Confessions

Confessions by St Augustine of Hippo, translated by Edward B Pusey, 197 pages

The Confessions of St Augustine, written at the end of the fourth century, is a landmark of Western culture.  Often imitated - it's the reason Rousseau and De Quincey, amongst others, wrote "Confessions" - the original is unmatched in both poetry and profundity.

Given its epochal significance, it is easy to neglect the extent to which Augustine's prayerful contemplation of his own life combines psychological acuity with a deep awareness of the movement of grace.  The autobiography follows the author's life through a dialectic of conversions - to Neo-Platonism, to skepticism, to Manichaeism, then finally to Catholicism - his heart "restless until it rests in You".  For Augustine, complex philosophical and theological questions are inextricably entangled with lived experience.

Edward Pusey, the translator of this edition, was one of the leading figures of the Oxford Movement (and, incidentally, an enemy of Benjamin Jowett).  His somewhat archaic English, deliberately echoing the King James Bible, is likely to be an obstacle to some, but plentiful alternative translations exist.