Although Augustine's "Confessions" has been translated many times, it is not exaggeration to say that Sister Maria Boulding's translation is "of a different level of excellence from practically anything else on the market" (Rowan Williams, Bishop of Monmonth).

No other part of the Hebrew Scriptures, aside from the Psalter and sections of the prophet Isaiah, captured the interest and aroused the attention of the early Church as did the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis. Augustine of Hippo, the early Latin Church's profoundest scholar, devoted three treatises to these chapters. The first two -- On Genesis: A Refutation of the Manichees and his Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis -- are early works. The third and longest -- The Literal Meaning of Genesis -- was produced at the height of Augustine's maturity and has been ranked with his...