Platina, CA: Saint Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 1996. 144 pages. List price: $10.00. ISBN: 0-938635-12-3

Review by: M.C. Steenberg , August 2003

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This little book should be considered among the most important contributions made by Fr Seraphim Rose to modern-day Orthodoxy, for in it he attempts to establish a proper conception of Augustine of Hippo within an Orthodox viewpoint — a project that is as timely today as it was at the text's first publication, for the 'question of Augustine' still presses at the minds of many Orthodox, especially those in the West who have grown up in a western context replete with the far-reaching influence of this man whom the Latin Church names among its principal doctors, yet who traditionally has received intense criticism from Orthodox writers and theologians. How, then, are the Orthodox to approach the life, person and thought of Augustine?

This is the question to which Fr Seraphim Rose addresses himself in the present text. His main thesis is that the overly-harsh judgement so often cast against Augustine in light of what Fr Seraphim agrees are certain and substantial errors in his thought, blinds critics to what is true and precious in Augustine's compendious writings. Chief among the gifts which Seraphim believes Augustine to offer is the image of a man truly passionate with love for Christ: 'Blessed Augustine has something indeed to teach our "precise" and "correct"—but cold and unfeeling—generation of Orthodox Christians. The exalted teaching of the Philokalia is now "in fashion"; but how many who read this book have first gone through the "ABC's" of profound repentance, warmth of heart, and genuine Orthodox piety that shine through every page of the justly-renowned Confessions of Augustine? [...] Without the fire of authentic zeal and piety which the Confessions reveal, our Orthodox spirituality is a sham and a mockery' (pp. 88-9).

In turn, the present volume addresses the place Augustine should hold on the Church, examining the controversy over grace and free will (chap. 2) and the doctrine of predestination (chap. 3) which have traditionally been the sources of Augustine's most vehement criticisms. Father Seraphim Rose does not deny the central criticisms to be made of these doctrines as present in Augustine, but argues that the piety which drove Augustine to proffer such doctrinally unsound considerations, also drove him to reflection upon many aspects of Christian truth, which ought not be abandoned together with his flawed ideas.

In all, this small text is a valuable contribution to modern-day Orthodox appreciation of one who cannot but be considered a profoundly influential Christian mind. Academic readers may be slightly put off by Fr Seraphim's casual, rather informal style which reflects his own piety and often blurs the lines of personal conviction and scholarly statement (which is perhaps why this text has never been widely-read among students); but Fr Rose was a monk and priest before a scholar, and his work is to be read as the reasoned convictions of a deeply faithful individual, rather than the scholastic treatise of an academic.

The present text is available online through the following e-retailers:

• Amazon.com ($10.00)
• Amazon.co.uk (£8.95)

The reviewer of the present text recommends the following works as those which may be of interest to readers of this title:

• [None offered]