What Augustine Says: God, Faith, Reason, Christ, Scripture, Grace and Evil

Saint Augustine was one of the greatest Christian thinkers of all time. It is amazing that sixteen centuries later he is still one of the most quoted of all Christian writers. Yet most Christians do not have ready access to the approximately twenty volumes of his writings as found in The Fathers of the Church. Nor will many ever read the nearly five thousand pages translated in The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers.
What is more, Augustine did not write systematically on topics like God, man, sin, faith, reason, evil, ethics, and salvation. His great insights are scattered throughout thousands of pages in dozens of books. Having researched these topics throughout Augustine’s writings, I am convinced that Augustine can contribute significantly to contemporary evangelical thinking.

To make Augustine’s thoughts readily available, we have arranged them systematically. Their richness can only be fully appreciated in their fuller context. For a more in-depth study, students will want to use the references cited for this purpose.

We have found Augustine particularly helpful in the current evangelical discussions on apologetics, the inspiration of Scripture, the nature of God, the problem of evil, and ethics. Like any fallible teacher, Augustine sometimes erred. But as one sage wisely noted, we occasionally learn more from the errors of great minds than from the truths of lesser minds.