A preminent Father of the Church, Augustine's towering intellect molded the thought of Western Christianity for a thousand years after his death. He wrote profusely, and among his many works considered here are three spiritual classics; The Confessions, City of God, and The Trinity. Here the reader meets Augustine the convert, the philosopher and psychologist, the preacher and Scripture scholar, the historian and theologian. Benedict Groeschel distills Augustine's many writings and presents the essence of the ideas within. Further he places the man and his writings in historical perspective. No commentary however skilled can take the place of reading for oneself Augustine's words of unparalleled power 'Late have I loved Thee, O Beauty, so hile it is true that there is no substitute for encountering the test first hand, it is also certain that for most people that encounter will be an excursion into a foreign land. Often many centuries and numerous barriers of language, customs, philosophy, and style separate us from the writings of bygone sages. To come to that point where we can understand the horizon of the author, we must be taught something about the historical context, the literary style and the thought forms of the age, for instance. That is why we have included in this series extensive commentary on the text. The commentary is alternated with the text throughout the books, so that one can be taught, then experience the writings firsthand, over and over as one moves deeper into the text. At that point, the horizon of the reader meets that of the author aided by the expert guidance of the editor of each book, who suggests not only what the text might mean, but also how it might be made part of our lives., yet so new!
