This book is a biography of St. Augustine from birth through his midlife composition of “The Confessions.” Fox, an avowed atheist, nonetheless goes into great theological detail, also describing Augustine’s flirtations with the Epicureans, Pythagoreans, Manichaeans, and Neo-Platonists, following his early years of hedonism and before finally settling into a life of celibate priesthood. The book also details the Church’s schism with the Donatists in North Africa and ends with his time preaching as Bishop of Hippo. It relates Augustine’s contributions to Christian theology from his ideas on faith, God’s grace, and St. Paul’s epistles, to his coining of the term “original sin”. It is a deeply personal telling of his conversion, relying greatly on Augustine’s own sermons, letters, and prayers, while detailing the controversies of the day in the early Christian Church at large.
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