Brown
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Augustine of Hippo: A Biography Paperback – November 5, 2013

by Peter Brown (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 122 ratings
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This classic biography was first published forty-five years ago and has since established itself as the standard account of Saint Augustine's life and teaching.

The remarkable discovery of a considerable number of letters and sermons by Augustine cast fresh light on the first and last decades of his experience as a bishop. These circumstantial texts have led Peter Brown to reconsider some of his judgments on Augustine, both as the author of the Confessions and as the elderly bishop preaching and writing in the last years of Roman rule in north Africa. Brown's reflections on the significance of these exciting new documents are contained in two chapters of a substantial Epilogue to his biography (the text of which is unaltered). He also reviews the changes in scholarship about Augustine since the 1960s. A personal as well as a scholarly fascination infuse the book-length epilogue and notes that Brown has added to his acclaimed portrait of the bishop of Hippo.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    568 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    University of California Press
  4. Publication date
    November 5, 2013
  5. Dimensions
    5.38 x 1.3 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0520280415
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0520280410
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"I salute Brown's achievement in bringing Augustine out of the tomb of theological doctrine, and setting his mind and emotions working before our eyes."—Richard Southern, New Statesman

"Justly applauded for its intelligence, and for the skill with which it relates the life and thought of a man dead for more than 1,500 years to the life we live now."—Frank Kermode, The Observer

"He has attained to the true stature of his subject."—Owen Chadwick, Catholic Herald

"It is an intellectual biography, a portrait in depth of the man, and a brilliant study of the period."—J. M. Cameron, New York Review of Books

"A model biography. Mr. Brown is an impeccable scholar but also a vivid biographer and a delightful writer; he brings Augustine and his whole age persuasively to life."—Hugh Trevor-Roper, Sunday Times

From the Back Cover

"I salute Brown's achievement in bringing Augustine out of the tomb of theological doctrine, and setting his mind and emotions working before our eyes."—Richard Southern, New Statesman

"Justly applauded for its intelligence, and for the skill with which it relates the life and thought of a man dead for more than 1,500 years to the life we live now."—Frank Kermode, The Observer

"He has attained to the true stature of his subject."—Owen Chadwick, Catholic Herald

"It is an intellectual biography, a portrait in depth of the man, and a brilliant study of the period."—J. M. Cameron, New York Review of Books

"A model biography. Mr. Brown is an impeccable scholar but also a vivid biographer and a delightful writer; he brings Augustine and his whole age persuasively to life."—Hugh Trevor-Roper, Sunday Times

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of California Press; First Edition, Forty-Fifth Anniversary (November 5, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 568 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0520280415
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0520280410
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.43 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.38 x 1.3 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 122 ratings

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Peter Robert Lamont Brown

Peter Robert Lamont Brown

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Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
122 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Eliseus Afamefuna Ezeuchenne
5.0 out of 5 stars Very inspiring
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2023
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One of the inspiring books I have in my collections.
One person found this helpful
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William L. Scurrah
5.0 out of 5 stars Also that Augustine was not always a nice person. Brown also clearly explains the doctrinal controversies ...
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2016
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I prefer this biography of Augustine to the more recent one. Brown is clearly a scholar of immense erudition. He does an eloquent job of showing us Augustine as a human being, not merely a saint. Also that Augustine was not always a nice person. Brown also clearly explains the doctrinal controversies of the time and the factors that resulted in Catholicism being the "orthodox" version of Christianity in the western empire. Another point that comes out relevant to later history (especially the justifications for the Crusades): that the Middle East and North Africa were Christian territories long before the rise and conquests of Islam. And that the eastern churches were more theologically sophisticated than the western at the time of Augustine.
22 people found this helpful
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Hydra
5.0 out of 5 stars Buy the very latest edition.
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2022
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This is obviously one of the essential books to read in the field of intellectual history, particularly, but not exclusively, in the field of Late Antiquity. I will not repeat what others have said in great detail only to note that the very last chapter, "New Directions", is a critical addition to the latest edition of a very fine book.
5 people found this helpful
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Matteo Tolomelli
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2015
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Very inspiring reading. Unfortunately the typing is too small.
4 people found this helpful
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Mary Jane Nottoli
5.0 out of 5 stars A scholarly work
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2020
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Brown’s work is not for the ‘light’ reader. It is rich in historical data and thoroughly in its discussion and description of Augustine Anchises times. Still, for those who want a fuller understanding of Augustine’s times and his work which had a profound influence on Christianity then and even now, it may be worth the read.
6 people found this helpful
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Andrés G. Niño, PhD.
5.0 out of 5 stars A biography for spiritual exercises.with Augustine.
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2016
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Peter Brown's biography of St Augustine has enlightened half a century of scholarship, guided countless projects of serious students and served as a point of departure towards a spiritual pilgrimage for a general readership. For several years we had a group at St Mary's/Cambridge of advanced students and people in search of spiritual guidance and I always recommend them this biography that presents such a living portrait of Augustine. Particularly, chapter 16 on the Confessions serves the group as an introduction to the 'reading and experience' of the classic masterpiece. From there the road is open to explore various aspects of Augustine's life and work. As the group does taking up the Spiritual Exercises in the Confessions. .
11 people found this helpful
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ichiban
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is well written and easy to follow.
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2019
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This book gives excellent insight into Augustine's life and the time in which he lived. It explains his teachings, attitudes, and thoughts very well.
4 people found this helpful
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billvirg
5.0 out of 5 stars It's longer than I thought
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2019
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Good condition as described.
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Top reviews from other countries

Andrew Maloney
1.0 out of 5 stars Read the first sentence, in the first paragraph, on the first page of the first chapter
Reviewed in Australia on March 21, 2024
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Read the first sentence, BEFORE you buy this book.
If you can get through that sentence comfortably, then buy the book. For me, it was the most garbled, poorly constructed, pretentious sentence I've seen in a while. Usually the first sentence / paragraph / chapter gets the most attention by a writer. If that's the result here, Brown is not my man.

Did this book have an editor? I pity them if it did.

After rereading and rereading the first paragraph, I decided the garbled writing style of this author was definitely not for me. I'm sure Brown is a giant of a scholar, but his writing is just awful. I donated my copy to my local book exchange, with a small note on the first page... "Possibly the worst first sentence of any book written".
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C R Demspey
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent biography of St Augustine
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 26, 2018
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An excellent biography of St Augustine
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Michael Print
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Biography
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 14, 2018
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First class writing
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Joshua Bell
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 15, 2015
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Not just a good book written by a great author, this edition is also beautifully made and designed.
2 people found this helpful
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R. S. Stanier
4.0 out of 5 stars Still holds the field as the best single volume life of Augustine
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2023
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In many ways, Brown's book remains the most complete one volume account of Augustine's life and thought. He covers Augustine's life and the society that surrounded him from his birth in Thagaste in 354 to his death in Hippo in 430, as the institutions of the Empire began to crumble around him. He gives both historical context and describes the theological issues in which Augustine was involved.
Owen Chadwick, the magisterial Augustine scholar of the 20th Century, damned Brown's book with faint praise when he commended it as follows: 'For the biography without the theology, see the excellent life by Peter Brown'.
It's true that Brown's leading suit is history not theology but in fact Brown gives plenty of thought and text to describing theological controversies. For example, there is an entire chapter given to the Pelagian writings of Julian of Eclanum, followed by another chapter on 'Predestination', which was the doctrine at stake, and this describes Augustine's responses to his Pelagian opponents. I suspect that Chadwick's beef is really that Brown is disinclined to say that Augustine's theology was right all the time; Brown is more sympathetic to the Pelagians than Chadwick thinks he ought to be, and therefore Chadwick has described this book as 'without theology'. It's unfair.
Anyway, Brown's account of Augustine as he grows up is excellent and he gives a good feel for North African society in the late Empire. There are also good chapters both on 'Confessions' and 'City of God' which will continue to be useful to undergraduate students. Note, here, however that Brown's take especially on "Confessions" is quite personal and if you are only going to read one book on Augustinian thought, Chadwick's 'Very Short Introduction to Augustine' is better. For crystalline clarity in distilling Augustine's thought into a few compact, relatively understandable pages, Chadwick is the place to go.
But Brown's work covers much more ground.
There's genuine poignancy in the last chapters as Augustine continues to struggle deep into old age in trying to continue some kind of episcopal ministry, even when Hippo comes under siege from the Vandals.
The first edition was written in 1967 but this volumes carries two very helpful added chapters, written in 1999, which both reflect Brown's assessment of the reception of his work, but also describe new developments in Augustine scholarship, in particular after new sermons were discovered in the late 20th Century, filling in various gaps.
The origins of this great book lie in Brown, as a young scholar, finding the figure of Augustine interesting, and wanting to use him as a lever to get into a wider understanding of life in the later Roman empire. To do this, he sat down in the library of All Souls, Oxford, and read his entire corpus in the original Latin, all five million words of it. They don't make scholars like that any more.
That he should have gone on to write such a readable text is a gift for which we should give thanks. It's not perfect, but it's gone fifty-five years without being bettered.
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