Augustine the African: Mary Beard in Conversation with Catherine Conybeare

‘An engaging, thoughtful, and illuminating portrait... Conybeare vividly draws the thread of Augustine's African identity through his life and work in a fresh and elegant way. She has enlarged my perspective on this monumental, complicated man.’ - Madeline Miller, author of The Song of Achilles

Augustine of Hippo is one of the world's most influential theologians, an early Christian writer whose work shaped the course of Western philosophy. Born in Numidia in 354 CE, Augustine's African identity has long been painfully denied. But it was foundational to his thinking and faith.

World-renowned scholar Catherine Conybeare traces Augustine's travels from North Africa to the European continent and back again, placing his African origins firmly at the centre of his story.

A tale of exile, faith and identity, Augustine the African upends conventional knowledge about one of Christianity's most celebrated saints, and recentres Africa as the locus of early Catholic intellectual activity - with Europe on the periphery.

Catherine Conybeare is a professor of Greek, Latin, Classical Studies and Humanities at Bryn Mawr College. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including from the Guggenheim Foundation, and has held visiting fellowships at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. She lives in Pennsylvania.

Mary Beard is Professor Emerita of Classics at Cambridge, and the classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement. She has worldwide academic acclaim. Her previous books include the bestselling, Wolfson Prize-winning Pompeii, Confronting the Classics, SPQR, Women & Power, Twelve Caesars and, most recently, Emperor of Rome. She has made numerous television series and her books have been published in over thirty languages.

Copies of the book Augustine the African will be on sale on the evening.

This event will take place in the Library on the first floor of the Millennium Building, accessible via the Millennium Courtyard on the north side of the Cathedral. Doors will open at 6:15pm.

If you have any access requirements, please contact Emily.Thorne@southwark.anglican.org