Augustine: The Confessions (Greece and Rome Live) - Softcover

Gillian Clark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1904675034 ISBN 13: 9781904675037

Publisher: Liverpool University Press, 2005

Synopsis

Augustine's 'Confessions', written at the close of the fourth century CE, is a highly significant text in the history of European culture. Augustine explains just how and why he came to abandon a successful career and the personal enjoyments of a largely secular existence to follow a life of prayer and study, leading to a true comprehension of God and the Bible. The avowed approach of this introductory book is to 'historicise' - to set Augustine's own experiences of religion, philosophy and Christian faith against the long-standing political, cultural and religious traditions of the classical world. Late antiquity saw the transformation of the classical heritage and its transmission by Christian authors. Augustine's ideas about how texts may be presented and read, how people respond to written and spoken language, find resonance in recent critical theory.The world in which Augustine lived, the structure, style and purpose of the Confessions, and the problems of rhetoric and truth posed by its author's personal search for himself are all scrutinised in this lucid introductory account. The volume also offers a useful guide to further reading.

About this title

About the Author

Gillian Clark is Professor of Ancient History in the University of Bristol. Her current areas of research include a collaborative commentary on Augustine City of God: (see www.augustinecityofgod.net), and in more general terms, Greek and Latin patristics in relation to Graeco-Roman social and intellectual history.

Edition details

• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1904675034
• ISBN 13: 9781904675037
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 104