This detailed discussion of Augustine's journey toward God, as it is described in the first six books of the Confessions, begins with infancy, moves through childhood and adolescence, and culminates in youthful maturity. In the first stage, Augustine deals with the problems of original innocence and sin; in the second, he addresses a pear-stealing episode that recapitulates the theft of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden and confronts the problem of sexuality with which he wrestles until his conversion; and in the third, he turns toward philosophy, only to be captivated successively by...

This book continues Carl G. Vaught's thoroughgoing reinterpretation of Augustine's Confessions--one that rejects the view that Augustine is simply a Neoplatonist and argues that he is also a definitively Christian thinker. As a companion volume to the earlier Journey toward God in Augustine's Confessions: Books I-VI, it can be read in sequence with or independently of it. This work covers the middle portion of the Confessions, Books VII-IX. Opening in Augustine's youthful maturity, Books VII-IX focus on the three pivotal experiences that transform his life: the Neoplatonic vision that causes...

This is the final volume in Carl G. Vaught's groundbreaking trilogy reappraising Augustine's Confessions, a cornerstone of Western philosophy and one of the most influential works in the Christian tradition. Vaught offers a new interpretation of the philosopher as less Neoplatonic and more distinctively Christian than most interpreters have thought. In this book, he focuses on the most philosophical section of the Confessions and on how it relates to the previous, more autobiographical sections. A companion to the previous two volumes, which dealt with Books I-IX, this book can be read either...

The series seeks to introduce new readers -- and reintroduce old -- to works that integrate literary greatness with a serious consideration of theological issues or religious themes. Each work features an introduction by a major writer or scholar, an interview with the author, and a bibliography, making each book perfectly suited for classroom use.

Vaught identifies the place where religion and philosophy meet - and he does so in constant conversation with Augustine, Hegel, Heidegger, and Jaspers. Specifically, Vaught argues that both religious and philosophical discourse assume one of four modes: figurative, analytical, systematic, or analogical. Vaught contends that any real innovation occurs by moving from one mode of discourse to another. Vaught also explores the relationship among space, time, and place as well as mystery, power, and structure. Remarkably, Vaught shows how the category of place serves as the intersection. In the...