Immediately after his baptism Augustine set out to produce a Christianizedversion of the ancient liberal arts curriculum. By an orderedsequence of contemplation, moving from linguistic to mathematicallybased disciplines, Augustine suggested that study in the liberal artscould render the mind and heart docile before God. Though Augustinelater would shift his focus more directly toward biblical study, his earlyreflections on secular learning remain an attractive and powerful modelfor Christian thinking about the arts.Happiness and Wisdom contributes to ongoing debates about thenature of...