Studying Augustine of Hippo in the 21st century. A Plea for a Renewed Augustinology

Abstract

Bestselling author Tom Holland described in his 2019 monograph Dominion what he considers to be the paradoxical situation that, despite the pervasive secularization of the West, Christianity comprises the most influential development in the history of the West. That Christian transformation of antiquity apparently still influences what we think about people and society today. One of the Christian authors of Late Antiquity that Holland regularly quotes is Augustine of Hippo. For philosophers and theologians it is beyond dispute that this ‘church father’ stood at the cradle of Latin Christianity, although they are not always entirely happy about this. The latter discomfort often has to do with Augustine’s radical thinking about a comprehensive divine grace, and what this implies, according to him, for ongoing human failure.