Synopses & Reviews
As relevant today as it was when it was originally written sixteen hundred years ago, Augustine’s Confessiones continues to influence contemporary religion, language, and thought. Reading with fresh, keen eyes, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Garry Wills has brought his superb gifts of analysis and insight to bear on this classic of Western tradition in a series of ambitious and critically acclaimed translations and interpretations. In Saint Augustine’s Conversion, Augustine’s story draws to its dramatic conclusion in what Wills calls the “hinge” chapter of the bishop’s confessional opus. With an illuminating introduction and extensive notes throughout, Wills provides a richly rewarding and inventive interpretation of Augustine’s seminal work for a new generation of readers.
Review
Augustine flourishes in Willss hands. (James Wood, The London Review of Books)
About the Author
Garry Wills is one of the most respected writers on religion today. He is the author of Saint Augustine’s Childhood, Saint Augustine’s Memory, and Saint Augustine’s Sin, the first three volumes in this series, as well as the Penguin Lives biography Saint Augustine. His other books include “Negro President”: Jefferson and the Slave Power, Why I Am a Catholic, Papal Sin, and Lincoln at Gettysburg, which won the Pulitzer Prize.
Table of Contents
Saint Augustine's Conversion
Key to Brief Citations Part I. Introduction
1. The Book of Conversions
2. The Myth of Monnica
3. The Myth of Ambrose
4. The Myth of Suddenness: Wiliam James
5. The Myth of Suddenness: Paul
6. The Myth of Suddenness: Augustine
7. THe Garden
Part II. The Testimony, Book Eight
Searching For Help
First Conversion Story: Victorinus
Second Conversion Story: Sergius Paul
Back to Victorinus
Four More Converts: Pontician's Friends and Their Wives
The Garden
Seventh Conversion Story: Anthony
Eighth Conversion Story: Augustine
Part III. Commentary