Let in the Light

Name: Let in the Light
Brand: Unknown
SKU: 9780231205016
Price: 56.99 NZD
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Learning to Read St. Augustine's Confessions

By James Boyd White

Summary

Let in the Light by James Boyd White offers a fresh and profound approach to St. Augustine's Confessions, a cornerstone of Western cultural and religious thought. White initially found the translated text uninspiring until he engaged with it in its original Latin, where its depth and originality became clear. This book provides an accessible guide for readers to explore the Latin text line by line, even without prior knowledge of the language, revealing the nuances and cultural context that illuminate Augustine's work. It invites readers to rediscover this classic as a living, urgent, and vibrant text.
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Format: Paperback / softback

$56⁹⁹

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Let in the Light

$56⁹⁹

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for readers interested in religion, spirituality, classical literature, and Latin language, this book will appeal to those wishing to deepen their understanding of St. Augustine’s Confessions beyond translation. It suits scholars, students, and thoughtful readers ready to engage closely with a foundational Christian text and appreciate its linguistic and historical richness.

James Boyd White invites readers to join him in a close and engaged encounter with St. Augustine’s Confessions. He offers an accessible guide to reading the text in Latin—even for those who have never studied the language—guiding readers to experience the immediacy, urgency, and vitality of Augustine’s writing.

Description

St. Augustine's Confessions is heralded as a classic of Western culture. Yet when James Boyd White first tried to read it in translation, it seemed utterly dull. Its ideas struck him as platitudinous and its prose felt drab. It was only when he started to read the text in Latin that he began to see the originality and depth of Augustine's work.

In Let in the Light, White invites readers to join him in a close and engaged encounter with the Confessions in which they will come to share his experience of the book's power and profundity by reading at least some of it in Augustine's own language. He offers an accessible guide to reading the text in Latin, line by line—even for those who have never studied the language.

Equally attuned to the resonances of individual words and the deeper currents of Augustine's culture, Let in the Light considers how the form and nuances of the Latin text allow greater insight into the work and its author. White shows how to read Augustine's prose with care and imagination, rewarding sustained attention and broader reflection.

Let in the Light brings new life to a classic work, guiding readers to experience the immediacy, urgency, and vitality of Augustine's Confessions.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised for its insightful and passionate approach, Let in the Light is celebrated by scholars such as Wendy Doniger and David Jasper. Doniger highlights the book's ability to instruct on reading foreign texts and translations, calling it brilliant on topics of Latin, Augustine, and the meaning of life. Jasper commends White's careful, loving reading, noting the book's unique capacity to make Augustine's words resonate and live with their full human complexity and love. The book is seen as a rare, slow-reading journey into a major literary and spiritual work.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780231205016

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 12 April 2022

Country: United States

Imprint: Columbia University Press

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 384

Collections

James Boyd White Non-Fiction Religion & Spirituality

About the Author

James Boyd White is the L. Hart Wright Professor of Law Emeritus and professor of English emeritus at the University of Michigan and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His many books include The Legal Imagination: Studies in the Nature of Legal Thought and Expression (1973) and, most recently, Keep Law Alive (2019). He is considered the founder of the law and literature movement.