egoistical act that some modern commentators believe, but allowsreaders to transpose themselves into Scripture as he did, so thatthey might become transformed by scriptural grace as he was (p.292).

This book does not pretend to be the last word on its subject.For much more detailed study of the figurative exegesis in theContra Faustum, the scholar will still need to consult AlbanMassies recent Peuple prophetique et nation temoin: Le peuplejuif dans le Contra Faustum manichaeum de saint Augustin (seeJTS, NS 64 [2013], pp. 2726). Occasionally, one may questionthe authors viewsdid Augustine the Manichee really arguepublicly (my italics) for nine years that Israels god and itspreoccupation with material goods were antithetical to trueChristianity (p. 7)? Occasionally, one may be irritated by editor-ial quirkswhy in a book published by Oxford must quotationsfrom Sir Henry Chadwicks Confessions repeatedly be followedby the mantra quoted by permission of Oxford UniversityPress? Nonetheless, these trivia must not detract from the sig-nificant achievement of a very well-written and persuasive bookthat demonstrates the mature Augustines integration ofChristian theology and classical rhetorical analysis.

doi:10.1093/jts/flt168 RICHARD FINN, OP

Blackfriars, Cambridgerichard.finn@bfriars.ox.ac.uk

Perception, Sensibility, and Moral Motivation in Augustine:A StoicPlatonic Synthesis. By SARAH CATHERINE BYERS.Pp. xviii 248. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 2013. ISBN 978 1 107 01794 8. 60/$99.

BYERS starts her study of Augustines account of moral motiv-ation by looking at a notoriously disputed section of book 8 ofthe Confessions (267) where Augustine speaks of the sugges-tions of his old loves about all the pleasures of licentiousnesshe was thinking of leaving behind. She explains the passage interms of Augustines use of Stoic theories of how after receivingphysical impressions (phantasiai), which we read proposition-ally, we hesitate and finally decide what moral suggestion orimplication we shall accept or reject. The classic Stoic exampleis of the soldier on the walls of Rome who shudders when seeingHannibals army approaching and is propositioned by the

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thought that death is to be feared. As a good Stoic he will rejectthat proposition, as Augustine too came to reject the propositionsof his past loves.

Recognizing the Stoicism (and its Latin sources, especiallySeneca) in Augustines account, Byers goes on to show thatAugustine, throughout his life, makes use of the Stoic theoryof action to explain the mechanics of human moral behaviour,blending it with a widely recognized Platonic/Neoplatonic thesisabout Gods purposes and human passionate goals. In the pastmany scholars have talked about Augustines Stoicism, but invery general terms: few have attempted to cash it out by anydetailed scrutiny and study of the texts. How then has Byerssucceeded where others have failed? By combing the sermonsand showing how Augustine the bishop, as a counsellor ofsouls, had to encourage what we should call cognitive therapyamong his sinful congregations: they must understand the natureof their own motives and motivation as well as the relationshipbetween their beliefs and their emotions, if they are to be ableto hear the promptings of God. By thus presenting us withhundreds of previously unexamined texts Byers has producedcompelling evidence for her thesis.

We can now also learn from Byers that Augustine did morethan copy the Stoic theory of action; he completed and correctedit. For example, Stoics always recognized what they call pro-patheiai (preliminary passions: the feelings, as of the soldier shud-dering, which have not yet, by wrongful assent, become vicious);Augustine adds, through a series of biblical examples, a parallelset of preliminary good emotions (which Byers dubs proeu-patheiai). And he Christianizes Stoic accounts of clemency byremoving the inhuman detachment and adding that when aChristian (rather than a Stoic) works through those wrongful as-sents to tempting propositions which have generated improperpassions, he will repent, feeling appropriate sadness over his mis-guided mentality and consequent behaviour. For Augustines willis dispositional as well as occurrent.

Augustines theory explains not only how we should controlour emotions by correcting our beliefs but how God himself canmake use of our moral mechanisms to suggest what we need forsalvation: that is by teaching us to be suYciently humble to learnenough of our human nature to be able to accept his grace. Andas a bonus at the end of her book Byers is able to explain howBanez, Molina, and the others involved in the so-called DeAuxiliis controversy in the early seventeenth century about theworkings of grace could hardly understand either Augustines

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theory of the willthe very term is misleadingor his accounts(plural) of conversion (let alone agree about them) in the light oftheir unavoidable ignorance of the Stoic nature of Augustinesideas. When the Pope called a halt to the futile debate he did theright thing without understanding why that was all he couldusefully do! For Banez and Molina (as Byers does not pointout) were only the latest theologians ignorant of Augustinesmethodology and therefore in no position to read him correctly.

Byerss book could not have been written without the substan-tial increase of our knowledge of Stoicism that has been achievedin recent yearsshe is especially indebted to Brad Inwoods StoicTheory of Actionand her comments on how diYculties aboutomnipotence have caused unnecessary problems in Augustinesgeneral theological views about the possibility of human redemp-tion confirm previous suspicionsbut so what? She has writtenthe most important and original book on Augustines thought fordecades. In the past Augustines powerful and still relevant theoryof motivation has been unavoidably overlooked; after Byers thereis no excuse. Only (in Stoic language) a fool, if interested inAugustine, would not give her book the very closest attention.

doi:10.1093/jts/flt152 JOHN RISTAdvance Access publication 2 August 2013 School of Philosophy,

The Catholic University of Americajohnmrist@yahoo.co.uk

Memory in Augustines Theological Anthropology. By PAIGEE. HOCHSCHILD. Pp. viii 251. (Oxford Early ChristianStudies.) Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. ISBN978 0 19 964302 8. 65.

GIVEN Augustines significant use of memory and the originalityof his treatment of it, it is surprising that there has been nomonograph on the subject previously. This has now been rec-tified with the publication of Paige Hochschilds Ph.D. thesis.Using a method which is historical and exegetical, she deftlyand expertly traces the development of the role of memory inAugustines thought, her expressed aim being to make a con-tribution towards a picture of an Augustinian theory ofknowledge.

The book is divided into three parts: in Part I she explores themeaning and use of memory in the mainstream Platonic traditionas it developed, with a chapter on each of the three major

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