The Four Rivers of Paradise

By Helen C. White The Four Rivers of Paradise tells of Hilary of Bordeaux, heir to a vast Aquitanian estate, loyal Roman citizen, and fledgling Christian. Anno Domini 404 is not an easy time to be any one of those things: Rome, in the city and across the empire, is in decline and disarray, preferring the idle amusements of intrigue and luxury to the strong pieties of verity, honor, and faith. As the fall of Rome at the hands of the barbarian Alaric, king of the Visigoths, appears ever more imminent, Hilary must learn for himself the difficulties of finding unity amidst division—amongst both his fellow Christians and Romans—and of bringing order out of chaos. And where, for Hilary, distractions from this task abound—from the beautiful Gaia, the mysterious Attis, the commanding Stilicho—reassurances abound all the more, thanks to none other than a certain Jerome of Bethlehem, Augustine of Hippo, and Innocent I, Christ’s own Vicar. Written with power, beauty, and real distinction, The Fou