Confessions of a Sinner

You've had The Big Read, now here comes The Big Think.

St Augustine of Hippo was born at Thagaste in North Africa, in AD 354. The son of a pagan father and a Christian mother, he was brought up as a Christian. In 375 he was converted to the Manichean religion, but after agonising inward conflict, he renounced all his unorthodox beliefs and was baptised in 387. He then returned to Africa and formed his own community, but in 391 he was ordained priest against his wishes, and five years later he was chosen bishop of Hippo. 
 
For 34 years St Augustine lived in community with his cathedral clergy. He died in 430 as invading Vandals were besieging Hippo. 
 
 
R.S. Pine-Coffin, a Roman Catholic, was born in 1917. He was educated at Ampleforth and Peterhouse, Cambridge. He died in 1992.

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization, and helped make us who we are. 
 
One of the greatest explorations of sin, epiphany and redemption ever written, the Confessions of Saint Augustine continue to shape our ideas with their passionate declaration of the life-changing power of faith.

City of God

One of the greatest theological works, and is one of the most influential Christian documents.

City of God is an enduringly significant work in the history of Christian thought, by one of its central figures 
 
Written as an eloquent defence of the faith at a time when the Roman Empire was on the brink of collapse, this great theological and philosophical work by St Augustine, bishop of Hippo, examines the ancient pagan religions of Rome, the arguments of the Greek philosophers and the revelations of the Bible. Pointing the way forward to a citizenship that transcends worldly politics and will last for eternity, City of God is one of the most influential documents in the development of Christianity. 
 
Translated with Notes by Henry Bettenson with an Introduction by G. R. Evans

St Augustine of Hippo was the great Doctor of the Latin Church. Born in North Africa in AD 354, he was brought up as a Christian and at 16 went to Carthage to finish his education. Until 387, Augustine followed the Manichean religion and founded his own school of rhetoric in Rome. After his baptism, he returned to Africa and lived in the community he formed there until his death in 430. His written output there includes Confessions and City of God, among over 113 books. 
 
Henry Bettenson (1908-1979) (translator) was educated at Bristol University and Oriel College, Oxford. He taught Classics for 25 years at Charterhouse 'Documents of the Christian Church' and 'Early Christian Fathers'. 
 
Dr Gill Evans (introducer) teaches medieval intellectual history, medieval theology and ecumenical theology in the Faculty of History at Cambridge. She has published widely in this area.

St Augustine, bishop of Hippo, was one of the central figures in the history of Christianity, and City of God is one of his greatest theological works. Written as an eloquent defence of the faith at a time when the Roman Empire was on the brink of collapse, it examines the ancient pagan religions of Rome, the arguments of the Greek philosophers and the revelations of the Bible. Pointing the way forward to a citizenship that transcends the best political experiences of the world and offers citizenship that will last for eternity, City of God is one of the most influential documents in the development of Christianity.

The Confessions

The finest editions available of the world's greatest classics from Homer to Achebe, Tolstoy to Ishiguro, Proust to Pullman, printed on a fine acid-free, cream-wove paper that will not discolour with age, with sewn, full cloth bindings and silk ribbon markers, and at remarkably low prices. All books include substantial introductions by major scholars and contemporary writers, and comparative chronologies of literary and historical context.

Augustine’s spiritual autobiography is not only a major document in the history of Christianity and a classic of Roman Africa: it also marks a vital moment in the history of Western culture. As Augustine explains how, when and why he became the man he is at the time of writing, he probes the great themes which others were to explore after him – faith, time, truth, identity and self-understanding – in a detail unmatched in ancient literature. 
 
Illustrated with vivid portraits of friends, family, colleagues and enemies, The Confessions provides a remarkably candid account of the passage from a life of sensuality and superstition to a genuine spiritual awakening. The result is a powerful narrative of one man’s religious journey which continues to shape the way we write and behave today.

Saint Augustine

Books by Saint Augustine

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