Augustine for Armchair Theologians

Stephen Cooper's book on Augustine is a disappointment. I am familiar with the series having read the book on Calvin, and the inclusion of an irritating number of rather spurious cartoons in the text. Frankly they contribute nothing and merely distract. But even ignoring them (well, I tried to) I still feel this is a book with the wrong title. I wanted a summary of the teachings of Augustine that have been so influential through the centuries, not least on Luther and Calvin, and the title led me to think that this was what I was buying. It is, after all, aimed at 'Armchair Theologians' so it's not unreasonable to expect theology. What Cooper has given us is not a theology at all, but a biography. If that's what you require, buy the book. If, like me, you want a concise theology go elsewhere. You will be well over a hundred pages into the book before you find more than a sentence or two about his mature teachings, and you will be almost at the end of the book before you find a few consecutive pages about them.There is room for a different book with the same title (and without the cartoons) that sets out in concise form Augustine's theology and its historical importance through the Reformation and since.

I am a seminary student who struggles with the philosophers for Apologetics and Ethics. Discovered this little set of titles when doing a paper on Karl Barth. Very helpful! Thanks to whoever thought up books for armchair theologians.

I have several books in this series and have been delighted with all of them! They're great "first biography" on a theologian, but they've got enough meat to be good for folks familiar with the theologian being studied.

Augustine for Armchair Theologians is nearly worthless as an introduction to Augustine's thought. It focuses almost exclusively on the Confessions - a masterpiece, certainly, but only one of Augustine's books. His theology of the Trinity, free will, original sin, the two cities, and so on are pretty much crammed into the book's final chapter, with the first ten devoted to the Confessions. I took it up to see if it would be a good introductory text for a college course. I'm sorry to say I can't recommend it for even casual readers.

St. Augustine is the Father of the Catholic Church. Good for students of theology and history of the Catholic Church, as well as those who are just curious about him.