Review: The Mestizo Augustine: A Theologian Between Two Cultures

The Mestizo Augustine: A Theologian Between Two Cultures by Justo L. González
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I ran into this title in James Smith's On the Road with Augustine, which I reviewed a few years back and re-read recently. He quotes the experience of a mestizo, who is defined as a person born from Spanish and Indigenous blood, but is generalized into a mix of cultures/identities between a 'civilized' (in this book, Roman) and 'indigenous' group (here, Berbers). Gonzalez' basic thesis in the book is that an important way to understand St. Augustine, both is life and theology, is that he was a mestizo, born from a Roman father and a Berber mother. While the identification of Monica as Berber is not definitely settled (though it makes sense), there is certainly no doubt that her form of Christianity was heavily influenced by the distinctive African Christianity, which was prevalent around the time of Augustine. So, Augustine functioned between two cultures, two Christianities, which explains his reaction to both as well as his choices as he developed his theology in the Manichean, Donatist, Pelagian and pagan controversies of his day.

The thesis is bold and, I think, may be hard for those who identify Christianity with a purely Western point of view. But I also find it a fascinating reading of Augustine's life, career and theology. And it is a more nuanced way of seeing Christianity in the time in which Rome flourished. The fact is that we moderns have a tendency to see the Romans as a unitary culture, but what we are seeing more and more in the evidence is just how much hybrid cultures, joining Roman and local traditions, are the norm in the Roman Empire throughout its existence. Ethnic identity tended to morph and shift in this time and there was more than enough code-switching as individuals moved from one cultural context to another in just their everyday life. This book fits into that understanding and, I think, illuminates Augustine's theological moves in interesting ways.

This is very much well worth reading, both for Augustine specialists, but also for those interested in Rome of Late Antiquity.

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