Considered by many to be the first autobiography/memoir ever written, Confessions is a retrospective view of a life challenged by uncertainty, doubt, human frailty, and earthly desires. Augustine discovers and cherishes a deeply personal relationship with his God, all while describing the day-to-day dealings of his life in the fading, corrupt days of the Roman Empire.

Saint Augustine, (354-430), was born in North Africa, in what was then the Numidian province of the Roman Empire. A precocious youth, he spent many years questioning his existence, the nature of God, and the world as he perceived it, until accepting the Catholic faith, eventually becoming Bishop of the Roman-African city of Hippo. He wrote voluminously, with much of his insightful writing on spirituality surviving to the present day. His masterpieces include The Confessions, the first autobiographical text extant, and City of God, a response and challenge to his tumultuous times (the disintegration of the Roman Empire). Generally regarded as one of the founders of modern Christian theology, Augustine's work remains an essential component of the Western philosophical canon.