num_pages: 592
description: Augustinus (354-430), son of a pagan, Patricius of Tagaste &amp; his Xian wife Monica, while studying in Africa to become a rhetorician, plunged into psycho-philosophical doubts in search of truth, joining for a time the Manichaeans. He became a grammar teacher at Tagaste &amp; lived much under the influence of Monica &amp; his friend Alypius. About 383 he went to Rome &amp; soon after to Milan as a teacher of rhetoric, being now attracted by the Sceptics &amp; Neo-Platonists. His studies of Paul's letters with Alypius &amp; the preaching of Bishop Ambrose led in 386 to his rejection of sensuality &amp; to his famous conversion from mixed beliefs to Xianity. He returned to Tagaste &amp; there founded a religious community. In 395/6 he became Hippo's bishop &amp; was henceforth engrossed with duties, writing &amp; controversy. He died there during the successful Vandal siege. From Augustine's large output the Loeb Classical Library offers the autobiographical Confessions (2 vols); On the City of God (7 vols), which unfolds God's action in world history, &amp; propounds the superiority of Xian beliefs over pagan in adversity; &amp; a selection of Letters which are important for the study of ecclesiastical history &amp; his relations with other theologians.
language: English
title: Select Letters
titlecomplete: Select Letters
genres: Theology
ratings_count: 20
publisher: Harvard University Press