Augustine and the Fundamentalist's Daughter

by Margaret R. Miles

In Augustine and the Fundamentalist's Daughter, Margaret Miles weaves her memoirs together with reflections on Augustine's Confessions. Having read and reread Augustine's Confessions, in admiration as well as frustration, over the past thirty-five years, Miles brings her memories of childhood and youth in a fundamentalist home into conversation with Augustine's effort to understand his life. The result is a fascinating work of autobiographical and theological reflection. Moreover, this project brings together a rare combination of insights on fundamentalists' convictions and habits of mind, as well as on differences among fundamentalists. Such reflections are especially urgent in this time in which fundamentalism is prominent in political and social discourse.

236 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2011

Reviews

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating dual biography—Miles is an Augustine scholar and this book will work for those who haven’t read the Confessions. A bit choppy at times (Miles is an academic), but eager, reflective, engaging.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the premise of this book, that "A book, perhaps not just any book, but a book similar in richness to the Confessions, can become a palimpsest that maps its reader's interests and stages of understanding...Now, writing my own confessions, bringing my experiences to Augustine's text, makes his Confessions new again" (2). It's a privilege to sit in on Miles' lifelong reading of Augustine, and there is much wisdom on the journey. Sure, I have certain worldview differences with Miles, some theological and some, I suspect, generational, but mostly I'm just delighted to read her story. A couple bits:

"The traditional scholarly strategy of demolishing others' interpretations in order to spotlight the greater veracity and beauty of one's own is inadequate and unkind....To acknowledge the importance of perspective is, in brief, to understand Augustine's idea of humility" (120).

After describing what she had to give up for the academic life; "I don't regret the simultaneously privileged and stressful life at Harvard; I simply had a rich life of a different kind, but I do acknowledge the losses" (150). What she gained? "deeply gratifying intellectual work, a salary, travel, respect of colleagues, and professional opportunities" (150).