Since his retirement as Archbishop of Canterbury and his return to academic life
(Master of Magdalene College Cambridge) Rowan Williams has demonstrated a massi
ve new surge of intellectual energy. In this new book he turns his attention to
St Augustine. St Augustine not only shaped the development of Western theology,
he also made a major contribution to political theory (City of God) and through
his Confessions to the understanding of human psychology.
Rowan Williams has
an entirely fresh perspective on these matters and the chapter titles in this ne
w book demonstrate this at a glance - 'Language Reality and Desire', 'Politics a
nd the Soul', 'Paradoxes of Self Knowledge', 'Insubstantial Evil'. As with his p
revious titles, Dostoevsky, The Edge of Words and Faith in the Public Square thi
s new study is sure to be a major contribution on a compelling subject.