Oddparts Press

Introduction

Written in the closing years of the 4th century, St. Augustine’s Confessions is a masterpiece of theology and introspection. This work formed much of the basis of Christian thought for the later years of the Roman Empire, the early Middle Ages, and was brought back to the forefront after the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century.

Saint Augustine was born in North Africa and grew up in the area we now know as Tunisia, a vital part of the Roman Empire. Spending his teen years in the clutches of a non-Christian cult, he eventually converted to Christianity and became one of the greatest thinkers of the late Empire. Indeed, even today, he is considered perhaps the greatest of the post-apostolic Christian writers.

His influence on Christian thought is so profound and widespread, and the magnitude of Augustine’s effort is so overwhelming that a Chinese friend of mine, when told by a mis-informed non-Christian colleague, “If you want to become a Christian, you must write a confession like this book,” was stunned and left hopeless.

Thankfully, none of us have to achieve this greatness to be loved by God. A simple confession of the fact that we sin and our expression of our need for Christ is all that is needed. And that thought, in itself, is perhaps one of the greatest legacies of Augustine.

- Brian L. Boley