Possidius, the bishop of Calama, was a lifelong friend of St. Augustine best known for writing a biography of the bishop of Hippo, the
Vita Augustini.
Hermanowicz analyzes both the biography and the legally oriented career of Possidius to illustrate how active Augustine's colleagues were in soliciting imperial support against their religious competitors and to show just how often Augustine's close friends disagreed with him on important matters of law, coercion and diplomacy. It is still widely asserted by scholars that St. Augustine dominated the theological landscape of North Africa, but this engaging study demonstrates how often he was, in fact, singular and isolated in his beliefs.