Confessions (Nelson's Royal Classics) [Hardcover]

St. Augustine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 1999

The premier line of Classic literature from the greatest Christian authors. The finest in quality and value.

Never underestimate the power of prayer. As Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, watched as her son and grandson were being baptized on that bright easter morning in A.D.387, she knew her lifelong prayers had been answered. Even though in his Confessions, Augustine wrote about his early life as an example of how sin grows and works within a person, he was looking back over those early years with the vision of a bishop of the church. Monica could not have known that those prayers would have presented to the church a man who would impact Christianity with the strength that Augustine did.

Editorial Reviews

Review

''In plain words--if you can accept them as plain--Christianity is the life and death and resurrection of Christ going on day after day in the souls of individual men and in the heart of society. It is this Christ-life, this incorporation into the Body of Christ, this union with His death and resurrection as a matter of conscious experience, that St. Augustine wrote of in his Confessions.'' -- Thomas Merton

''The book is almost literally the man and the man is an individual, and that is what has kept the work fresh and powerful these many centuries. Augustine the individual transcends systems, philosophies, theologies. He meets the reader as he met God, as an individual.'' --National Review --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Language Notes

Text: English
Original Language: Latin

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (August 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785242252
• ISBN-13: 978-0785242253
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #267,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #20 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( A ) > Augustine, Saint

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life Changing, February 23, 2011

By 

Dr. Bojan Tunguz (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Confessions of Saint Augustine (Optimized for Kindle) (Kindle Edition)

I first came across St. Augustine's "Confessions" when I was a freshman in college. It was a monumental experience in terms of both the content of his writing and the freshness and relevance of his writing style. After re-reading them again recently, I am still struck with how contemporary the book feels. Aside from many of its 4th century particularities, the concerns that St. Augustine had and the way he frankly and honestly dealt with them could be lifted from almost any contemporary tell-all autobiography. The biggest exception is the fact that "Confessions" is a quintessentially and irreducibly a religious text, and in an age when religious considerations are largely pushed towards the margins of their life stories, it is refreshing and uplifting to see what would a life look like for someone who took them very seriously and committed himself to reorganizing one's whole life around the idea of serving God wholly and uncompromisingly. "Confessions" is a very accessible text, and for the most part it does not deal with theological and philosophical issues. The exception is the latter part of the book, which are almost exclusively dedicated to those topics. You may want to skip those at the first reading, but I would encourage you to read them nevertheless. Maybe the very inspiring and uplifting story of St. Augustine's conversion to Christianity can lead you into deeper considerations about your faith or the meaning of life in general. I cannot think of a better introduction to those topics than "Confessions," nor of a better guide than St. Augustine.

55 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Translation, August 30, 2000

By 

D. S. Heersink "D. Stephen Heersink" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Confessions (Hardcover)

I won't recount all the excellent reasons for reading this remarkable book. It's not a part of the Western Canon for nothing! It's a seminal work (autobiography) in a seminal field (Patristics)worth reading regardless of religious orientation, including none. What makes THIS particular version so exciting is that it is eminently readable and still quite stylized. Chadwick's eloquent translation caputes not only Augustine's ideas and thoughts, but equally important, his rhetorical skills. This alone justifies the purchase of this work. The philosophical nuances that, ironically, have entered twentieth-century thought again are very clearly articulated in Chadwick's translation. Other translations are likely to obfusicate what Chadwick elucidates. Read this great work by a great translator. I am confident you'll return to it again and again (even if you disagree with the Doctor).

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Most Influential Books of All Time, April 15, 2011

By 

Fr. Charles Erlandson (Tyler, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Confessions of Saint Augustine (Optimized for Kindle) (Kindle Edition)

The Confessions of St. Augustine is one of the most important literary and spiritual classics in Western civilization. It is a profound and brilliant spiritual autobiography in which Augustine paints a picture of himself, "warts and all." Augustine's honesty about himself is matched by the beauty of his expression, but what is most moving about The Confessions is Augustine's engagement with God. Throughout, you see a soul which God is drawing to Himself, as well as a soul that gradually responds to the grace of God in its life. "The Confessions" is a rare book written by a towering intellect that is matched with a searching and probing heart. The psychological aspects of the book seeming startling contemporary - and not like a book from the 5th century! "The Confessions" is a book that may be read as devotional literature, autobiography, theology, and literature.

As Augustine discovered, "our heart is unquiet until it rests in you."

Actually, The Confessions are addressed to God, and this gives them a sense of immediacy and intimacy, as if God has been watching over Augustine his entire life. One of the most compelling aspects of The Confessions is that we are able to see the gradual conversion of St. Augustine's heart. His isn't an instantaneous conversion, as conversions are often portrayed, but a series of steps on the path to God. Along the way we are privileged to experience with Augustine some of the turning points in his spiritual pilgrimage. One of these is the famous story in which Augustine hears a voice say, "Pick it up and read," provoking him to read Romans 13:13-14, after which light flooded his heart and his face was peaceful.

It has been said that The Confessions are "the West's first autobiography," and the influence of The Confessions on Western literature is incalculable. It is a book that continues to speak to us, more than 1500 years after its original writing and a book that is worth wrestling with. Augustine's meditations on memory, the senses, time, eternity, and heaven and earth (which make up Books X-XII) are also worth reading and contain not only some profound theology but a theology intermingled with prayers and praise to God.