Fortress Press

"With the modern world's new appreciation for the fragility of this planet and the first papal encyclical calling all Christians to an 'ecological spirituality,' the time is right to return to classical texts and see how foundational thinkers like St. Augustine of Hippo embraced and elucidated the goodness of creation. Jared Ortiz accordingly offers an unmatchable work by showing how creation is richly understood throughout Augustine's Confessions. Ortiz rightly shows how Augustine's creation is God's primal and persistent invitation to all, the place where the human person encounters the divine, and the fruitful source of the church's consecration."

"Surely this is now the go-to book for scholars wishing to understand and appreciate Augustine's Confessions. Jared Ortiz not only ably defends his thesis, but he also marvelously synthesizes and incorporates the best insights of numerous other commentators, manifesting a rare combination of historical acumen and theological profundity. The result is a balanced and serene study that makes plentiful room for the liturgical, participatory, Christological, ecclesial, and Godward structures of the Confessions, undergirding and enriching its pattern of creation/recreation in the Word. Simply put, Ortiz invites readers of the Confessions into the eschatological Way of Life that is Christ."