Abstract

"Augustine entered both the Church and the world as a revolutionary force, and not merely created an epoch in the history of the Church, but... determined the course of its history in the West up to the present day. The whole development of Western life, in all its phases, was powerfully affected by his teaching." B. B. Warfield "After Jesus and Paul, Augustine of Hippo is the most influential figure in the history of Christianity." Christian History magazine Born 700 years after Plato and dying 400 years after Jesus' crucifixion, Augustine was outstanding amongst Christian thinkers. All around the Mediterranean leading men hung on his words. One of the most remarkable things about Augustine's influence is the fact that it flows into radically opposing religious movements. He is cherished as one of the fathers of the Roman Catholic Church, and yet it was Augustine who gave us the Reformation - not only because Luther was an Augustinian monk, or that Calvin quoted Augustine more than any other theologian, but because the Reformation witnessed the ultimate triumph of Augustine's doctrine of grace. David Bentley Taylor has managed to give us a thorough introduction to the man.