The Confessions of St. Augustine - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1937913708 ISBN 13: 9781937913700

Publisher: Catholic Book Publishing, 1997

Synopsis

Confessions of St. Augustine is--after the Bible and The Imitation of Christ--the most widely translated and highly esteemed book in Christian history. Translated by Rev. J.M. Lelen, Ph.D., this edition is published in a prayer book format, offering a participatory reading and prayer experience based on St. Augustine's confessions of his youthful errors. With a brown Dura-Lux cover, this classic book will make a meaningful personal resource or gift.

About this title

Review:

In Naxos's new audio recording of The Confessions of St Augustine, British actor Mark Meadows offers a compelling, earnest interpretation of one of the most influential works in Christian theology and Western literature. Meadows's delivery is measured and impassioned, and forwards an engrossing sense of urgency. St Augustine's Confessions was written to be read aloud, and this recording makes it clear how involving and immersive it is to listen to Augustine's timeless words. Born in Hippo in North Africa in 354 CE, Augustine lived during a critical juncture in the history of Christianity. With a brilliant mind and access to the leading thinkers of the day, Augustine wrestled with several conflicting worldviews in the early years of his life. His narration recalls how he was raised a Christian before becoming attracted to Manichaeism in his teens; he also explored the neo-Platonic philosophies of Plotinus before returning to Christianity in his thirties. He wrote Confessions a decade later; in it, he reflects on the sinful and lustful choices he made during the early decades of his life. He also details his internal struggles with key tenets of Christian thought, from the natures of evil, beauty, and time to the experience of original sin, grace, and redemption. Drawing from R. S. Pine-Coffin's respected 1961 translation, Meadows animates the Confessions with an accessible and contemporary cadence. Augustine's words sound as relevant and involving today as they were nearly 1700 years ago. The nearly fifteen hours of recording are logically divided into ten-minute segments that are clearly titled and easy to navigate. In an era when we are deluged with information and often too eager to rush to judgement, Augustine s Confessions offers a refreshing, engrossing contemplation of the deeper questions around human nature. Meadows's clear, conversational exploration includes careful pauses that allow for reflection, providing an opportunity to internalise and wrestle with the sincere and brilliant questions raised in this classic work. --Kristen Rabe, Foreword

About the Author:

Augustine was one of the first Christian ancient Latin authors with a very clear vision of theological anthropology. He saw the human being as a perfect unity of two substances: soul and body. In his late treatise On Care to Be Had for the Dead, section 5 ( he exhorted to respect the body on the grounds that it belonged to the very nature of the human person.[64] Augustine's favourite figure to describe body-soul unity is marriage: caro tua, coniunx tua — your body is your wife. Initially, the two elements were in perfect harmony. After the fall of humanity they are now experiencing dramatic combat between one another. They are two categorically different things. The body is a three-dimensional object composed of the four elements, whereas the soul has no spatial dimensions. Soul is a kind of substance, participating in reason, fit for ruling the body. Augustine was not preoccupied, as Plato and Descartes were, with going too much into details in efforts to explain the metaphysics of the soul-body union. It sufficed for him to admit that they are metaphysically distinct: to be a human is to be a composite of soul and body, and the soul is superior to the body. The latter statement is grounded in his hierarchical classification of things into those that merely exist, those that exist and live, and those that exist, live, and have intelligence or reason.Like other Church Fathers such as Athenagoras, St. Augustine "vigorously condemned the practice of induced abortion", and although he disapproved of an abortion during any stage of pregnancy, he made a distinction between early abortions and later ones. Nevertheless, he accepted the distinction between "formed" and "unformed" fetuses mentioned in the Septuagint translation of Exodus 21:22-23, a text that, he observed, did not classify as murder the abortion of an "unformed" fetus, since it could not be said with certainty that it had already received a soul (see, e.g., De Origine Animae 4.4).

About this edition

• Publisher: Catholic Book Publishing
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 1937913708
• ISBN 13: 9781937913700
• Binding: Imitation Leather
• Number of pages: 448