Augustine's Confessions

When was Augustine's conversion?

386

When was Augustine's Baptism?

387

Who were his parents?

- Monica: devout Christian

-Patricious: pagan but died a Baptized Christian

How long did Augustine live with a woman?

15 years

What was his son's name?

- Adeodatus, means "gift of God"

Where in Italy did Augustine live?

- 1st in Rome

- then in Milan

Whose preaching had a positive influence on him?

St. Ambrose

Where and when was Augustine baptized?

in Milan at the Easter Vigil in 387

What did he do shortly after his baptism?

- lived a monastic life and wrote theological and philosophical works

What happened in 391?

Augustine was ordained Bishop at Hyppo

When did he succeed Valerian as Bishop of Hyppo, and how long did he serve there?

- 395

- 34 years served

Against whom did Augustine defend the church?

- Manichees

- Donatists

- Aryans

- Pelagians

When did Augustine die?

430

What is unique about Augustine's Confessions?

The first spiritual autobiography ever

Themes of the Confessions

- Journey

- Interiority/heart

- Community/friendship

Journey

- Life = ongoing journey of transformation

- We are travelers/pilgrims in this world

- Our destination is heaven

- Each step we take in life moves us closer to

or away from God

- It is God's grace that sets us in the right

direction

Heart/Interiory

- The heart is understood as the center of our

being

- Augustine claims that we must return to our

heart to find God

- Interiority refers to the interior life

- Interiority involves withdrawing into

ourselves spiritually to encounter God

- Interiority allows us to obtain a better

knowledge of self and of God

Friendship/community

- People play a crucial role in Augustine's conversion

- Some of the great events of Augustine's spiritual journey unfold in the company of other people

- Augustine experienced God's presence and guidance through other people

- It is easier to seek God in and with a community

- Augustine demonstrates a commitment to friendship and community throughout the Confessions

- True friendship is based on love for the other and ultimately onlove of Christ

"Rightly ordered love" is defined as

virtue

Rightly Ordered Love Triangle

God --> People --> things (often inverted)

Ordering love

- Augustine believed that God is the highest

good (summum bonum) and should be

loved above all things and for His own sake

- All other goods are lesser goods and are

created by God and meant to lead us back

to Him

"Disordered love" is defined as

sin

Sin as disordered love

- We sin when we fail to love God as the highest good and seek our happiness in lesser goods

- Ordinately - in an ordered way

- Inordinately - exceeding normal limits; excessively

Format of Confessions

- The Confessions does not contain a normal narrative format

- It is a spiritual memoir and a sort of penitential prayer

- The whole book is a dialogue with God

Purpose of Confessions

To move the mind, his own and others',

toward God in love

Form and beginning/ending of Confessions

The Confessions takes the form of a

prayer, and it begins and ends with

praise.

Define confession

- admission of sin or

acknowledgment of wrongdoing

- declaration or statement of one's

faith

(Augustine's Confessions are BOTH)

Book I

How does Augustine begin Book 1?

With praise

To whom does Augustin address himself in the Confessions? Who is his audience?

He speaks directly to God

What literary form does the Confessions take? What does it sound like?

- prayer

- sounds like penentential prayer

Which sections from Scripture does Augustine cite most frequently in Book 1?

Psalms

What is the meaning of "You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You"?

- Because we have been made for God, we will be restless until united with God

In his soliloquies, what are the two things that Augustine says he wants to know?

1. Who is Augustine?

2. Who is God?

How is Blaise Pascal's Pensees relate to the Confessions?

- We have a God-shaped hole in us; therefore, we are restless without Him

- Augustine says the same thing

Why was Augustine's baptism postponed when he was a child?

- His mom didn't want him to sin later in life

- Due to the way Penance/ Baptism was practiced

What does Augustine think of this decision?

- Disagree with Monica

- He thinks it puts him in moral danger of sin

Old Practice of Baptism and Penance

- Penance only happened once, so people would delay their Baptism until they were older

Thagaste

Augustine's hometown in Northern Africa

The health of Augustine as a child

He became deathly ill as a child

Book II

Why does Augustine speak so much about his sinfulness? What does his attitude toward his sins seem so extreme to us?

- He wants to show God's love and mercy for us, and far he was from it

- His attitude was so extreme --> His holiness is far above us, so his imperfections/sins seem worse to him

Why is it important for Augustine to write about his sinful life and for others to read about it?

- He was a saint --> gives people hope that a saint doesn't have to be perfect

- Teaches about God's love and mercy

What creates the "mists" that, in turn, cause the mind to become so confused that it cannot distinguish between right and wrong?

- refers to concupiscence (inclination towards sin )

What does his "chains" refer to?

Chain = addiction to lust

What is the difference between love and lust?

- Love: to will the good of another

- Lust: the inordinate selfish desire for sexual pleasure

Why doesn't God prevent us, or "restrain us," from sinning?

free will

How old does Augustine say he was when he began living a dissolute life?

16

How does Augustine describe Patricious and Monica and their reaction to his lifestyle?

- Patricious: doesn't care at all

- Monica: upset, concerned, doesn't agree with the way he was living his life

How does God speak to Augustine in Book 2?

Through Monica

Story of the Pears

- The passage explores the origin of evil and the motivation for sin

- Augustine steals pears simply because it is evil

• Did not need pears

• The act is enjoyable because it is evil and forbidden

Why did Augustine steal the pears?

- temptation

- enjoys sins

- had friends, who became on occasion of sin

Occasion of Sin

A person, place, thing, or situation that generally leads to temptation or invites you to sin

- ex: casino or bar

Themes related to the Pear Theft

- Disordered love

- Peer pressure

Would Augustine have stolen the pears on his own? Why or why not?

No, because the friends made it more enjoyable for him.

What does Augustine say in reference to his sins and God's grace?

- He didn't commit worse sins as a result of God's mercy

Book 3

Why does Augustine go to Carthage?

- Higher education/teaching

How is Augustine's restless heart displayed in this chapter?

- His heart lacked God, so it longed for lust

- Used the symbol of the caldron of lust and explained how he filled his desires

How does Augustine try to alleviate his restlessness? Is he successful?

- He searches for an object to love to alleviate his restlessness

- Not successful

What is the food of the soul to which Augustine refers? Why doe he lack interest in it?

- "food of soul" = God

- wasn't interested because the further he went from it, the less "appetizing" it became--. dulled spiritual hunger for God

How does Augustine describe falling in love? How does he describe his experience?

- Describes it as a negative consumption that shackled him down and got him into trouble, but he joyed in it

- Describes it as a "share of his own choosing."

Augustine's feelings about going to the theater

- Uses the theater to explain the idea of people wallowing in their sadness, which is comfortable, instead of reflecting inward on their own sadness and unhappiness

- Unproductive in life

What does "miservale delirium" mean?

unhappy confusion of the irrational hope to feel sad

Why is enjoying tragic plays at the theater an issue, according to Augustine?

- in real life, we are called upon to use compassion

How does Augustine describe God's presence during these times when he "exhausted" himself in "depravity"?

- God "hovered faithfully around me"

- "refuge" --> safe place

What does Augustine mean when he says, "I loved my own way, not yours, but it was a trunat's freedom I loved"?

- rebellious against God

- false sense of liberty from God

What is Augustine studying at this point? How does he describe himself?

- studying law and rhetoric

- intellectually proud

What is Augustine's attitude toward his companions, the "Wreckers"?

- felt shame --> wasn't like them

- felt happy --> companion of friendship

Why did Augustine associate with the Wreckers if he disliked their actions?

friendship

What caused Augustine's conversion to philosophy?

Cicero's Hortenius

How did Cicero's Hortenius change Augustine's "outlook on life"? What other effect did his reading of this book have on Augustine?

- his "empty dreams lost their charms

- fueled his love for wisdom

What does Augustine say he began to do after reading the Hortenius?

- climb out of the depths

Content and Recommendation of Hortenius

- makes Augustine think of things he's never thought of

- Begins to separate from Rhetoric

- recommends exploring wisdom to the reader

How did Augustine's study of rhetoric before reading Cicero serve his "vanity"?

- made him inflate his own series of self

- intellectual pride

What is Augustine's first impression of the Scripture?

- thought they were simple/unworthy compared to Cicero

How did the Manichees use the names of the Trinity to ensnare Augustine, and what did he find in their hearts instead?

- pretend to know what they were talking about the Trinity

- in heart = no knowledge of truth

How does Augustine contrast his spiritual "hunger" with the "dishes" the Manichees serve him?

- spiritual hunger = not satisfied

Monica's dream

- She stands on a wooden rule

- A young man (heavenly creature) comes toward her

- Monica = sad about Augustine's spiritual life

- Man asks why

- Told her Augustine is standing next to her (a metaphor that he will become a Christian/be saved)

Augustine's Misinterpretation of the Dream

- One day she will be a Manikee

Why is Augustine so moved by Monica's response to her dream?

- God speaks through Monica

- Joy in Monica while Augustine was still a Manichee

How does Augustine describe Monica's persistent state of prayer during this time?

- gives her hope and a new spirit

- prayers for hours

Why did the bishop refuse to speak with Augustine directly? How did Monica react?

- He says he's not ready, just pray for him

- Monica wouldn't be pacified at first --> message from heaven later

- He never directly interacts with this bishop (only Faustus and Ambrose)

How does the bishop's own past give credibility to his advice?

- His mom (the bishop's mom) handed him over to the Manichees

Manichees Beliefs

- There are two Gods

- Good God did not create matter

- Matter is cause of evil, not sin

Why did Augustine stay with them?

- because he obtains good jobs through them

Book IV

Augustine at 19-28 years old

- Led astray and deceived

- Arrogant

- Ambitious

- Self-centered

- Self-indulgent

Public Speaking

- Returns to Thagaste to teach public speaking

- Motivated by "love of money" (Ch. 2)

- Prefers honest students

- Realizes students will use the skill for unethical purposes

Sorcery and Astrology

- Augustine rejects the offer of a sorcerer to help him win the competition

- Disapproves of a sorcerer consulting demons and slaughtering animals

- Consults astrologers who do not invoke demons or offer animal sacrifice

- Astrologers believe sin is a matter of fate determined by the heavens

- Cannot escape sin

Augustine and the Doctor

- The doctor advises Augustine to throw away astrology books

- Tells him not to waste anymore time practicing

astrology

- The doctor had once studied it and had planned to make a living from it

- Discovered astrologers were wrong and could not make a living by deceiving others

- Augustine says God spoke to him through a doctor

- Does not give up astrology right away

Augustine and the Death of a Friend

- Is heartbroken over a friend's death

- Realizes misery is caused by his attachment to things that cannot last

- Says of friend, "I was his second self" (Ch. 6)

- Cannot offer up the burden of misery to God, because he does not really know God

- Is so grief-stricken because he invested so much in his friend as if he would last forever

The story of Augustine's friend before Death

- He strays his friend away from God and into the Manichean faith

- He developed a high fever

- He gets baptized à revives

- Augustine makes fun of it, and his friend says that he should never speak to him about it again if they want to be friends

God and Created Things

- We can lose God if we abandon Him

- We cannot find rest in created things because they do not last forever

- We can find God in our hearts (interiority)

- We should use created things for the purpose of doing God's will

- Augustine is attracted to material things

- Cannot see the truth because of a misconception of spiritual things

- Believes evil is a substance and form of life

- Dragged down by the weight of pride

Book VI

Monica Visits Shrines of Saints

- In Africa, Monica took bread and wine to the shrines of saints

- Ambrose forbade this practice in Milan

- He thought people would become drunk and that it was too much like some of the pagan rites

- Monica was obedient and ended this practice

Ambrose

- Augustine could not speak with Ambrose

privately because there were always too

many people around

- Ambrose had a practice of reading silently,

which was unusual in the ancient world

- Ambrose's homilies helped convince

Augustine, that "it was possible to unravel the

tangle woven by those who had deceived

both me and others with their cunning lies

against the Holy Scriptures" (Bk. VI, Ch. 3).

Who cleared Augustine's misconceptions of the Catholic faith?

Ambrose

Determination

Things are already predetermined by planets, stars

Carthage

His teaching career began there