One can only hope that Wills will expand his project and give us the Testimony whole.
An exacting—and exciting—new translation and discussion of the first book of Augustine’s Confessiones by an accomplished and prolific stylist and classicist (Venice: Lion City, below, etc.).
It’s hard to claim too much for Augustine’s Confessiones, the first great work of spiritual introspection. At once the crown of antiquity and the foundation of the Middle Ages, Augustine and his “Testimony” (as Wills prefers to translate it) have profoundly shaped the way we understand ourselves, whether or not we live inside the Christian story from which his self-understanding grew. Wills, whose brief biography of Saint Augustine (not reviewed) was published by Viking in 1999, has provided a translation of the first book of the Confessiones, to be followed by translations of three more of the thirteen total. The themes of this deceptively slender volume are various and fascinating: the dialectic of grace and sin in the growing soul; the stages of development from infancy to childhood; the acquisition of speech; the nature of language; the philosophy of education. It’s a rich repast, and, with the guidance Wills supplies through a rhythmically vibrant translation, always sensitive to the nuances of the original Latin, notes on important passages, and a full commentary that grapples with everything from Latin rhetoric and Trinitarian theology to Chomskyan linguistics and Wittgensteinian philosophy, a nourishing one. As an added treat, Wills appends a translation of Augustine’s charming and epistemologically significant dialogue “De Magistro” (“The Teacher”). Wills brings new light to the Latinless and conveys the structural beauty of Augustine’s long sentences (often broken up by translators) as never before. If there is sometimes a price to pay (in the famous first chapter of Book I, for example, where the traditional rendering, “our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee” becomes “our heart is unstable until stabilized in you”), the gains far outweigh the losses.
One can only hope that Wills will expand his project and give us the Testimony whole.Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2001
ISBN: 0-670-03001-5
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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