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