Saint Augustines Confessions Book I

From Pulitzer Prize–winner Garry Wills, the story of Augustine’s Confessions In this brief and incisive book, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Garry Wills tells the story of the Confessions--what motivated Augustine to dictate it, how it asks to be read, and the many ways it has been misread in the one-and-a-half millennia since it was composed. Following Wills's biography of Augustine and his translation of the Confessions, this is an unparalleled introduction to one of the most important books in the Christian and Western traditions. Understandably fascinated by the story of Augustine's life, modern readers have largely succumbed to the temptation to read the Confessions as autobiography. But, Wills argues, this is a mistake. The book is not autobiography but rather a long prayer, suffused with the language of Scripture and addressed to God, not man. Augustine tells the story of his life not for its own significance but in order to discern how, as a drama of sin and salvation leading to God, it fits into sacred history. "We have to read Augustine as we do Dante," Wills writes, "alert to rich layer upon layer of Scriptural and theological symbolism." Wills also addresses the long afterlife of the book, from controversy in its own time and relative neglect during the Middle Ages to a renewed prominence beginning in the fourteenth century and persisting to today, when the Confessions has become an object of interest not just for Christians but also historians, philosophers, psychiatrists, and literary critics. With unmatched clarity and skill, Wills strips away the centuries of misunderstanding that have accumulated around Augustine's spiritual classic.

George Carneal, author of "From Queer to Christ," grew up in the '70s, raised by a Southern Baptist minister in the ultra-conservative Bible Belt. For years he struggled with his Christian faith and a same-sex attraction. George shares his painful journey through a queer culture fantasyland filled with drag queens, drugs, and dangerous situations, a secular world at odds with homosexuality, in addition to a religious world that is hostile to homosexuals before discovering healing, joy, and peace in Christ. Perhaps sharing his journey through the eyes, and mind, of a confused child dealing with a same-sex attraction will give some insight into the pain and difficulty of navigating these two worlds. George would eventually spend 25 years immersed in the homosexual lifestyle (mostly in the Los Angeles club scene) and shares the pitfalls of that life. His story is not about glamorizing a life he once lived. This is merely his journey and what he learned along the way. Deliverance from that bondage is possible. There is hope in Christ! George is a frequent speaker at churches and conferences, has appeared on numerous television and radio broadcasts, as well as contributing quotes to online articles for LifeSite News, Christian Life Magazine, Tennessee Conservative News, and The Christian Post. For more information, please visit: http://www.georgecarneal.com

An commentary on the Latin text of St. Augustine's Confessoins intended for beginning and intermediate students of Latin. The commentary uses and is based on the text of James O'Donnell and makes considerable use both of his commentary as well as Gillian Clark's commentary, while remaining keyed to questions pertinent for beginning students, i.e., grammar, syntax, and morphology.

Books V-IX of the Confessions trace five crucial years in the life of Augustine, from his debut as a teacher of rhetoric in North Africa to his baptism as a Christian and the renunciation of a worldly career in Milan. This commentary will be invaluable for those wishing to read his story in the original Latin. Through careful glosses and notes, Augustine's Latin is made accessible to students of patristics and of classics. His extensive quotations from Scripture are translated and explained in light of the variant Bible texts and the interpretative assumptions through which he came to understand them. The unfolding of his career is set against the background of political, cultural, and religious change in the fourth century, and the art with which he created a form of narrative without precedent in earlier Latin literature is illustrated in close detail.

"In this work, traditionally translated as On Christian Doctrine, Augustine combines the pedagogical methods he learned from Greek and Roman writings with the content of the Christian faith to help preachers present biblical teachings in an effective manner. This new translation is lively and accessible." Library Journal

The Reed of God is an inspirational classic written by a British Roman Catholic ecclesiastical artist, Caryll Houselander. This book contains a beautiful meditation on Mary, Mother of God and so much more. Reading this book will bring you closer to Our Blessed Mother, and hence, to Christ Himself. Filled with lyrical prose and touching analogies, the author shows how Mary was the "Reed of God" and that we are all vessels waiting to do God's work, and carrying Christ within us.

"This narrative of the first half of Augustine's life conjures the intellectual and social milieu of the late Roman Empire with a Proustian relish for detail." -- New York Times In Augustine, celebrated historian Robin Lane Fox follows Augustine of Hippo on his journey to the writing of his Confessions. Unbaptized, Augustine indulged in a life of lust before finally confessing and converting. Lane Fox recounts Augustine's sexual sins, his time in an outlawed heretical sect, and his gradual return to spirituality. Magisterial and beautifully written, Augustine is the authoritative portrait of this colossal figure at his most thoughtful, vulnerable, and profound.

Accompanied by a commentary, this volume presents the Latin text of one of the great classics of Christian literature. Books I-IV of the Confessions reflect on Augustine's infancy and childhood, adolescent rebellion and student days, as well as his early teaching career.

Written in 397 A.D., St. Augustine's classic, Confessions, reveals the innermost thoughts and struggles of a soul converting from selfishness and pleasure-seeking to a life of love for God. Augustine of Hippo (345-430 A.D.) was born in North Africa to a devoutly Christian mother and pagan father. Of Latin stock, Augustine was given Christian instruction but waited until later in life to be baptized. Augustine took a mistress who bore him a son before he was eighteen. Augustine's sexual appetite drove him to seek pleasure where he could find it, but it also plagued his consience. His hunger for religious things led him through many of the belief systems of the day, including Manichaeism and Neoplatonism. Augustine finally turned to God in 386 A.D. when he heard a child say, "take, read" a copy of Paul's letter to the Romans. Upon his conversion to Christianity, Augustine became a prodigious writer, with his writings standing second only to the apostle Paul in their impact on the church. He died as Bishop of Hippo in North Africa. Confessions is the autobiography of Augustine of Hippo, a moving and profound record of a human soul and its struggles. The most widely read of all his works, it not only tells the story of Augustine's struggle in the faith, but also his love for the Master. Confessions speaks to the heart of humanity about human weakness, human frailty, human depravity, and the human need for a holy God. This classic is an exercise in self-knowledge and true humility in the atmosphere of grace and reconciliation. Book jacket.