“What Augustine Didn’t Confess” (Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program)

The Confessions of Saint Augustine is the oldest autobiography in the Western world. But no autobiogra­pher tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We know enough about Augustine to fill in the gaps in his most important book, and he turns out to be more complex and interesting than we suspected. Can he still be called a saint?

James O’Donnell is University Professor of Classics and immediate past Provost at Georgetown University. He is a classicist who spe­cializes in the history and culture of the Roman world, from 100 BCE to 600 CE, but he has written and spo­ken widely as well on the cultural consequences of information tech­nologies ancient and modern. His most recent books are Avatars of the Word: From Papyrus to Cyber­space, Augustine: A New Biography, and The Ruin of the Roman Empire.

Image Courtesy of Indiana University.