In Garry Wills's biography of Saint Augustine for the Penguin LivesPenguin Lives series, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author brilliantly documented the life of the great Christian thinker. His translations of passages of Saint Augustine's influential ConfessionesConfessiones were hailed as "sizzling" (Peter Brown, New York Review of BooksNew York Review of Books). James Wood, writing for the London Review of BooksLondon Review of Books declared, "Augustine flourishes in Wills's hand." Now, Wills has taken on a translation of the first of four books of the ConfessionesConfessiones, "Childhood."
Wills's broad-ranging and incisive discussion of the style, structure, and themes of "Childhood" brings a fresh perspective to this classic work, including the juxtaposition of Augustine's concept of childhood and the learning of language with the ideas of Noam Chomsky and current research. Beautifully designed and translated by "America's greatest living intellectual" (The American ProspectThe American Prospect), "Childhood" will be sought after by academics, Christians, and the general reader.
Translated by Garry Wills, author of the bestselling Penguin LivesPenguin Lives biography of Saint Augustine.
Aurelius Augustinus - more commonly "St. Augustine of Hippo," or simply "Augustine" - was a philosopher and theologian, and one of the most important figures in the development of Western Christianity. He framed the concepts of original sin and just war. Augustine was one of the most prolific Latin authors in terms of surviving works, and the list of his works consists of more than a hundred separate titles.
Augustine took the view that the Biblical text should not be interpreted literally if it contradicts what we know from science and our God-given reason. Many Protestants, especially Calvinists, consider him to be one of the theological fathers of Reformation teaching on salvation and divine grace.
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