Augustine’s Doctrinal Writings: A Translation for the 21st Century (9 vols.)

by Augustine of Hippo; Roland J. Teske; Maureen Tilley; Boniface Ramsey

Publisher:

New City Press

, 1995–2019

Overview

New City Press is proud to offer the best modern translations available of Saint Augustine. Augustine’s writings are useful to anyone interested in patristics, church history, theology, and Western civilization.

In 1990, New City Press, in conjunction with the Augustinian Heritage Institute, began the project known as The Works of Saint Augustine, A Translation for the 21st Century. The plan is to translate and publish all 132 works of Saint Augustine, his entire corpus, into modern English. This represents the first time in which the works of Saint Augustine will all be translated into English. Many existing translations were often archaic or faulty, and the scholarship was outdated. The Works of Saint Augustine, A Translation for the 21st Century will be translated into 49 published books. To date, 43 books have been published by NCP containing 93 of his works. The complete Works of Saint Augustine will total 132 works in 49 volumes.

Key Features

• Provides modern translations of classic works
• Addresses relevant controversies and questions
• Includes extensive notes from editors and translators

Praise for the Print Edition

Augustine was surely larger than life and this translation matches him.

—Richard Rohr, O.F.M.

—Dr. Carol Harrison, University of Durham, England

Product Details

• Title: The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century
• Author: Augustine of Hippo
• Series: The Works of Saint Augustine
• Publisher: New City Press
• Resource Type: Collected Works
• Volumes: 9
• Pages: 4,563

Answer to Faustus, a Manichean

• Author: Augustine of Hippo
• Editor: Boniface Ramsey
• Translator: Roland J. Teske SJ
• Series: The Works of Saint Augustine
• Publisher: New City Press
• Pages: 468

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Written probably at the very end of the fourth century, the Answer responds to a certain Faustus, a Manichean bishop, who objects to the Old Testament and questions how Christians can claim it for themselves.

Augustine’s Answer to Faustus, a Manichean is the most extensive attack on the Manichean religion that the early Church produced. Since Augustine himself had been associated with Manicheanism for nearly a decade before his conversion, his writing displays an insider’s knowledge of Manichean teaching.

Augustine cites Faustus’ arguments at length, thus giving the reader a useful insight into the Manichean mentality. The Answer is valuable for its reasoned and still-relevant defense of Hebrew Scripture and of its patriarchs and prophets, and also for the opportunity that it gives Augustine to draw connections between the Old and the New Testaments and to show how, in Christian eyes, the latter is the fulfillment of the former.

Answer to the Pelagians I-IV

• Author: Augustine of Hippo
• Translator: Roland J. Teske, SJ
• Series: The Works of Saint Augustine
• Publisher: New City Press
• Pages: 2,239

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

What we call the Pelagian heresy actually took many forms, and had multiple proponents at different stages before it was officially condemned. Augustine, as bishop of Hippo, saw that these teachings were dangerous and set out to address them by explaining the true Church doctrine on these subjects. He first denounced the heresies verbally, in sermons and conferences. When a friend asked him to clarify the Christian doctrines contradicted by certain heresies, Augustine wrote down his rebuttal at length. Over time he wrote nearly a dozen distinct texts in direct answer to the various Pelagian heresies.

Arianism and Other Heresies

• Author: Augustine of Hippo
• Editor: John E. Rotelle, OSA
• Translator: Roland J. Teske, SJ
• Series: The Works of Saint Augustine
• Publisher: New City Press
• Pages: 520

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This volume contains six works of Augustine of Hippo, all dealing with the topic of heresy, along with two works by other authors to which Augustine is replying. Some of the works address the topic generally, such as Heresies, in which Augustine outlines the principal promoters and errors of 83 heresies from the apostolic era through his own lifetime. Others, such as Answer to an Arian Sermon and Answer to an Enemy of the Law and the Prophets, address specific heresies and how they diverge from the truth of Church teaching. The works span his time as bishop of Hippo.

Includes: Heresies, Memorandum to Augustine, To Orosius in Refutation of the Priscillianists and Origenists, Arian Sermon, Answer to an Arian Sermon, Debate with Maximinus, Answer to Maximinus, Answer to an Enemy of the Law and the Prophets.

Responses to Miscellaneous Questions

• Author: Augustine of Hippo
• Editor: Raymond Canning
• Translator: Boniface Ramsey
• Series: The Works of Saint Augustine
• Publisher: New City Press
• Pages: 301

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This volume contains three books: Miscellany of Eighty-Three Questions, Miscellany of Questions in Response to Simplician, and Eight Questions of Dulcitius.

The Miscellany of Eighty-Three Questions was compiled over the course of several years and deals with philosophical, theological and exegetical matters that had been raised in the religious community that Augustine founded and headed. Some of these matters are handled very briefly, some at great length. Augustine’s exegesis is particularly interesting.

The Miscellany of Questions in Response to Simplician was written at the request of the saintly bishop of Milan who followed Ambrose in that role. This work, in the form of two books, is crucially important for understanding Augustine’s theology of grace and how he arrived at his position on this issue, which is certainly his most important contribution to Western theology, but the questions are not limited to a discussion of grace.

Finally, The Eight Questions of Dulcitius includes responses to questions in which, uniquely, Augustine quotes himself at length.

The Donatist Controversy I

• Author: Augustine of Hippo
• Editors: Boniface Ramsey and David G. Hunter
• Translator: Maureen Tilley and Boniface Ramsey
• Series: The Works of Saint Augustine
• Publisher: New City Press
• Pages: 689

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Augustine’s writings against the members of the “Donatist” church in North Africa contain his mature thought on the nature of the sacraments, the morality of the clergy, and the importance of mercy and charity in maintaining church unity. This volume contains the first new English translations of Augustine’s writings against the Donatists in more than 100 years, and in the case of at least one writing there has never been an English translation until now. Augustine’s responses to conflicts within the North African church remain surprisingly relevant to contemporary crises in Catholicism.

This volume contains 8 works: The Catholic Way of Life and the Manichean Way of Life, The Two Souls, A Debate with Fortunatus, a Manichean, Answer to Adimantus, a Disciple of Mani, Answer to the Letter of Mani known as The Foundation, Answer to Felix, a Manichean, The Nature of the Good, and Answer to Secundinus, a Manichean.

The Manichean Debate

• Author: Augustine of Hippo
• Editor: Boniface Ramsey
• Translator: Roland J. Teske, SJ
• Series: The Works of Saint Augustine
• Publisher: New City Press
• Pages: 346

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Eight works countering the Manichean religion, three of which have never been translated into English. Augustine's writings on this subject provide a major source of information on and a fascinating look within a system of thought that during much of the third and fourth centuries challenged orthodox Christianity for dominance in the Roman Empire and beyond. Augustine addresses not only the Manichean understanding of the source and nature of evil, which furnished a basis for its intellectual attractiveness, but also the sects highly unusual customs and practices.

About Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) is one of the greatest thinkers and writers of the Western world. After he converted to Christianity he became bishop of Hippo in North Africa, where he was influential in civil and church affairs. His writings have had a lasting impact on Western philosophy and culture.