Augustine's Confessions
Contributions by Paul Bloom, Gareth B. Matthews, Scott MacDonald, Nicholas Wolterstorff Yale University, Paul Helm, Ishtiyaque Haji, Garry Wills author of Lincoln at Gett, Sir Richard Sorabji Wolfson College, Oxford Edited by William E. Mann
Publication date:
28 March 2006Length of book:
252 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersDimensions:
236x164mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9780742542310
Unique in all of literature, the Confessions combines frank and profound psychological insight into Augustine's formative years along with sophisticated and beguiling reflections on some of the most important issues in philosophy and theology. The Confessions discloses Augustine's views about the nature of infancy and the acquisition of language, his own sinful adolescence, his early struggle with the problem of evil, his conversion to Christianity, his puzzlement about the capacities of human memory and the nature of time, and his views about creation and biblical interpretation. The essays contained in this volume, by some of the most distinguished recent and contemporary thinkers in the field, insightfully explore these Augustinian themes not only with an eye to historical accuracy but also to gauge the philosophical acumen of Augustine's reflections.
William Mann has assembled essays from a handful of veteran truth-seekers, all of who have been perplexed in some way by what perplexes Augustine in his Confessions. Mann's volume aims to engage with Augustine on a number of open questions: the acquisition of a first language, the motive force of evil, the fleeting reality of time, the ethics of grief, the desire for God, the power of memory, the limits of responsibility, the communicability of the Word. As an ensemble, this collection is certain to exercise the analytical imagination.