Fire on the Altar: Setting Our Souls Ablaze through St. Augustine's Confessions

by C. C. Pecknold

In Fire on the Altar, renowned Augustinian theologian C. C. Pecknold provides readers with a genuinely Catholic understanding of Augustine’s Confessions. Setting out to free readers from liberal and individualistic distortions of Augustine’s anthropology, Pecknold argues that a religious and liturgical understanding of Augustine’s famous work unlocks a more Catholic approach. Strikingly, Fire on the Altar demonstrates that Augustine’s anthropology is essentially built around the concept of an “altar” at the center of the soul and culminates in the Eucharist setting fire to our hearts and minds. Examining Augustine’s orientation to the altar, Pecknold

Our duty to worship God
The “religious” nature of our sins
What we offer to God through our hearts
The kind of worship that the mind can make
The vicarious sacrifices that we can make for the love of neighbor
The intercession of saints
The importance of friends and a social understanding of the person
The place of bishops
The sacraments
The Blessed Virgin Mary
The nature of conversion
And the mission of the Catholic Church

Dr. Pecknold’s unique companion to a classic of western civilization shows that the entire Confessions coheres around the Sacrifice of the Mass, revealing that it is only by union with the fire of divine charity on the Church’s high altar that we can make a sacrifice acceptable to God.

160 pages, Hardcover

Published September 5, 2025

Reviews

[David Selsby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good book. I know about Dr. Pecknold from his affiliation with Patrick Deneen, Gladden Pappin, and Adrian Vermeule on their website The Postliberal Order (back in the day it was the best thing on the internet). I've read several of Deneen's books, Vermeule's "Common Good Constitutionalism," and so I thought it only right I should read Pecknold's book (he has another book, published in 201o, "Christianity and Politics," which I have not read).

It's a high compliment of "Fire on the Alter," that it's inspired me to re-visit St. Augustine's classic. I bought the Maria Boulding translation of "The Confessions" a few years ago and made it about a quarter of the way through. About eight months ago I bought the Sheed translation and made it about halfway through. It's a challenging book for grown-ups, and I've lacked the conviction to stay with it. Dr. Pecknold's book is keyed to the Bouding translation, so the next time I attempt "The Confessions," I'll go back to that translation.

"Fire on the Alter" is clearly written, engaging, and inspiring. Dr. Pecknold's theme of making the heart an alter for a proper sacrifice to God is elegantly argued throughout. The manner in which Dr. Pecknold goes through "The Confessions" book by book and connects his thesis to the ideas of St Augustine is enlightening (thus making me to want to re-read "The Confessions)." The way Dr. Pecknold writes is accessible, and I appreciate how he connects his thesis to dilemmas we all face in the 21st century, notably his mediations on sin and false religion.

I strongly recommend this book and do plan on reading "Christianity and Politics" as soon as I get through some other books I have in the queue.