Confessions

Augustine's classic work, originally published between 397 and 400 CE, has appealed to readers far beyond the Christian world and been translated a number of times. Ruden (visiting scholar, Brown Univ.; Paul Among the People) seeks to make her translation different by not looking at the text from the perspective of later theological issues and sticking as closely as possible to the sense of the original Latin. This approach does not seem to make much difference in the first nine books—the autobiographical part—when compared to other translations. However, Ruden's format works very well in the final three books, which are highly philosophical, with meditations on memory and time. Ruden seeks to bring to the contemporary English reader the same experience the original Latin reader would have had. To do this, she often uses two or more words to translate one of Augustine's, since his original language has nuances not easily conveyed by one word. Footnotes give references to the biblical allusions in the text and explain contemporary controversies.