The Confessions of Saint Augustine

Saint Augustine’s classic autobiography exploring his journey from sin to sainthood—with an Introduction and an Afterword by Martin E. Marty and a Foreword by Elizabeth Block

“It could be said that all roads of Christian Latin literature lead to [Augustine].”—Pope Benedict

For over fifteen centuries, Saint Augustine’s Confessions have inspired and encouraged devoted readers worldwide. “Every vain hope,” recounts Saint Augustine of his introduction to philosophy, “became empty to me, and I longed for the immortality of wisdom.” Hailed by Pope Benedict XVI as “the greatest Father of the Latin Church . . . a man of passion and faith, of high intelligence and untiring pastoral zeal,” Augustine tells the story of his remarkable life. From his days of devil-may-care debauchery to saintliness, from traveling the ancient world to taking the vows of an ascetic life, his gripping biography intertwines with his insights of endless wisdom. In his epic journey—at once exceptional and profoundly human—every person finds a mirror for perfection and the consolation of real hope.

In this modern translation of the immortal classic, scholar, poet, and novelist Rex Warner faithfully renders Augustine’s vision and with consummate skill transposes into modern, readable English all the beauty, power, and drive that have made the Confessions a classic of Western culture.Rex Warner was a Professor of the University of Connecticut from 1964 until his retirement in He was born in 1905 and went to Wadham College, Oxford, where he gained a ‘first’ in Classical Moderations, and took a degree in English Literature. He taught in Egypt and England, and was Director of the British Institute, Athens, from 1945 to 1947. He has written poems, novels and critical essays, has worked on films and broadcasting, and has translated many works, of which Xenophon’s History of My Time and The Persian Expedition, Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War, and Plutarch’s Lives (under the title Fall of the Roman Republic) and Moral Essays have been published in Penguin Classics.

Martin Marty, one of today’s most respected theologians, is professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, where the Martin Marty Center has been founded to promote public religion endeavors. His more than fifty books include Modern American Religion. He is a winner of the National Book Award and was the first religion scholar to receive the National Humanities Medal.