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Several years before his death, Augustine of Hippo reviewed his published works, commenting on his purpose in writing each, and correcting, from his present perspective, the mistakes he noticed. Inspired by Augustine's Retractationes, Miles's Recollections and Reconsiderations undertakes a similar project, a critical review of almost fifty years of her publications. Rereading and rethinking in chronological order effectively bonds life and thought into a corpus, a body of work with consistent values and interests. Such a review would be an illuminating project for any longtime scholar/student--both rewarding and humbling, an exercise in self-knowledge. Informed by a lifetime of studying Christian traditions, Miles concludes by describing both endemic problems with Christianity, and what she sees is its essence and beauty.
About the author
Margaret R. Miles is emerita professor of historical theology at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California. Her books include Reading Augustine on Memory, Marriage, Tears, and Meditation (2021), The Long Goodbye (2017), Augustine and the Fundamentalist's Daughter (2011), A Complex Delight: The Secularization of the Breast, 1350-1750 (2008), and The Word Made Flesh: A History of Christian Thought (2005).
