Augustine's Invention of the Inner Self The Legacy of a Christian Platonist

This book argues that Augustine invented or created the concept of self asan inner space--as space into which one can enter and in which one can find God.This concept of inwardness, says Cary, has worked its way deeply into theintellectual heritage of the West and many Western individuals have experiencedthemselves as inner selves. After surveying the idea of inwardness inAugustine's predecessors, Cary offers a reexamination of Augustine's ownwritings, making the controversial point that in his early writings Augustineappears to hold that the human soul is quite literally divine. Cary goes on tocontend that the crucial Book 7 of the Confessions is not a historical report ofAugustine's "conversion" experience, but rather an explanation of hisintellectual development over time.

Dr. Phillip Cary is Director of the Philosophy Program at Eastern College in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, where he is also Scholar-in-residence at the Templeton Honors College.