Publisher Description
After the conversion of St. Paul on the road to Damascus, the dramatic conversion of St. Augustine—as he himself tells it in his Confessions—is the most significant conversion story in Christian history.
Augustine’s experience speaks to his dilemma that many people have understood when counting the cost of converting to Christ. He had come to intellectual certainty about the truth of Christianity but he could not embrace it in faith. “The way of the savior attracted me greatly,” he wrote, “but I was reluctant to pass through the straight and narrow gate…I was weak and chose the easier way, and for this single reason my whole life was one of inner turbulence and listless indecision. I had found the pearl of great price; but I hesitated to sell all that I had to buy it.”
After a monumental struggle—not unlike Jacob wrestling with the Angel—Augustine hears the voice of a child chanting over and over again “take up and read…I snatched up the apostle’s book, opened it and read the paragraph on which my eyes first fell…At that moment there was infused in my heart the light of full certainty and all the gloom of doubt vanished away.”
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About the Authors
Saint Augustine (354–430), a philosopher and theologian, was born in the city of Tagaste, the present day Souk Ahras, Algeria. A Latin Father and Doctor of the Church, he is one of the most important figures in the development of Western Christianity. His works, including The Confessions, are still read around the world.
Zondervan, part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, is a
world leading Bible publisher and provider of Christian communications. For
more than eighty years, Zondervan has delivered transformational Christian
experiences through its bestselling Bibles, books, curriculum, academic
resources, and digital products. The company’s products are sold in multiple formats,
worldwide in more than sixty countries, and translated into nearly two hundred
languages.
Max McLean founded and is artistic director of Fellowship for Performing Arts, a New York City–based producer of live Christian theater. McLean adapted, produced, and starred in The Screwtape Letters, a play based on the book by C. S. Lewis. His stage adaptation of Lewis’ The Great Divorce launched its national tour in late 2013. McLean also is the narrator of The Listener’s Bible.