Augustine Gets a Makeover in New Translation

Augustine's Confessions is not an under-translated book. A reader limiting herself to modern translations could avail herself of the English vicar J. G. Pilkington's late 19th-century effort; the Methodist theologian Albert Outler's; the Anglican priest and Cambridge theologian Henry Chadwick's; the Oxford professor E. B. Pusey's; the poet, author and lawyer Frank Sheed's (my personal favorite); or any number of others. Translating the Confessions at this point is not a matter of lending a hand to stranded students with poor Latin but rather a critical intervention. In the case of the classicist Sarah Ruden, it is a rescue mission.