The greatest Western philosopher for 1000 years and with a dominant influence on the whole history of Christian theology, Augustine was born in what is now Algeria in AD 354. From his conversion in 386 to his death in 430, he remained a great teacher, church statesman and polemical theologian. His "Confessions" stands among the great classics of spiritual autobiography, and his "City of God" remains in print over 1500 years after he wrote it. First published in Farrar's "Lives of the Fathers" in 1889, "The Life of St Augustine" is now made available on its own. F.W. Farrar (1831-1903) was a teacher at Harrow and Marlborough and later Dean of Canterbury.