A collection of essays which places the historical setting of Augustine's "De doctrina christiana" within the context of contemporary scholarship and explores its theological meaning and impact on Western culture and Christian education.

This volume is the result of an international conference held at the University of Notre Dame in 1991 in which leading scholars - classicists, medievalists, theologians, philologists, rhetoricians, literary critics, and philosophers - gathered to focus on one of the most remarkable and influential books of late antiquity, Augustine's "De Doctrina Christiana". Contributors to this volume place the historical setting of "De Doctrina Christiana" within the context of contemporary scholarship and explore its theological meaning and impact on Western culture and Christian education. The essays cover the field of current Augustinian studies, starting with the historic setting of late antiquity in which "De Doctrina Christiana" was written. They then examine the work itself, its literary structure and interpretative and theological significance, how it was received by later patristic writers, and how it has been used as an authoritative source in contemporary times. A bibliography facilitates further study.