Confessions
(Hardback)
Available Formats
Publishing Details
Confessions
By (Author) Saint Augustine
Translated by R. S. Pine-Coffin
Introduction by R. S. Pine-Coffin
Penguin Books Ltd
Penguin Classics
25th March 2015
5th February 2015
United Kingdom
Classifications
General
Non Fiction
History of religion
270.2092
Physical Properties
Hardback
576
Width 112mm, Height 175mm, Spine 35mm
470g
Description
A remarkably honest and revealing spiritual autobiography, the Confessions also address fundamental issues of Christian doctrine, and many of the prayers and meditations it includes are still an integral part of the practice of Christianity today. One of a major new Classics series - books that have changed the history of thought, in sumptuous, clothbound hardbacks. The son of a pagan father and a Christian mother, Saint Augustine spent his early years torn between conflicting faiths and world views. His Confessions, written when he was in his forties, recount how, slowly and painfully, he came to turn away from his youthful ideas and licentious lifestyle, to become instead a staunch advocate of Christianity and one of its most influential thinkers. A remarkably honest and revealing spiritual autobiography, the Confessions also address fundamental issues of Christian doctrine, and many of the prayers and meditations it includes are still an integral part of the practice of Christianity today.
Reviews
"[Wills] renders Augustine's famous and influential text in direct language with all the spirited wordplay and poetic strength intact."
-"Los Angeles Times"
"[Wills's] translations . . . are meant to bring Augustine straight into our own minds; and they succeed. Well-known passages, over which my eyes have often gazed, spring to life again from Wills's pages."
-Peter Brown, "The New York Review of Books"
"Augustine flourishes in Wills's hand."
-James Wood
"A masterful synthesis of classical philosophy and scriptural erudition."
-"Chicago Tribune"
Author Bio
St Augustine of Hippo, the great Doctor of the Latin Church, was born at Thagaste in North Africa, in A.D. 354. He was brought up as a Christian but he was soon converted to the Manichean religion. He also came under the influence of Neoplatonism. However, in 387 he renounced all his unorthodox beliefs and was baptised. His surviving works had a great influence on Christian theology and the psychology and political theology of the West.
R.S. Pine-Coffin is a Roman Catholic and was born in 1917.
