Robin Lane Fox’s dense and satisfying biography does not attempt to provide an exhaustive account of St Augustine of Hippo’s life, but focuses on the period in which he wrote his Christian masterpiece, Confessions, and the impact that his conversion to faith had on his philosophy.

Lane Fox assumes that his reader will have a sound grounding in Augustine’s work – it seems unlikely that anyone buying this book would not – and so his methodology is an unashamedly highbrow one, seeking to illuminate both the man’s thoughts and life. He does not offer a hagiography of Augustine, discussing his sexual exploits in great detail – both heterosexual and, Lane Fox implies strongly, homosexual – and seeking to explore how a life of casual sin might usefully cede into an anguished state of divine contemplation. Lane Fox, himself no believer, has produced a comprehensive book likely to become the standard work on Augustine’s Confessions in the future.

Augustine: Conversions and Confessions is published by Allen Lane (£30). Click here to order a copy for £24