Product Review

The eleven volumes of Augustine's popular sermons, expertly translated by Fr. Edmund Hill (1910-1997) in clear, contemporary English, showcase Augustine the brilliant speaker and engaging preacher of the Word and have proven an indispensable resource for contemporary scholarship. Hill's translation and extensive notes have received many accolades by scholars, but professors have clamored for a one-volume, affordable, anthology to be used in teaching undergraduates, graduate students and seminarians.

Fr. Doyle has undertaken this task and has carefully chosen an anthology that is representative of the Bishop's finest preaching on a wide range of subjects, including God, Christ, sin, grace, conversion, martyrdom, sacraments, marriage, wealth, poverty, Christmas, Easter, and living the Christian life. Students and preachers alike will discover Augustine's masterful interpretation of the Word of God and creative skills in engaging the people of God by using the finest rhetorical skills available to his time based on the principles taught by Cicero. Essential Sermons includes mostly whole sermons with a brief introduction but in some cases powerful excerpts from lengthy homilies that would have been impossible to incorporate in a one volume work. Fr. Doyle has written a concise Introduction to Augustine's preaching and has included a table of themes for easy and convenient consultation.