Confessions (Penguin Classics) This instant

Saint Augustine's "Confessions" is a work that is both intensely personal and purposeful, an intensely individualistic and intimate baring of the soul that is also intended to be a universal call to the Christian faith. Augustine confesses his sinful life where he is consumed both by worldly desires and false religions, but after long struggle finds himself saved by the grace of God. This is an evangelical formula that existed before Augustine and certainly exists today, but there is a certain rawness of emotion, an intensity and humanity that makes the Confessions powerful even today.

The first nine books are simply outstanding, as the conversion quite literally from sinner to saint takes us through the intense pain and remorse Augustine feels about his transgressions and the utter joy he feels upon being saved. I found myself constantly amazed that this work is some 1600 years old, as it was easy to relate to Augustine, who is no more or less a "lost soul" than most of us. I imagine there are few readers who do not visualize themselves when they read Augustine's confessions about his temptations and transgressions. Nicely interwoven in this tale is the story of his mother Monica, who suffers as she witnesses her son's slide into sin, finally having her prayers that he would be saved answered shortly before her death.

The final four books, however, seem out of place. From an "introduction to Christianity", the reader is suddenly plunged into a graduate course on theology, as Augustine dives into issues that are clearly of intense interest to him--memory, time, creation, etc.--but are of questionable interest to the reader who has just followed him through 200 pages of deeply personal, heartwarming confession and conversion. Though not uninteresting at an intellectual level, they seem to add little to the overall work (and are the reason why I give this classic 4 stars despite the excellence of the first 3/5 or so of the total work).

All throughout, however, the translation (by the curiously named Mr. Pine-Coffin) is excellent, although there were times (particularly in the latter 2/5 of the book) where some commentary or notes would have been helpful to the reader. Also, a minor stylistic issue, but personally I found it a bit distracting to have all the biblical references (many which are obvious to people familiar with the Bible, and likely irrelevant to those not familiar with the Bible) in italics; I assume this was not a feature in the original text. Overall, however, even though the last part of the book is a bit of a chore to get through, Saint Augustine's Confessions are an intense, fascinating read striking both for its naked intimacy and for its calculated appeal to the common man that can be felt even today.Get more detail about Confessions (Penguin Classics).