An engaging, thoughtful, and illuminating portrait... Conybeare vividly draws the thread of Augustine's African identity through his life and work in a fresh and elegant way. She has enlarged my perspective on this monumental, complicated man
Madeline Miller, author of The Song of Achilles
"A long-needed survey of the great theologian's hinterland... His contemporary significance becomes clearer than ever in this excellent study."
- Rowan Williams,
Beautifully written, thoroughly engaging and highly recommended
Literary Review
Rich, erudite and sympathetic... [Conybeare] allows us to appreciate his thought anew
TLS
Conybeare [...] intertwines learned exegesis with examples of Augustine's human idiosyncrasies, offering illuminating analyses of the philosopher's seminal texts and ideas
New Yorker
Succeeds brilliantly... [Conybeare] is a perceptive traveller, enlivening her textual work with vivid description
Spectator
Catherine Conybeare's vital and exhilarating biography of Augustine portrays him, newly, in the context of his African society and identity. Through her meticulously researched yet utterly compelling account, we live with him through the upheavals that shaped his faith and his work. Conybeare's is an important contribution and this is, simply, a wonderful book
Claire Messud, author of The Emperor's Children
In this highly readable and innovative account, Conybeare has performed the challenging task of bringing alive this often-sidelined basis of Augustine's life. With both verve and precision, she makes us see how central his African world was to the man and his ideas
- Brent Shaw, Professor in Classics, Emeritus, at Princeton University,
It's not just that Augustine the African is a book for a new generation... it is, more fundamentally, the first real portrait of Augustine qua African... .It will be liberating to get an African Augustine who leaves us with more options than sublime indifference or earnest handwringing
- Jim Wetzel, Director of the Augustinian Institute, Villanova University,