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Confessions. Augustine of Hippo
Читать онлайн.Название Confessions
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isbn 9781681922850
Автор произведения Augustine of Hippo
Жанр Словари
Издательство Ingram
confessions
confessions
Augustine of Hippo
OUR SUNDAY VISITOR PUBLISHING DIVISION
OUR SUNDAY VISITOR, INC.
HUNTINGTON, IN 46750
Except where noted, the Scripture citations used in this work are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible — Second Catholic Edition (Ignatius Edition), copyright © 1965, 1966, 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Text of the Confessions and “Augustine’s Testimony Concerning the Confessions,” are adapted from the translation of Albert C. Outler, Ph.D., D.D., available through the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. First published in 1955. (Original Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 55-5021.)
Every reasonable effort has been made to determine copyright holders of excerpted materials and to secure permissions as needed. If any copyrighted materials have been inadvertently used in this work without proper credit being given in one form or another, please notify Our Sunday Visitor in writing so that future printings of this work may be corrected accordingly.
Copyright © 2018 by Our Sunday Visitor, Inc. Published 2018.
Preface and Archbishop John Francis Noll biography by Michael R.
Heinlein, copyright © 2018 by Our Sunday Visitor.
Introduction by Joseph Pearce, copyright © 2018 by Joseph Pearce.
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ISBN: 978-1-68192-284-3 (Inventory No. T1966)
eISBN: 978-1-68192-285-0
LCCN: 2018940352
Cover and interior design: Lindsey Riesen
Interior art: Illustration of Saint Augustine by Caroline Baker Mazure
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A contemporary selection of Catholic classics, curated for the modern reader by Our Sunday Visitor in the spirit of our founder, Archbishop John Francis Noll.
Contents
Preface by Michael R. Heinlein
Introduction by Joseph Pearce
Augustine’s Testimony Concerning the Confessions
Preface
Saint Augustine of Hippo
By Michael R. Heinlein
The complex and multifaceted life of Saint Augustine has an enduring witness and universal appeal for those who seek to follow Christ. The Confessions is his autobiography, covering the early years of his life through middle age. We learn a great deal about his struggles in the battle for grace and virtue, as well as the difficulties associated with searching for the truth in the midst of secular, sinful influences.
Augustine’s whole life can be understood as a quest for love and truth. Born in Thagaste in northern Africa, in 354, Augustine pursued a classical education. Studying rhetoric in Carthage, he fell head over heels in love with wisdom in the study of philosophy, particularly of the Greeks. He desired to share what he learned and became a teacher of rhetoric and philosophy, establishing schools and holding various professorships in Carthage, Rome, and Milan. But while his professional success increased, his interior life became more and more dissatisfying.
Exposed to Christianity as a child through his mother and her deep faith, Augustine was not baptized or committed to the Christian faith until he was much older. Before becoming a Christian, he even spent time involved with the heretical Manichaeans. His experience with the sect left him thirsting for more.
Like so many of us, Augustine walked a long and winding road that led him finally to embrace the Faith. This meant reconciling his previous life — in which he even fathered a child out of wedlock and named him after the pagan god Baal — with a new life in Christ.
Augustine models for us what conversion looks like: it is a gradual turning toward and moving ever closer to Christ, but it is never turning back. For Augustine, conversion to Christianity even meant resigning his professorship in rhetoric. He wanted to live a good life, but because he knew it was only possible with God’s help, he gave God his all and left behind his worldly life in search of an eternal