Description: Maria Boulding's Confessions translation "reads like a novel"--Bishop Robert Barron "Augustine's Confessions has been much translated: but it is no exaggeration to say that Sister Maria Boulding's version is of a different level of excellence from practically anything else on the market."Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
Brief description: Aurelius Augustinus (354-430) was born and raised in Roman North Africa. His mother Monica provided a Catholic upbringing in his modest home town of Thagaste. However, Augustine preferred the liberties available to young men of his time and place. He also excelled at school. As a student at Carthage he joined the Manichean religious sect. After teaching rhetoric at Carthage and then Rome, he rose to become the official spokesperson for the Roman Emperor in Milan. Amidst a crisis of faith and doubt, Augustine read the writings of Neo-Platonic philosophers and listened to the preaching of Bishop Ambrose of Milan. Resigning from imperial service, the 32 year old Augustine began an intensive study of scripture. He was baptized by Ambrose at the Easter Vigil in April of 387. A year later he returned to Africa and within several years was ordained to serve the diocese of Hippo (present day Annaba, Algeria), as priest and then bishop. Charged with the pastoral care of his people, and confronted by the major doctrinal controversies in the early Church, Augustine employed his significant rhetorical skills and his genius for writing to compose some of the foundational texts of Christian theology in the Latin West. These include his Confessions, Teaching Christianity, The City of God, The Trinity, Expositions of the Psalms-to name just a few of his many books. We also have almost 300 of his letters to a wide variety of correspondents, and 400 of his sermons.
Review Quotes: "Maria Boulding's translation is clear and crisp. It respects Augustine's language concerning inclusiveness, to my knowledge the first to do so, and uniquely highlights the poetic elements embodied in Augustine's work. I see Boulding's work to be the English translation of The Confessions for years to come." -- Edmund Hill, O.P. "Augustine Scholar"