Confessions of Saint Augustine

Confessions of Saint Augustine Carefully reviewing Saint Augustine's Confessions is a fascinating historical excursion to what it was like to be a believer -- four hundred years after the death of Christ -- who had lived a sinful life but was greatly moved by the example of Jesus Christ and converted to Christianity. In this book review, the writing of Saint Augustine will be critically analyzed by looking at the intent of the author, the themes he presents, and the impact of the narrative on a person living in 2012.

In Book I Augustine begins with strong praise for the Lord, but he also is asking questions that are common to people who have been raised under pagan beliefs but have recently come to believe in Him; perhaps he isn't truly sure of his standing with God. He wonders, is there any particular room in which it would be easier to relate to and contact God? He asks fifteen questions in the first two paragraphs.

This does not sound like a man who is totally sure that he is on the right track. He asks ten questions in the third paragraph alone.

The sense that a careful reader gets from the first chapter is that Augustine is throwing himself down on the altar of forgiveness; yes he is full of praise, but he is begging for mercy too because he admits to lies, to vanity, to "barbarism" and other "vileness." Book II is like a long, long soliloquy into Augustine's bad behavior as though he wants to be certain God knows he was a miserable, selfish, sinning soul.

It is also a book in which he admits that his father didn't seem to really care what a scoundrel he had become (his father was pagan; his mother a devout Christian). If a 21st century man truly wanted to repent for his wrongdoing during his adolescent years, he would not be likely to present a long involved personal narrative, presenting all the reasons he has come to understand the need to accept the love and forgiveness God offers.

But Augustine was living in an era when there were few distractions as there are today, and so he is able to sit down it seems and write a letter to God, a long, involved letter he surely believes that others will read along the way into the future. Maybe that is the whole point; it is so beautifully written and so deeply personal, perhaps Augustine wants to convert others through the quality of his narrative.

Hence, this could this be seen as a promotional or marketing tool for God -- 1st century style. Christian believers would certainly welcome the thought that God was working through Augustine. His theme is seemingly not limited to ancient times at all; modern people love to grieve as well as Augustine did in Book III. Wallowing in pity is not a new game, as readers discover when reading Book III.

Earlier he writes that he loved grieving and in Book IV he admits that he found "a little refreshment" in "groaning and tears." He seems to need to keep reminding God that he enjoyed misery but now he is in his 40s and knows better. Apparently he does have that need, with so much guilt locked up inside. He certainly believes that by admitting he was a fool and a sinner over and over he will be forgiven.

He does believe this and given the fact that Christ came and died so sins could be forgiven, it seems to fit well into his consciousness. An alert reader could surmise that this document was written not just as a letter to God but as a letter to humanity over the subsequent years. It is easy to believe that St. Augustine knew his manuscript would survive for many centuries because he was aware that the quality of his writing surpassed most of what was being written during his era.

He offers beautifully crafted prose in the process of explaining that when he first went to Carthage his main occupation was making love, interrupting professors' lectures, going to the theatre and generally wasting time with frivolity. Any writer can provide descriptive narrative embracing the times when he or she was evil and inconsiderate; but the way in which Augustine describes his life and times is absolutely unique and compelling.

"Thou has pierced our hearts with Thy charity, and we carried Thy words as it were fixed in our entrails," he writes in Book IX. Here's a man who admits to having sat in the "chair of lies" and yet expects "…merciful Lord" to pardon him. It might occur to a reader that -- short of digging into scholarly references to try and understand all that Augustine is trying to convey -- St.

Augustine is actually asking everyone in the future who reads his lengthy and sometimes esoteric manuscript to confess honestly and expect to be forgiven.

He offers a hint that this might be true in Book X when he writes: "This is the fruit of my confessions of what I am, not of what I have been, to confess this, not before Thee only, in a secret exultation with trembling, and a secret sorrow with hope; but in the ears also of the believing sons of men…partners in my mortality, my fellow-citizens, and fellow pilgrims" (Book X).

Augustine had joined the Manichaean church because he believed that there were two souls, one was evil working through the body, and one was good, uncorrupted and pure. But in.