Synopses & Reviews
In his own day the dominant personality of the Western Church, Augustine of Hippo today stands as perhaps the greatest thinker of Christian antiquity, and his Confessions is one of the great works of Western literature. In this intensely personal narrative, Augustine relates his rare ascent
from a humble Algerian farm to the edge of the corridors of power at the imperial court in Milan, his struggle against the domination of his sexual nature, his renunciation of secular ambition and marriage, and the recovery of the faith his mother Monica had taught him during his childhood.
Now, Henry Chadwick, an eminent scholar of early Christianity, has given us the first new English translation in thirty years of this classic spiritual journey. Chadwick renders the details of Augustine's conversion in clear, modern English. We witness the future saint's fascination with
astrology and with the Manichees, and then follow him through scepticism and disillusion with pagan myths until he finally reaches Christian faith. There are brilliant philosophical musings about Platonism and the nature of God, and touching portraits of Augustine's beloved mother, of St. Ambrose
of Milan, and of other early Christians like Victorinus, who gave up a distinguished career as a rhetorician to adopt the orthodox faith. Augustine's concerns are often strikingly contemporary, yet his work contains many references and allusions that are easily understood only with background
information about the ancient social and intellectual setting. To make The Confessions accessible to contemporary readers, Chadwick provides the most complete and informative notes of any recent translation, and includes anintroduction to establish the context.
The religious and philosophical value of The Confessions is unquestionable--now modern readers will have easier access to St. Augustine's deeply personal meditations. Chadwick's lucid translation and helpful introduction clear the way for a new experience of this classic.
Review
"[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
Synopsis
Garry Wills is an exceptionally gifted translator and one of our best writers on religion today. His bestselling translations of individual chapters of Saint Augustine s
Confessions have received widespread and glowing reviews. Now for the first time, Wills s translation of the entire work is being published as a Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. Removed by time and place but not by spiritual relevance, Augustine s
Confessions continues to influence contemporary religion, language, and thought. Reading with fresh, keen eyes, Wills brings his superb gifts of analysis and insight to this ambitious translation of the entire book.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theseries to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-datetranslations by award-winning translators.
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Synopsis
Garry Wills is an exceptionally gifted translator and one of our finest writers on religion. His bestselling Penguin Lives biography,
Saint Augustine, received widespread and glowing reviews, many of which noted his masterful translations of the famed fourth- century bishop's works. Now, reading with fresh, keen eyes, Wills applies his unparalleled talents and his superb gifts of analysis and insight to this ambitious and complete translation of Saint Augustine's
Confessions. Removed by time and place but not by spiritual relevance,
Confessions is one of the most resonant texts in the Western canon, and continues to influence contemporary religion, languages, and thought.
Synopsis
A new translation of the most popular Christian tale of the Middle Ages, which springs from the story of the Buddha Appearing first in Greece among the works of the eighth-century monk and scholar, St. John of Damascus, Barlaam and Josaphat has since been translated into numerous languages around the world. Philologists eventually traced the name Josaphat as a derivation from the Sanskrit bodhisattva, the Buddhist term for the future Buddha, highlighting this text as essential source reading for several of the worlds most popular religions.
Synopsis
A new series of beautiful hardcover nonfiction classics, with covers designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith World-changing ideas meet eye-catching design: the best titles of the extraordinarily successful Great Ideas series are now packaged in Coralie Bickford-Smiths distinctive, award-winning covers. Whether on a well-curated shelf or in your back pocket, these timeless works of philosophical, political, and psychological thought are absolute musthaves for book collectors as well as design enthusiasts.
About the Author
St Augustine of Hippo, the great Doctor of the Latin Church, was born at Thagaste in North Africa, in 354 CE. 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 into Christianity. His surviving works have profoundly influenced Christian theology and the psychology and political theology of the West.
R. S. Pine-Coffin was born in 1917. He was educated at Ampleforth and Peterhouse, Cambridge. He died in 1992.