Abstract
It is difficult to imagine if anything can he said in a scholarly setting about Augustine that has not already been said. Indeed, the entire history of theology of the post-fifth century Western Church might be construed as a commentary on Augustine’s thought. What makes this approach unique is to affirm most of the classical interpretations of Augustine, to claim that they are correct about the African Father. In so doing, however, an implicit critique of these earlier interpretive traditions as well as of much of the history of Western Christian thought is offered. In essence, earlier interpretive traditions are correct about Augustine; most of them have grasped some essential insights about his thought. But none of them has elucidated the whole Augustine. His thought is richer than its portrayal by his interpreters. Most of them merely stress a particular set of themes in his thought and negate or ignore those themes that seem to conflict with what the interpreters have stressed. Also missing in virtually all of the Western interpreters, save perhaps a growing consensus in some recent scholarship, is a full appreciation of the significance of Augustine’s African roots, the degree to which he truly was an African Father.