Saint Augustine's Conversion: Confessions and Its Causes
This paper examines the multifaceted reasons behind Saint Augustine's conversion to Christianity, drawing primarily on his autobiographical work, the Confessions. Beginning with a biographical overview of Augustine of Hippo, the paper summarizes the key books of the Confessions and then analyzes the intellectual and moral barriers Augustine had to overcome — including his rejection of Manichaeism, his engagement with Neoplatonist philosophy, and his prolonged struggle between sexual desire and spiritual aspiration. The paper highlights the pivotal garden scene in Milan (386 AD), in which Augustine, prompted by a child's voice, reads Romans 13:13 and resolves to embrace Christianity, accept baptism, and abandon worldly ambitions. The paper concludes by reflecting on the Confessions as both a personal and theological document of enduring significance.
- Introduction: Thesis: conversion as spirit versus desire
- Augustine of Hippo: A Biographical Overview: Life, philosophy, and path to Christianity
- Summary of the Confessions: Book-by-book overview of Augustine's autobiography
- Reasons for Augustine's Conversion: Intellectual barriers, Neoplatonism, and Ambrose's influence
- The Garden Scene and Final Resolution: Milan garden, child's voice, and Romans 13:13
- Conclusion: Confessions as theological and historical record
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds its analysis in primary source material — Augustine's own Confessions — and supplements it with a scholarly secondary source (McCabe, 1902), giving the argument credible historical weight.
- It organizes Augustine's conversion into clear, sequential stages: intellectual doubt, philosophical influence (Neoplatonism), and the dramatic moral resolution in the garden, making a complex theological journey easy to follow.
- The paper avoids oversimplifying Augustine's conversion as a purely moral or emotional event, instead acknowledging the philosophical obstacles — the impossibility of conceiving immaterial existence and the problem of evil — that had to be resolved first.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of textual summary followed by thematic analysis. It first summarizes each book of the Confessions systematically, then zooms in on the "Reasons for Conversion" section to analyze the intellectual, philosophical, and moral forces at work. This move from description to analysis is a fundamental academic writing technique that shows mastery of source material before drawing interpretive conclusions.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a brief thesis framing conversion as a battle between sexual desire and spirit. A biographical section establishes Augustine's context. A book-by-book summary of the Confessions follows, providing the evidence base. The analytical core then traces Augustine's removal of two intellectual barriers (conceiving the immaterial; reading the Old Testament non-literally) through Neoplatonism and Ambrose's sermons. The garden scene serves as the climax and resolution. The conclusion broadens the significance of the Confessions as a theological and historical document.
Introduction
This paper explores the factors leading to Saint Augustine's conversion to Christianity, as recounted in his Confessions. This conversion is widely understood as the result of an ultimate battle between sexual desire and spiritual aspiration.
Augustine of Hippo: A Biographical Overview
Augustine of Hippo was born on November 13, AD 354, in Thagaste (modern-day Souk Ahras, Algeria), and died on August 28, AD 430, in modern-day Annaba, Algeria (then known as Hippo Regius). It was in the latter city where he served as Bishop for 35 years prior to his death. It is always a challenge to encapsulate renowned personalities, and with St. Augustine, this task is even more difficult.
A theologian and philosopher, Augustine dithered between an earlier, positive Hellenistic outlook and a more pessimistic Christian outlook later in his life. Shifting from one extreme to another, Augustine incorporated several diverse disciplines and philosophies into his comprehensive yearning to understand a world that seemed so beset with loss, trouble, and discord — in theory as well as in practice. One of Augustine's most admired traits, and one of the most inventive elements of his written work, is that he could connect diverging characteristics of the four Hellenistic schools of philosophy — Platonists, Epicureans, Skeptics, and Stoics — with various Christian ideological doctrines.
Between the Skeptic influences of Rome's New Academy and the influence of Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, Augustine drifted swiftly away from Manichaeism toward the onset of his grand conversion. Above all, reading and examining the biography of Anthony of Egypt was the final impetus he needed to wholly embrace Christianity, give up his imminent arranged marriage (which aroused in him feelings of pain and conflict owing to a lost lover), and relinquish a life of privilege and a budding rhetoric career. A small child's voice ultimately inspired his conversion — an event he recounts in his Confessions.
Summary of the Confessions
The Confessions by Augustine of Hippo is the first autobiography recorded in the literature of the West. Augustine intended the book to be more than merely a life story. It was written during the first three years of his tenure as Bishop. The title Confessions signals that the work will offer readers intimate information about its author, driven by a feeling of remorse and an impulse to praise God.
Book I elucidates Augustine's early years, up to the age of fifteen. He confesses that he preferred self-indulgence to studying during his teenage years. Book II reveals his initial pursuit of sexual gratification: at around sixteen years of age, Augustine quit schooling, began pursuing women, and even took to thievery. Book III describes his life at nineteen, when he began living in Carthage. Though his pursuit of women remained dominant, he also embarked on his journey into Manichaeism. Book IV portrays nine years of his life, during which he completed his studies and became an author, publishing a work on Aristotle among others.
Throughout Books V through VII, Augustine struggles with sexual desire as opposed to his pure spirit, a conflict arising from his studies and his travels. Book VIII explains his entering the fold of Christianity. In Book IX, Augustine considers quitting teaching; tragedy also engulfs his life with the deaths of two close friends, followed by his mother Monica's passing. Book X elucidates Augustine's meditation on how to reach God and attain happiness in life.
Book XI shows his earnest study of the Bible, enabling him to discuss the nature of time. Eventually, this leads Augustine to the desire to teach about God's goodness and God's aims for the world.
Conclusion
The Confessions is only a partial autobiography, as it does not touch upon Augustine's entire life — he wrote it somewhere in his early forties and lived for many years afterwards, publishing another notable work, the City of God.
Nevertheless, the book provides a complete record of Augustine's intellectual and spiritual development, and is credited as the most comprehensive account of a single person from the fourth and fifth centuries. This notable theological work depicts the journey of an individual who began on an uncertain note and found, along the way, the answers he was seeking. The deep question underlying the whole endeavor remains relevant: what are the battles faced by humanity, and what must be done to free oneself from them?
"Augustine of Hippo — Philosopher — Biography." The European Graduate School. Web. 13 Jul 2015.
"Confessions Book VIII — The Birthpangs of Conversion Summary and Analysis." GradeSaver. Web. 13 Jul 2015.
McCabe, Joseph. "The Conversion of St. Augustine." International Journal of Ethics 12.4 (1902): 450–459. Web.
Saint Augustine. The Confessions of Saint Augustine. Start Publishing LLC, 2013. Ebook.
"SparkNotes: Saint Augustine (A.D. 354): The Confessions." SparkNotes. Web. 14 Jul 2015.
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