St. Augustine continues to elicit scholarly discussions of theological issues, but there is an ever-growing number of studies devoted to historical and philosophical issues in their own right. Recent philosophical work has concentrated on deepening our understanding of his arguments, assessing the adequacy of his positions, and contextualizing them in a historically informed way.

P. Brown, Augustine of Hippo: A Biography (London: Faber, 1967), is a masterful work that situates Augustine in his social and historical surroundings. Accessible overviews of Augustine's life and thought are provided in J. J. O'Donnell, Augustine (Boston, 1985), and H. Chadwick, Augustine (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986). Our understanding of Augustine's autobiography has been greatly advanced by the fine commentary given in J. J. O'Donnell, Augustine: Confessions (3 vols., Oxford, 1992).

Augustine is seen against the background of classical philosophy in J. Rist, Augustine: Ancient Thought Baptized (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press., 1994), which...