St Augustine of Hippo, the great Doctor of the Latin Church, was born at Thagaste in North Africa, in 354 CE. He was brought up as a Christian but he was soon converted to the Manichean religion. He also came under the influence of Neoplatonism. However, in 387 he renounced all his unorthodox beliefs and was baptised into Christianity. His surviving works have profoundly influenced Christian theology and the psychology and political theology of the West. R. S. Pine-Coffinwas born in 1917. He was educated at Ampleforth and Peterhouse, Cambridge. He died in 1992.
"""[Wills] renders Augustine's famous and influential text in direct language with all the spirited wordplay and poetic strength intact."" -""Los Angeles Times"" ""[Wills's] translations . . . are meant to bring Augustine straight into our own minds; and they succeed. Well-known passages, over which my eyes have often gazed, spring to life again from Wills's pages."" -Peter Brown, ""The New York Review of Books"" ""Augustine flourishes in Wills's hand."" -James Wood ""A masterful synthesis of classical philosophy and scriptural erudition."" -""Chicago Tribune"""