Abstract
Extending the analogy suggested by the many commentators who have compared Hauerwas’s 2010 memoir, Hannah’s Child, to Augustine’s Confessions, one might liken Beginnings to Augustine’s Retractions. Composed of conversations between Brock and H., the book centrally features H. explaining, defending, and at times slightly revising, his most famous or foundational positions. B. guides this process, bringing to bear extensive knowledge of H.’s work, which he uses to identify links, highlight tensions, and probe apparent weaknesses.
Rather than articulating the most developed or nuanced account of a thinker’s position, books of this genre are best suited to connecting ideas or applying them to specific issues. And Beginnings offers a number of notable connections and applications. For instance, B. cuts through H.’s general evasiveness and pushes him to specify how he imagines a pacifist society might enforce the law—“[a] kind of judo?” (178). The two reflect upon the challenges of B.’s son, who has Down syndrome, further concretizing H.’s reflections on disability. And B. presses H. on his idiosyncratic construal of a number of terms, including “natural law” and “casuistry.” Additionally, H. counters prevalent misinterpretations of his work, such as those that seize upon his assertive articulation of the Christian faith but overlook his insistence upon “the fragility of Christian claims within the world” (149).
These conversations range widely and for the most part flow freely, characteristics that make them engaging but that also lead them into areas one might not anticipate from the chapter titles. Yet at numerous points the conversation becomes stilted, feeling as if B. is presenting mini-essays on H.’s work with H. composing an “Amen corner,” pushed to perfunctory agreement by B.’s preparation and acumen. This slightly complicates what would appear to be the most obvious use of this volume, which is as an aid in interpreting H.’s thought. Beginnings may not achieve the premier position in H.’s corpus that Augustine’s interpreters have often given to Retractions. But it will prove useful for those with a basic grasp of H.’s thought who are seeking a nuanced comprehension of one of our era’s most influential theologians.