Wills. AUGUSTINE

Wills, Garry. SAINT AUGUSTINE. Penguin 1999. 152p. ISBN 0-670-88610-6. $19.95.

Having begun his academic career with a book about the English thinker, G.K. Chesterton, Prof. Wills apparently wishes to conclude with a book written in the manner of Chesterton's books on Francis of Assisi and Thomas Aquinas. He has gulled himself into thinking that a good short book is easier to write than a long one. Prof. Wills original contributions are to change the title of The Confessions into "The Testimony"; he feels that the former sounds too much like "True Confessions Magazine". I suppose this tells us something about the professor's reading when young. But like many modern things, "True Confessions Magazine" is no longer modern. As a matter of fact, it no longer is. But The Confessions are.
He also changes the spelling of Monica to Munnica, as being more correctly "Punic". He (incorrectly) translates the name of Augustine's son, Adeodatus, to "Godsend". But if Monica is to become Munnica, why not leave Adeodatus Adeodatus? Prof. Wills is of that school which sourly boasts of being "humane" rather than human. Its sweetness and light are sugar and moonshine.
Prof. Wills writes (119): "Post-enlightenment liberalism has achieved a different, in many ways superior, approach to tolerance. Prescinding from social bonds, which are dismissed as irrational tribalism, it tries to achieve agreement on procedural rules and impartial equity. This has wrought great things but at a cost". Some idea may be contained in these sentences, possibly translated from the Punic. The effect is "I've got tenure; I can write gibberish. Who dare gainsay me?". Writing in unskillful sentences is a sin against the light.
Although he has not the talent to do it well, it is too bad that Prof. Wills does not carry forward the principle behind Chesterton's books. He might have spotted what has long been overlooked: Augustine's humor. His description of the Roman pantheon is hilarious; Jupiter is his own grandmother. A book without humor is a sin against charity.
But no hay libro tan malo que no tenga algo bueno. From the mass which are the writings of Augustine, Prof. Wills displays a few nuggets. He inadvertently reminds us of the greatness of Augustine and his value to rescuing our minds from the rotting chaos of the thought processes of Modernism (circa 1850-1939) which reject the hard work of thinking:
- "scenes which give us fresh joy as we share others' joy in them" [Instr.17]
- "the sun is always shining on the round earth" [First Meaning of Genesis 1.21]
- "rape does not destroy chastity if the soul withholds consent" [Civ.Dei 1.16-18]
- "what is a political system without justice but organized crime" [Civ.Dei 4.4]
- "society is an agreement on the things one loves" [Civ. Dei 19.24]
Such sentences are priceless. Consider the last of these and Prof. Wills' "irrational tribalism". Augustine uses words to write about things, not about words. $19.95 can buy the The City of God and The Confessions from the same publisher.