Book Review: Augustine of Hippo by Peter Brown
Augstine's family was relatively prosperous and Augustine was unusually close to his mother, Monica. According to Brown, African's of Augustine's time excelled in play-on-words" and as lawyers. Augustine was an excellent student of the law. The Roman Empire had no need for Southerners and Augustine pursued a career teaching Latin rhetoric.
Augustine rejected his mother's Catholicism and devoted himself to Manichaeism. He later troubled his mother, again, by leaving for Rome without her knowledge. Rome was a disappointment to Augustine - the students were unruly and he was sick much of the time. After a year, he accepted a teaching position in Milan and came under the influence of the Catholic Bishop there, Ambrose.
Ambrose was literate in both Greek and Latin and in all the Greek, Latin, and Pagan works. Augustine recognized he compared unfavorably, as he was only well-studied in Latin and his own Manichaeism. While not directly becoming a student of Ambrose, Augustine was greatly influenced by the Milan Bishop. The other great influence leading to Augustine's acceptance of Catholicism was the example of the hermits who gave up all ambition and material possessions. Augustine converted to Catholicism, much to his mother's joy.
Brown does not delve into describing the relationship of Monica and Augustine, while I am sure that other author's have. Their relationship seems an interesting pursuit of study to me and I have my own theory as to why they were so close. My explanation is that Augustine loved order and Monica represented that in his childhood, as opposed to his father, who had a temper.
Augustine's story after his conversion is completed dominated by his growth as a Christian, his internal growth and his growth in service and writing. Brown's biography has teachings and quotes of the adult Christian Augustine throughout the text, not just in chronological order. For instance, Brown would tell of an incident in Augustine's younger life and at that time include remarks Augustine made in his Confessions about the same event. For example in Chapter 2, Brown says that to Augustine the evolution of the heart is the real stuff of biography.
Augustine's Confessions is his most studied work. According to Brown, the Confessions is the first time a literary work included quotes from what we now know as the bible. I noted that Augustine regarded his Confessions as a therapy or medical treatment.
According to Brown, no thinker in the Early Church wa so
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