Augustine and the Fundamentalist’s Daughter

"For over thirty years we have read and heard Margaret Miles on Augustine, and her insights on this spectacular ancient have been compelling. Now we read Miles in Augustine's Confessions, and her self-disclosure is as compelling as Augustine's. This is a soul-rending book that opens the world of Augustine to the world of a fundamentalist's daughter. We have known for a long time that scholarly study reflects the life experience of the scholar, but Miles has taken this both to new heights and new depths. This book reveals both Augustine and the world of a fundamentalist, and it is simply stunning in its depth of disclosure and revelation--all what we have come to expect from Augustine and now from Miles."

-Richard Valantasis

Co-director, Institute for Contemplative Living, Santa Fe

Canon Theologian for Formation and Education, Diocese of the Rio Grande



"Augustine and the Fundamentalist's Daughter is a revealing, lively, and deeply engrossing conversation among many speakers, from Saint Augustine to modern poets to the multiple voices age and insight have given Professor Miles on her own journey from fundamentalism to wisdom. In this book, we meet the rich tapestry of life's defeats, fears, delights, and changes in the vignettes of memories narrated from either Augustine's new state of restful faith or Margaret Miles's hard-won place of gracefully honest reflection. Find a quiet room, pull up a chair, and listen to this superb scholar and teacher talk with her longtime mentor, Augustine, about life, love, sex, faith, and family. It is a conversation not to be missed."

-Mary Ann Tolbert

George H. Atkinson Professor of Biblical Studies

Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean

Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley