Confessions

Agustine, Bishop of Hippo Regius in Roman North Africa, penned this epistle to his God in the year 401 A.D., enumerating his sins, of flesh, of mind, and of spirit, and confessing a lifetime of spiritual anguish and doubt, as well as expressing his gratitude for his eventual conversion. The son of a Roman African family of modest means, Augustine studied and taught philosophy and rhetoric, and lived the profligate life of an educated young Roman until his conversion to Christianity at the age of 33. Men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty billows of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, and pass themselves by. Never one to pass himself by, Augustine's relentless examinations of his deeds, his thoughts, his experience of the phenomenal world, and the depths of his soul, helped to form the backbone of Catholic thought for centuries, and are still widely studied by religious scholars throughout the world. Includes a biography of Augustine written especially for this edition.