St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397, was one of the most important figures of the fourth century Roman empire. This volume explores the enormous impact of Ambrose on Western civilization, and examines the complexity of his ideas and influence; as a poet, ascetic, mystic and politician. Ambrose combines an up-to-date account of his life and work, with translations of key writings. Ramsey's volume presents a comprehensive and accessible insight into a relatively unexplored persona and argues that Ambrose has influenced the Western world in ways as yet unrealized.

St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397, was one of the most important figures of the fourth century Roman empire. This volume explores the enormous impact of Ambrose on Western civilization, and examines the complexity of his ideas and influence; as a poet, ascetic, mystic and politician. Ambrose combines an up-to-date account of his life and work, with translations of key writings. Ramsey's volume presents a comprehensive and accessible insight into a relatively unexplored persona and argues that Ambrose has influenced the Western world in ways as yet unrealized.

A companion to John Cassian's well-received Conferences in the Ancient Christian Writers series, the Institutes, known also as The Institutes of the Cenobia and the Remedies for the Eight Principle Vices, is the first written work of John Cassian, who had an immense influence on Western monasticism, and, by extension, on Western civilization.

The Institutes is made up of two sections. In the first, Cassian deals with the institutes and rules of Egyptian monasteries, including monastic garb and prayer. The second part, in eight books, treats the eight principle vices and describes how to...

Soliloquies is a work from Augustine's early life, shortly after his conversion, in which are visible all the seeds contained in his future writings. Here we see Augustine as a philosopher, a thinker and a budding theologian.

Final volume of the long-awaited translation of one of Augustines classics and a great work in Christian literature. Newly translated by Maria Boulding, O.S.B., whose masterful translation of Augustines Confessions in the same series has been praised as being of a different level of excellence from practically anything else in the market (Bishop Rowan Williams, Monmouth, England). As the psalms are a microcosm of the Old Testament, so the Expositions of the Psalms can be seen as a microcosm of Augustinian thought. They recapitulate and focus the experiences of Augustines personal life, his...

Saint Augustines ten homilies on the First Epistle of John are among his greatest and most influential works. John and Augustine both develop the same central theme love --and in these homilies Augustine uses Johns epistle as a point of departure for exploring the meaning and implications of love with his customary profundity, passion and analytic rigor. As with John, a context of dissension and conflict within the Christian community (the Donatist breakaway from Catholic unity), gives his preaching a tone of urgency and poignancy. Anyone who reads these homilies, universally viewed as...