It is with great pleasure that I see the newly accomplished Taiwanese translation of my introduction into the study of Augustine going back to the year 1995. I published it at that time with the strong feeling that, so far, a specifically philosophical presentation of Augustine’s thought was absent, particularly in Germany. In the years before the publication of the book it became somewhat fashionable to criticize Augustine for his alleged argumentative weaknesses and shortcomings, as well as for the so-called fatal consequences of his theory of sin, grace, and predestination. So I simply tried to present Augustine objectively, without negative prejudices, and in all of his intellectual attractiveness: and I am still absolutely convinced that he is an excellent thinker. Although he was not the first Christian philosopher, he should be seen as the first one having an eminent importance as an original and thorough author. He is on the same level as the most brilliant representatives of the Western tradition: Plato and Aristotle, Aquinas and Duns Scotus, Descartes and Leibniz, Kant and Hegel. With his innumerous writings Augustine in fact covers the majority of the most important topics of philosophy. Later Christian philosophers, especially those of the Medieval and Early modern period, owe a lot to Augustine, and most of them openly acknowledge that debt. 

 

　　The little book was and is meant to inform its readers in a neutral, but benevolent way about Augustine’s thought. I very much hope that it might inspire younger scholars and philosophers in Taiwan to take studies on Augustine seriously. 

 

　　Augustinian scholarship is now a worldwide enterprise, and we currently see a growing number of interesting contributions to research coming from East Asia. 

 

　　I wish to thank Professor Dr Yip-Mei Loh was her intense and careful work with the translation from German into Taiwanese. Yip-Mei Loh is an extremely diligent scholar in her studies on Classical Greek philosophy and on Early Christian thought, and her German is brilliant. So I am very grateful that she did this challenging job. 

 

Bonn, September 2020   Christoph Horn

      

 

　　本書是根據1995年版我對奧古斯丁研究的介紹，很高興能看到最近被翻譯成繁體中文。那時候我出版這本書時是強烈地感覺到，至今，特別是在德國對奧古斯丁的哲學思想欠缺具體的呈現。在出版這本書之前的前幾年，據稱奧古斯丁論證的脆弱與缺陷，以及他的罪、恩典與預定論的理論帶來所謂致命的後果，批評奧古斯丁的話題就成為趨勢。所以，我只嘗試客觀地，毫無負面偏見的將奧古斯丁而且在他的所有的思想的吸引力中，將奧古斯丁核心焦點呈現在大家面前：我仍然完全相信，他是一位傑出的思想家。儘管他不是第一位基督教哲學家，他應被視為第一位擁有舉足輕重並具有原創性和全面性的作者。他與西方傳統最傑出的代表人物處於同一水平：柏拉圖和亞里斯多德，阿奎那和鄧斯‧斯科特，笛卡爾和萊布尼茲，康德和黑格爾。奧古斯丁的著作無數，他實際上涉及了大多數的最重要的哲學主題。後來的基督教哲學家，尤其是中世紀和現代初期的哲學家，很多歸功於奧古斯丁，其中大多數人公開承認了這個受惠。

 

　　這本小書以一種不偏頗且善意的方式，是為了介紹讀者有關奧古斯丁的思想。 我非常希望它能激發台灣年輕的學者和哲學家認真地研究奧古斯丁。奧古斯丁的學術研究現已成為一項全球性的事業，並且我們目前看到來自東亞的這項研究逐漸對它做出了越來越多值得關注的貢獻。

 

　　我要感謝羅月美教授，在這本德語著作翻譯成繁體中文，她所做的認真和仔細的工作。羅月美在研究古典希臘哲學和早期基督教思想方面是一位非常勤奮的學者，她的德文很好。因此，我非常感謝她做了這項具有挑戰性的工作。

 

里斯多夫‧ 霍恩

2020年9月，波昂