LIKE A COLOSSUS BESTRIDING TW0 WORLDS. Augustine stands as the last patristic and the first medieval father of Western Christianity. He gathered together and conserved all the main motifs of Latin Christianity from Tertullian to Ambrose; he appropriated the heritage of Nicene orthodoxy; he was a Chalcedonian before Chalcedon--and he drew all this into an unsystematic synthesis which is sdll our best mirror of the heart and mind of the Christian community in the Roman Empire.

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More than an autobiography, The Confessions of St. Augustine is one of the most influential religious books in the Christian tradition. A great work of Western literature, it recalls crucial events and episodes in the author"s life, in particular, life with his devoutly Christian mother and his origins in rural Algeria in the mid-fourth century B.C.; the rise to a lavish life at the imperial court in Milan; his struggle with sexual desires; eventual renunciation of secular ambi tions and marriage; and recovery of his Catholic faith.

This intensely personal narrative--among the first in which selfanalysis was used to describe spiritual and emotional experiences--provides a detailed, classic recounting of one man"s internal struggles and religious conversion. Invaluable to students of religion and religious scholars, the book will be useful to anyone interested in the impact made by one of the foremost leaders in the development of Christian thought.

INTRODUCTION

  Augustine"s Testimony Concerning the Confessions

  Table of Significant Dates  

THE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT AUGUSTINE

  Book One               

  Book Two

  Book Three

  Book Four

  Book Five

  Book Six

  Book Seven

  Book Eight

  Book Nine

  Book Ten

  Book Eleven   

  Book Twelve         

  Book Thirteen