Augustine's Invention of the Inner Self

"In this book, Phillip Cary argues that Augustine invented the concept of the self as a private inner space - a space into which one can enter and in which one can find God." "Augustine invents the inner self, Cary argues, in order to solve a particular conceptual problem. Augustine is attracted to the Neoplatonist inward turn, which located God within the soul, yet remains loyal to the orthodox Catholic teaching that the soul is not divine. He combines the two emphases by urging us to turn "in then up"--To enter the inner world of the self before gazing at the divine Light above the human mind."--Jacket.