Saint Augustine - Confessions

THE CONFESSIONS

ChildhoodAugustine goes to school at Thagaste and later at MadauraHe receives some religious instruction, but even when he is taken gravely ill, his baptism is deferredHe wasa great sinner for so small a boy

He spends a year at home before going to Carthage to continue his studiesThe lust of adolescenceHe robs a pear-tree

He goes to Carthage, where he abandons himself to a life of pleasureCicero's Hortensius inspires him with the love of philosophy - He joins the Manichees as an aspirant - His mother Monica is deeply grieved but finds consolation in a vision

He becomes a teacher of rhetoric at Thagaste and takes a mistressHis interest in astrologyGrief at the death of a close friend leads him to look for consolation in the companionship of other friends at CarthageHe writes a book on Beauty and Proportion

Faustus, a bishop of the Manichees, comes to CarthageAugustine's disappointment on finding that Faustus is unable to settle the discrepancies between the doctrinesof the Manichees and known scientific factsAgainst the wishes of his mother he leaves for Rome, where he still associates with the Manichees but no longer has any firm belief in their doctrinesInstead he is attracted by the teaching of the Neo-PlatonistsHe obtains an appointment as professor of rhetoric in MilanHe listens to the sermons of Saint Ambrose and is impressed but not convincedHis final rejection of the theories of the Manichees

Monica comes to MilanAugustine listens regularly to the sermons of Saint Ambrose and realizes that his previous conceptions of Christian doctrine were mistakenHe learns that Scripture is not always to be understood in a literal senseHis ambitions in the world and difficulties over chastity still prevent him from accepting the faithHe plans to get married and dismisses his mistress

He still has difficulty in thinking of God as a spiritual Being and in finding an explanation of the problem of evil, but is helped by the Platonist booksHe realizes that evil is a perversion of the will, not a substance as the Manichees pretendHe begins to read the Epistles of Saint Paul

He is told of the conversion of Victorinus, the translator of Plotinus, and is eager to follow his example, but worldly ambition and difficulties over chastity hold him backAfter hearing how two officers of the Emperor's court were converted by reading the story of Antony, the Egyptian monk, he goes into the garden of his house, where he hears a child's voice chanting words which he takes to be a divine message to himselfHis conversion is complete and his mother is overjoyed

He resigns his appointment and goes with his friends to a country house at CassiciacumAt Easter the following year he returns to Milan, where he is baptizedWith his mother and his friends he sets out to return to AfricaWhile they are awaiting ship at Ostia Augustine and Monica converse on the life of the saints in heavenThe death of Monica and an account of her life

Augustine asks his readers to thank God for his conversion and to pray for himHe considers the powers of the memorySince all men long for happiness, they must know in some way what it is, but the only true happiness is in GodHe examines his ability to master the various temptations of the bodyIf we have power to resist them, it is by God's graceOnly through Christ, the true Mediator, can we hope to be reconciled with God

An explanation of the first verse of Genesis: In the Beginning God made heaven and earthGod created the world in his Word alone, and therefore by the wordsIn the Beginningwe must understand the Word of God The questionWhat was God doing before he made heaven and earth?is answered by explaining that when there was no creation there was no time It is therefore nonsense to ask what God was doingthenThis leads to a discussion of the problem of time

The meaning of Genesis 1: 1, 2:In the Beginning God made heaven and earth. The earth was invisible and without form, and darkness reigned over the deepHeavenhere means the spiritual creation, the Heaven of Heavens, andearththe formless matter of which the material world was to be made, whereas the heaven above