Visioning Augustine

The definitive compendium of Cavadini’s essays on Augustine 

Visioning Augustine offers readers an expertly selected collection of essays exploring the text and history of the theology of Saint Augustine. Prominent scholar and essayist, John Cavadini, offers modern audiences an innovative framework for understanding Augustine, integrating articles and essays on significant texts, historical and contemporary perspectives and insights into Augustine’s development as a theologian. Examining themes such as the transformation of the human will in De doctrina Christiana and Augustine’s critique of philosophy in City of God, Cavadini provides clear and accessible smaller-size essays that serve as entry points for those interested in Augustinian scholarship.  

The author’s meditations on Augustinian texts invite readers to re-evaluate their interpretations and learn about the subtle and sophisticated vocabulary of Augustine. An encounter with Augustine the Christian theologian, Cavadini contends, is not a narrowly focused parochial experience, but instead a challenge to enlarge our horizons. 

• Written by one of the most prominent Augustinian scholars and essayists in the field
• Addresses ecumenical and cultural issues that weaken contemporary interest in Christian faith
• Offers modern readers historical context on Augustinian theology
• Provides a single-volume collection of Cavadini’s essays on Augustine written over the course of more than two decades

Accessible prose and intellectual sensitivity to modern theological problemsmake Visioning Augustine an indispensable volume for graduate students, scholars and professionals in all areas of Christian theology.  

John C. Cavadini is Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, and serves as McGrath-Cavadini Director of the McGrath Institute for Church Life. He has served on the International Theological Commission, is the author of The Last Christology of the West and is editor of Explorations in the Theology of Benedict XVI and Mary on the Eve of the Second Vatican Council.

About the Author viii

Foreword by Mark Therrien ix

Preface by John C. Cavadini xix

Abbreviations xxiv

1 The Structure and Intention of Augustine’s De Trinitate 1

2 The Sweetness of the Word: Salvation and Rhetoric in Augustine’s De doctrina christiana 23

3 The Quest for Truth in Augustine’s De Trinitate 45

4 Augustine’s Book of Shadows 61

5 Simplifying Augustine 81

6 Feeling Right: Augustine on the Passions and Sexual Desire 110

7 The Darkest Enigma: Reconsidering the Self in Augustine’s Thought 138

8 The Sacramentality of Marriage in the Fathers 156

9 Eucharistic Exegesis in Augustine’s Confessions 184

10 Spousal Vision: A Study of Text and History in the Theology of Saint Augustine 211

11 Trinity and Apologetics in the Theology of St. Augustine 239

12 God’s Eternal Knowledge According to Augustine 285

Index 309

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