Now, Henry Chadwick, an eminent scholar of early Christianity, has given us the first new English translation in thirty years of this classic spiritual journey. Chadwick renders the details of Augustine's conversion in clear, modern English. We witness the future saint's fascination with astrology and with the Manichees, and then follow him through scepticism and disillusion with pagan myths until he finally reaches Christian faith. There are brilliant philosophical musings about Platonism and the nature of God, and touching portraits of Augustine's beloved mother, of St. Ambrose of Milan, and of other early Christians like Victorinus, who gave up a distinguished career as a rhetorician to adopt the orthodox faith. Augustine's concerns are often strikingly contemporary, yet his work contains many references and allusions that are easily understood only with background information about the ancient social and intellectual setting. To make The Confessions accessible to contemporary readers, Chadwick provides the most complete and informative notes of any recent translation, and includes an introduction to establish the context.

The religious and philosophical value of The Confessions is unquestionable--now modern readers will have easier access to St. Augustine's deeply personal meditations. Chadwick's lucid translation and helpful introduction clear the way for a new experience of this classic.

About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

In today's world, it is often difficult to take the road less traveled--a road where one's religious beliefs and moral convictions are uncompromising. Early in his life, Pastor Artur Pawlowski decided to follow the Lord, no matter the cost. Years later, at an Easter celebration in his church, he finally grasped the price Christians often pay for their decision to follow after God.

Refusing to close the church doors during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pawlowski stood his ground that particular holy day when a Health Inspector and numerous officers attempted to interrupt his service. After he shouted, Get Out repeatedly, the officials retreated, allowing the worship service to resume. But unbeknownest to Pastor Artur, a clip of this heated exchange went viral after being posted to social media. Within hours, the video gained the attention of millions worldwide who shared his frustration with the unreasonable regulations and mandates.

Ultimately, Pawlowski was arrested on a rainy highway in what resembled a circus act. He was imprisoned for 51 days, with much of it being held in solitary confinement. This book documents the events leading up to that arrest and the lonely days in prison where his faith was challenged like never before. Be inspired as you learn of the many blessings that resulted from his imprisonment, including answered prayers and life-changing conversions by inmates. His story is a beacon of hope for all.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Early in her career, Elaine Pagels changed our understanding of the origins of Christianity with her work in The Gnostic Gospels. Now, in the culmination of a decades-long career, she explores the biggest subject of all, Jesus. In Miracles and Wonder she sets out to discover how a poor young Jewish man inspired a religion that shaped the world.

The book reads like a historical mystery, with each chapter addressing a fascinating question and answering it based on the gospels Jesus's followers left behind. Why is Jesus said to have had a virgin birth? Why do we say he rose from the dead? Did his miracles really happen and what did they mean?

The story Pagels tells is thrilling and tense. Not just does Jesus comes to life but his desperate, hunted followers do as well. We realize that some of the most compelling details of Jesus's life are the explanations his disciples created to paper over inconvenient facts. So Jesus wasn't illegitimate, his mother conceived by God; Jesus's body wasn't humiliatingly left to rot and tossed into a common grave--no, he rose from the dead and was seen whole by his followers; Jesus isn't a failed messiah, his kingdom is a metaphor: he lives in us. These necessary fabrications were the very details and promises that electrified their listeners and helped his followers' numbers grow.

In Miracles and Wonder, Pagels does more than solve a historical mystery. She sheds light on Jesus's enduring power to inspire and attract.

The why of Charlie Strobel's life, which was devoted to helping those without support systems and homes to call their own, was a simple belief that we are all poor and we are all worthy of love.

The Kingdom of the Poor is the story of the people and experiences that led him to this understanding and inspired him to live his life accordingly.

There are many editions of the writings of St. Francis, and biographies about him, but here in one volume are both, plus the complete text of the late medieval work, The Little Flowers, which did more to establish the legend of the man than any other work. This Paraclete Giants edition includes the complete Road to Assisi, Paul Sabatier's ground-breaking and foundational biography of the saint, first published in French in 1894 and re-issued and expanded in 2002; the complete Francis in His Own Words: The Essential Writings; and The Little Flowers, thus offering the best introduction to St. Francis yet available between two covers. Other Paraclete Giants include The Complete Julian of Norwich and The Complete Introduction to the Devout Life, both translated and introduced by Fr. John-Julian, OJN.

This translation of Augustine's most popular work was done by Maria Boulding and is considered of a different level of excellence from practically anything else on the market (Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury).

The Confessions of Saint Augustine is considered the all-time number one Christian classic. Augustine undertook his greatest piece of writing with the conviction that God wanted him to make this confession. The Confessions are, in fact, an extended poetic, passionate, intimate prayer. Augustine was probably forty-three when he began this endeavor. He had been a baptized Catholic for ten years, a priest for six, and a bishop for only two. His pre-baptismal life raised questions in the community. Was his conversion genuine? The first hearers were captivated, as many millions have been over the following sixteen centuries. His experience of God speaks to us across time with little need for transpositions. This new translation masterfully captures his experience.

A repackaged edition of the revered author's spiritual memoir, in which he recounts the story of his divine journey and eventual conversion to Christianity.

C. S. Lewis--the great British writer, scholar, lay theologian, broadcaster, Christian apologist, and bestselling author of Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many other beloved classics--takes readers on a spiritual journey through his early life and eventual embrace of the Christian faith. Lewis begins with his childhood in Belfast, surveys his boarding school years and his youthful atheism in England, reflects on his experience in World War I, and ends at Oxford, where he became the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. As he recounts his lifelong search for joy, Lewis demonstrates its role in guiding him to find God.

Sister, Sinner chronicles the dramatic rise, disappearance, and near-fall of Aimee Semple McPherson, America's most famous woman evangelist.

On a spring day in 1926, Aimee Semple McPherson wandered into the Pacific Ocean and vanished. Weeks later she reappeared in the desert, claiming to have been kidnapped. A national media frenzy and months of investigation ensued. Who was this woman?

America's most famous evangelist, McPherson was a sophisticated marketer who used spectacle, storytelling, and the newest technology--including her own radio station--to bring God's message to the masses. Her innovations brought Pentecostalism into the mainstream, paved the way for televangelists, and shaped the future of American Christianity. Her Angelus Temple in Echo Park, Los Angeles, can be called the first megachurch. Her Foursquare Church continues, with more than eight million faithful around the world.

But after her disappearance, as crowds gathered at the water's edge, people asked: Was McPherson everybody's saintly sister, or a con-artist sinner? The story of what happened next--sex scandals, religious persecution, legal shenanigans, the seemingly unshakable faith of thousands of followers, and the race to cover it all--runs through the center of Claire Hoffman's thrilling Sister, Sinner.

A riveting journey into the rise of popular religion in America and life in early Hollywood, and told with the flavor of the period's noir mysteries, this is an unforgettable story of an iconic woman, largely overlooked, who changed the world.

Complete edition of the Story of a Soul by Saint Therese of Lisieux, translated by Thomas Taylor. This edition includes over 288 footnotes, and many additional letters, counsels, and prayers, creating a study edition for readers to better understand St. Therese's 'little way' to deepening a relationship with God.

Read with an open heart, this book is helpful to read again and again at various stages of life.

To me it seems that humility is truth. I do not know whether I am humble, but I do know that I see the truth in all things.

No student of thought should be without this historic book. This edition is provided in a slim volume with full text at an affordable price.

Perhaps more than any other figure in Christian history since Jesus Christ, Saint Francis of Assisi has captured our imagination, for his is a story of extreme self-sacrifice, of love to God and man. How could this wealthy, handsome youth cast away all the advantages that were his by birth and choose instead a career of poverty and humility? How could he attract members of all strata of society to his mission? And how, when his order became established throughout Europe, could he renounce great personal power and humbly continue his life's work?

Here is Francis, from his twelfth-century boyhood to his life as a missionary roaming the very boundaries of the known world. Here too are the men and women who followed him--Bernard de Quintavalle, the rich businessman; Peter Cathanii, the lawyer; Brother Giles, the farmer's son; Lady Clare; and so many others--all drawn together by the personal magnetism and humble faith of their leader, all re-created by bestselling novelist Elizabeth Goudge against a rich medieval canvas.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - THE CLASSIC BESTSELLER WITH MORE THAN 2 MILLION SOLD

[Merton] is an incredible source of light and comfort and humor. - Anne Lamott

The famous autobiography of one of the most acclaimed faith leaders and theologians of our time.

Credited as being the first major Catholic book to achieve widespread popularity in America, Thomas Merton's spiritual evolution has captivated millions since its publication. Based on Merton's personal journals, The Seven Storey Mountain tells of the growing restlessness of a brilliant and passionate young man, who at the age of twenty-six, takes vows in one of the most demanding Catholic orders--the Trappist monks.

At the Abbey of Gethsemani, the four walls of my new freedom, Thomas Merton struggles to withdraw from the world, but only after he has fully immersed himself in it. At the abbey, he wrote this extraordinary testament, a unique spiritual autobiography that has been recognized as one of the most influential religious works of our time. In this remarkable book, readers will gain insight into:

- How spiritual fulfillment leads to the deepest form of self-discovery

- The true redemption that comes from forgiving ourselves and past sins

- The sacred power of vulnerability and relinquishing control

- How to navigate our desires, discouragements, possibilities, and limitations

- How our cumulative lived experiences broaden our cultural acceptance

- What it truly means to be human in the world

Arriving on the heels of the devastation of WWII, Merton's compellingly passionate words touched a society longing for direction and a true sense of purpose. This work continues to inspire and motivate both present day believers and non-believers alike, through intimate discussions of the power of the human spirit during times of suffering and immense self-doubt. While Merton's story is uncommon, his experiences are universal - touching those of all backgrounds and identities. The immediacy of his words and reflections bring solace to an anxious world.

Translated into more than twenty languages and for readers of Jennie Allen, Brené Brown, and Flannery O'Connor, this spiritual journey towards enlightenment exposes the trials and tribulations that give our lives their ultimate meaning.

The more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt. The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers most.