Anyone with a passing familiarity with St. Augustine will know that he is a giant in the history of Christian thought, and the average person might well be a little daunted by the idea of getting to know him.

“He had left peace, stillness, contemplation, the vision of heaven, and he had come into pain, grief, confusion, perplexity, disappointment, and debate.” So Newman imagined St. Peter’s experience of coming down from the Mount of the Transfiguration.