Confessions (St. Augustine)
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Confessions is the name of a series of thirteen autobiographical books by St. Augustine of Hippo written between 397 and 398 AD. In modern times, the books are usually published as a single volume known as The Confessions of St. Augustine in order to distinguish the book from other books with similar titles such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions.
The book tells about his sinful youth and how he converted to Christianity. It is widely seen as the first Western autobiography ever written, and would be an influential model for Christian writers throughout the following 1000 years of the Middle Ages. It is not a complete autobiography, as it was written in his early 40s, and he lived long afterwards, during which he produced another important work (City of God); it does, nonetheless, provide an unbroken record of his evolution of thought and is the most complete record of any single individual from the 4th and 5th centuries. It is a significant theological work.
[edit] Themes of the books
- His infancy and boyhood up to age 14;
- His fall amongst bad companions, which led him to commit theft and succumb to lust;
- His studies at Carthage, his conversion to Manichaeism and continued indulgence in lust between 16 and 19;
- His loss of a friend and his studies in Aristotle and the fit and the fair between 20 and 29;
- His moving away from Manichaeism under the influence of St. Ambrose in Milan at 29;
- His moving towards Catholicism under the influence of St. Ambrose at 30;
- His moving towards a greater understanding of God at 31;
- His conversion to Christianity at the age of 32 and his instruction by Simplicianus on how to convert others;
- His baptism at 33, the death of his mother Monica and the death of his friends Nebridius and Vecundus, and his abandonment of his studies of rhetoric;
- Continued reflections on the values of confessions and on the workings of memory, as related to the 5 senses.
- Reflections on Genesis and searching for the meaning of time;
- Continued reflections on the book of Genesis; and
- Exploration of the meaning of Genesis and the Trinity
[edit] References
- Warner, Rex (1963). The Confessions of St. Augustine. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-451-62474-2. (Translation into English)
