Augustine the African (Paperback)
A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2025
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A groundbreaking reassessment of one of Christianity's foundational thinkers from award-winning classicist Catherine Conybeare
An eye-opening new history of one of Christianity's most important figures - and one of Pope Leo XIV's primary inspirations
'Brilliant' SPECTATOR
'Illuminating' NEW YORKER
'Rich and sympathetic' TLS
Augustine of Hippo is one of the world's most influential theologians, an early Christian writer whose work shaped the course of Western philosophy. Born in Numidia in 354 CE, Augustine's African identity has long been painfully denied. But it was foundational to his thinking and faith. Drawing on original sources and the Augustinian texts themselves, world-renowned scholar Catherine Conybeare traces Augustine's travels from North Africa to the European continent and back again, placing his African origins firmly at the centre of his story.
A tale of exile, faith and identity, Augustine the African upends conventional knowledge about one of Christianity's most celebrated saints, and recentres Africa as the locus of early Catholic intellectual activity - with Europe on the periphery.
Augustine the African (Audiobook)
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A groundbreaking reassessment of one of Christianity's foundational thinkers from award-winning classicist Catherine Conybeare
Augustine of Hippo is one of the world's most influential theologians, an early Christian writer whose work shaped the course of Western philosophy. Born in Numidia in 354 CE, Augustine's African identity has long been painfully denied. But it was foundational to his thinking and faith. Drawing on original sources and the Augustinian texts themselves, world-renowned scholar Catherine Conybeare traces Augustine's travels from North Africa to the European continent and back again, placing his African origins firmly at the centre of his story.
A tale of exile, faith and identity, Augustine the African upends conventional knowledge about one of Christianity's most celebrated saints, and recentres Africa as the locus of early Catholic intellectual activity – with Europe on the periphery.
Augustine the African (Hardback)
A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2025
Buy from
A groundbreaking reassessment of one of Christianity's foundational thinkers from award-winning classicist Catherine Conybeare
An eye-opening new history of one of Christianity's most important figures - and one of Pope Leo XIV's primary inspirations
'Brilliant' SPECTATOR
'Illuminating' NEW YORKER
'Rich and sympathetic' TLS
Augustine of Hippo is one of the world's most influential theologians, an early Christian writer whose work shaped the course of Western philosophy. Born in Numidia in 354 CE, Augustine's African identity has long been painfully denied. But it was foundational to his thinking and faith. Drawing on original sources and the Augustinian texts themselves, world-renowned scholar Catherine Conybeare traces Augustine's travels from North Africa to the European continent and back again, placing his African origins firmly at the centre of his story.
A tale of exile, faith and identity, Augustine the African upends conventional knowledge about one of Christianity's most celebrated saints, and recentres Africa as the locus of early Catholic intellectual activity - with Europe on the periphery.
Augustine the African (Ebook)
A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2025
Buy from
A groundbreaking reassessment of one of Christianity's foundational thinkers from award-winning classicist Catherine Conybeare
An eye-opening new history of one of Christianity's most important figures - and one of Pope Leo XIV's primary inspirations
'Brilliant' SPECTATOR
'Illuminating' NEW YORKER
'Rich and sympathetic' TLS
Augustine of Hippo is one of the world's most influential theologians, an early Christian writer whose work shaped the course of Western philosophy. Born in Numidia in 354 CE, Augustine's African identity has long been painfully denied. But it was foundational to his thinking and faith. Drawing on original sources and the Augustinian texts themselves, world-renowned scholar Catherine Conybeare traces Augustine's travels from North Africa to the European continent and back again, placing his African origins firmly at the centre of his story.
A tale of exile, faith and identity, Augustine the African upends conventional knowledge about one of Christianity's most celebrated saints, and recentres Africa as the locus of early Catholic intellectual activity - with Europe on the periphery.
Reviews for Augustine the African
New Yorker
Madeline Miller, author of The Song of Achilles
Literary Review
TLS
Rowan Williams
This beautifully written and closely researched book is a powerful reminder of the intellectual validity and importance of questioning established and inherited narratives... it is a book startlingly charged and suffused with a sense of curiosity and compassion towards its subject , a quality that gives the
text an almost novelistic sense of emotional urgency
'
The Critic
Kirkus Reviews
Spectator
Claire Messud, author of The Emperor's Children
Brent Shaw, Professor in Classics, Emeritus, at Princeton University
Jim Wetzel, Director of the Augustinian Institute, Villanova University
Catherine Conybeare
Catherine Conybeare is a professor of Greek, Latin, Classical Studies and Humanities at Bryn Mawr College. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including from the Guggenheim Foundation, and has held visiting fellowships at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. She lives in Pennsylvania.