AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO, The Augustine Catechism: The Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Charity. Translation and Notes by Bruce Harbert. Introduction by Boniface Ramsey. New York: New City Press, 1999. pp. 173. $18.95 pb. ISBN 978-1-56548-298-2.
AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO, Instructing Beginners in Faith. Translation, Introduction, and Notes by Raymond Canning. New York: New City Press, 2006. pp. 173. $19.95 pb. ISBN 978-1-56548-239-5. Reviewed by Alessandro ROVATI, Belmont Abbey College, Belmont, NC 28012.

New City Press continues its outstanding work of making Augustine's writings widely available, publishing two of the theologian's shorter treaties in its collection, The Augustine Series, which gathers the theologian's essential texts intended for classroom use. These inexpensive volumes make the critically acclaimed translations of the Enchiridion and De Catechizandis Rudibus by Bruce Harbert and Raymond Canning, respectively, available to scholars, students, and the general public, thus allowing new readers to encounter Augustine's theology. Both books comprise a short but thorough introduction, helpful headings, and footnotes.

The first element that emerges from reading these two works is Augustine's profound pastoral interest and sensibility. He writes both as a response to a heartfelt question: how to become wise, in the case of the Enchiridion (1), and how to instruct those who have expressed an interest in Christianity, in De Catechizandis Rudibus (1,1). To answer them, Augustine distills the heart of his theological outlook and the practical insights gained through his many years as a teacher of the faith. He seeks to empower his interlocutors to respond to the call of living an authentic Christian life, on the one hand, and of communicating its kerygma, on the other, and he does so by immersing his readers in the riches of Scripture and what we can learn from them.

One of Augustine's constant emphases is on the primacy of God's initiative. Because of the Fall, human beings find themselves incapable of pursuing the good they were created for and, as a result, need the intervention of God's grace to be rescued from sin's hold on their lives (Enchiridion, 31). Starting from these fundamental theological claims, Augustine describes in great detail the history of God's involvement with the world, clarifying that God's redemptive plan passes through the preference God has for particular people at particular times. Accordingly, one cannot tell the history of salvation without naming specific individuals–Abraham, David, Mary, and others—whose life's trajectory culminates in the coming of the man Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate (De Catechizandis Rudibus, 3,5). Starting from the retelling of God's encounters with the protagonists of Scripture, Augustine encourages his readers to surprise how the same merciful initiative now touches their lives, thus engrafting them in the history that has brought redemption to human beings (De Catechizandis Rudibus, 6,10).

A second common thread that characterizes these books is Augustine's conviction about the profound connection between faith and life. Describing the truths about God, ourselves, and creation as a whole that God has chosen to manifest to us is inseparable from the call to profound conversion (De Catechizandis Rudibus, 7,11). The objects of faith summon us to a renewed existence, for the discovery of our need for the Lord's mercy and the Lord's surprising initiative to give us the grace we need makes us aware of our sinfulness and summons us to beg for the transformation that God's grace makes possible (Enchiridion, 76).

This focus on the radical vulnerability that the Christian life entails brings me to the third and final element I want to highlight, namely, the preeminence of love. All of Augustine's theological erudition and moral exhortation have one sole goal—union with God. Knowledge of the faith, zeal in introducing others to the mysteries of Scripture, even one's heroic attempts to live a virtuous existence are all worthless separate from the communion with God that the Holy Spirit makes possible (Enchiridion, 117). As the whole goal of God's redemptive work is to make such a loving union possible—inchoately on earth and then in its fullness at the end of time—so too the purpose of the teachers of the faith is to help people in their path toward discovering and receiving the gift of the Spirit that makes the union with God possible (De Catechizandis Rudibus, 4,8). Accordingly, Augustine encourages us to read even his more bleak descriptions of the brokenness of human nature and fearsome affirmations of the reality of judgment and condemnation as a means toward yearning for the Lord's loving and merciful embrace (Enchiridion, 121).

The Enchiridion and De Catechizandis Rudibus offer readers an engaging yet accessible way to encounter Augustine's teachings. They connect the readers to the riches of Scripture and provide an authoritative theological framework to understand salvation history. They encourage us to think anew about some of the most debated theological questions, such as the possibility of salvation outside the Catholic Church, the interaction of freedom and grace, the origin and purpose of evil, and the interaction between the omnipotence of God's will and the integrity of creation, to name a few. One will emerge a better Christian and a better theologian after engaging with these texts. Take up and read.