Confessions (Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century) [Hardcover]

Saint Augustine (Author), Maria Boulding (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1996 | Series: Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century

Maria Bouldings version is of a different level of excellence from practically anything else on the market. She has perfected an elegant and flowing style.

Rowan Williams

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Confessions of Saint Augustine is considered the all time number one Christian classic. It is an extended poetic, passionate, intimate prayer. Augustine was probably forty-three when he began this endeavor. He had been a baptized Catholic for ten years, a priest for six, and a bishop for only two. His pre-baptismal life raised questions in the community. Was his conversion genuine? The first hearers were captivated, as many millions have been over the following sixteen centuries. His experience of God speaks to us across time with little need of transpositions. This new translation masterfully captures his experience.

So old and yet so new! This contemporary translation of Augustine's Confessions was like meeting an old friend and touching perennial truth, despite the passing years. Augustine was surely larger than life--and this translation matches it.

Richard Rohr, o.f.m.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The latest volume in the series "Augustine for the Twenty-First Century," which will offer the first complete translation of all of Augustine's works into English, adds yet another vision of the Confessions to the many already available. The fourth-century bishop of Hippo in North Africa wrote this extended prayer, the first true autobiography, to confess his sins and God's goodness. It has been a standard of spiritual literature ever since. Boulding (Marked for Life, Abingdon, 1996), a Benedictine nun of Stanbrook Abbey, England, offers us a fine, smooth translation that is a pleasure to read. Hers is also the first English translation to use inclusive language. There is a complete index, which greatly enhances the usefulness of this particular volume. For all readers.?Augustine J. Curley, Newark Abbey, N.J.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

There is certainly no shortage of English translations of Augustine's Confessions; but given its undeniable place as a classic of Christian literature, there is perhaps room for one more. Boulding's translation brings Augustine's extended prayer to life with a sensitivity to his passion and poetry that should make the text more accessible to contemporary English readers. Boulding includes an introduction and a chronology that place Augustine in context and guide readers through the sometimes perplexing structure of the book. There is no doubt that Augustine continues to reach contemporary readers across the 16 centuries that separate them from his writing and its context. This new translation should contribute to the clarity with which that reach is extended. Steve Schroeder

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: New City Press (November 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156548083X
• ISBN-13: 978-1565480834
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #791,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #59 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( A ) > Augustine, Saint

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking translation, May 18, 2008

By 

J. Gorman (Waukesha, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Confessions: Works of Saint Augustine, a Translation for the 21st Century: Part 1- Books (Paperback)

This is a fresh and wonderful translation of this Christian classic. Sr Boulding is herself a fine poet capable of touching turns of phrase such as, [Book I,5]

"Who will grant me to find peace in you? Who will grant me this grace, that you would come into my heart and inebriate it, enabling me to forget the evils that beset me and embrace me my only good?"

Albert Outler (no mean wroughter of words himself) translates this passage in this way,

"Who shall bring me to rest in thee? Who will send thee into my heart so to overwhelm it that my sins shall be blotted out and I may embrace thee, my only good?"

The loss of the "thees" are of course helpful to the modern reader, but the use of "that you would come into my heart and inebriate it," is just, well, stunning.

One final comparison with Outler in the well-known passage in book ten:

Outler: "Belatedly I loved thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new, belatedly I loved thee. For see, thou wast within and I was without, and I sought thee out there. Unlovely, I rushed heedlessly among the lovely things thou hast made. Thou wast with me, but I was not with thee."

Boulding: "Late have I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new. Late have I loved you! Lo, you were within, but I outside, seeking there for you, and upon the shapely things you have made, I rushed headlong. I, mishappen."

Both use Augustine's marvelous play on the words "formosa" and "deformis" But Sr. Boulding's choice of shapely and misshapen retains Augustine's intentions and poetic voice, it seems to me.

This is a lovely work.

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the best translation I've found, February 7, 2007

By 

booktapester (Bethesda, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Confessions: Works of Saint Augustine, a Translation for the 21st Century: Part 1- Books (Paperback)

This Christian classic has touched me deeply. I read it the first time right after college, but recently picked it up again (thirty years later). I didn't remember a thing from the first reading.... I've been a Christian for many years, but find that this book is so fresh, with insights that are truly amazing. For this new read, I bought two different translations so that I could read both and compare when the meaning seemed obscure. I highly recommend the translation by Maria Boulding. It does a great job of staying true to his meaning, while expressing things in a way that speaks to the modern mind.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Confessions-St. Augustine, August 9, 2010

By 

Charles K. Campbell (Santa Fe, NM) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Confessions, Revised (The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century, Vol. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

This translation is used as the basis for the excellent teaching company course on St Augustine. I first read the confessions from my Harvard Classics. The reviewed translation was far better and every page has footnote references to scriptures quoted by St. Augustine. I was very pleased!