Saint Augustine writes about his journey to finding God through his autobiography Confessions. It is filled with Augustine’s personal experiences from infancy to adulthood. Many of the experience Augustine’s reviews are common amongst people today. These relevant situations make it easy for readers to apply to their current life. Augustine also adds his current understanding to these past situations that he may have been unaware to at the time. Augustine’s Confessions are bursting with theological, and Psychological text and ideas that he uses to guide him through certain events he goes through. There is a reoccurring theme throughout Augustine’s autobiography about his desire to find God to fill the void or separation he feels. Augustine …show more content…
describes being separated from god as a restlessness from within. Augustine experiences this restlessness in his childhood, adolescents and adulthood. “To praise you is the desire of man, a little piece of your creation. You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rest in you.” This quote was said by Augustine in the beginning of the Confessions and creates a foundation of how Augustine feels throughout the book until he finally finds God. Augustine is saying that without God there is an irrepressible feeling of restlessness. God has created us to seek him and praise him because we were ultimately made for that reason alone. Augustine senses this feeling throughout his passage to God. In the first book of Confession Augustine talks about his infancy to early childhood.
Augustine starts with describing what it was like to be a baby and credited the miracle to God. Although Augustine questions how and why certain things are he has no doubt that the creation of life is from a supreme being. Looking back at his infancy and recognizing that he could not control or remember anything he does not feel responsible for not knowing God at this time. Intertwined within these stories of Augustine’s childhood there are theological and philosophic statements and questions. Saint Augustine tries to understand what God is as an entity but does not understand fully. “Lord? In you it is not one thing to be and another to live: the supreme degree of being and the supreme degree of life are one and the same thing. You are being in a supreme degree and are …show more content…
immutable.” Augustine then talks about his struggles through school at an early age. Augustine looks back and realizes that the teachings and practices were only for future gain and where unholy because they were void of God. He remembered not enjoying many of the lessons and trainings he received, at this time Augustine was separated from God. Augustine was more moved and interested then stories and fables then his lack of salvation. “In reading this, O God my life, I myself was meanwhile dying by my alienation from you, and my miserable condition in that respect brought no tear to my eyes.” Although Augustine was young and was only doing what he was told Augustine believes he was too gathered up into worldly things to see that he was separated from God. In Book II Augustine talks about his adolescent years and considers these years to be some of the most corrupt years of his life. During adolescents Augustine is completely separated from God. “You gathered me together from the state of disintegration in which I had been fruitlessly divided. I turned from unity in you to be lost in multiplicity.” Today people would consider Augustine behaviors as common teenage rebellious behavior. Although Augustine explains how his longing desire to love and be loved by god was mistaken for worldly pleasures and relationships which caused him to partake in mischievous and sinful acts. “I was burning to find satisfaction in hellish pleasures, I ran wild in the shadowy jungle of erotic adventures. ‘My beauty wasted away an in your sight I became putrid’ by pleasing myself and being ambitious to win human approval.” Deeper into Book II Augustine talks about his father who is a pagan. His father takes great pride into sending Augustine off for more schooling so in return he can gain worldly possessions and prominence. He also is enthusiastic about Augustine’s new found desire of lust hoping to acquire grandchildren. During this time of complete departure of God Augustine sees that all along God was trying to connect to him through his own Mother. Augustine Mother is a devout Christion and warns Augustine of his ways but at this time in his life he is to thoughtless to take heed. “These warnings seemed to me womanish advice which I would have bloused to take the least notice of. But they were your warnings and I did not realize it, and that it was only she who was speaking, when you were speaking to me through her.” During Augustine’s adult life he spends years trying to find God Through different theologies, philosophical readings and scripture.
Augustine was a part of a religious group known as the Manichees, and spent years trying to understand and connect to God within this religion but couldn’t fully connect with God through the false teachings. After Augustine denounces his Manichees faith Augustine starts to learn how to incorporate his philosophical knowledge with his new found faith of Catholicism. During this time Augustine finally begins to build his connection with God. “Such questions revolved in my unhappy breast, weighed down by nagging anxieties about the fear of dying before I had found the truth. But there was a firm place in my heart for the faith, within the Catholic
Church.” I wasn’t until the end of Book VIII where Saint Augustine entirely connects with God. “Surely my soul will be submissive to God? From him is my salvation; he is also my God and my savior who upholds me; I shall not be moved anymore.” Throughout Augustine’s childhood adolescents and adult life Augustine was on a quest to release the restlessness he had within. At the time Augustine did not understand the feeling but later realized it was due to his separation from God. Augustine experienced countless number of worldly and unholy possessions and sensations but in the end found God through devotion and scripture.
St. Augustine’s Confessions is written through the Christian perspective of religion. Christianity is founded on the idea that there is one God who oversees all actions. Though all actions are observed by a higher power, God instills in us a free will. As Christians we are free to make our own decisions whether right or wrong. In his Biography St Augustine expresses that he feels like a sinner. He struggles with the fact that he is a thrill seeker. He loves to watch blood sports. He watches gladiators fight to the death and commit murder. Not only does he watch, but he enjoys observing these acts. He is also expressing his sins in his biography when he writes about stealing, which is another sin. He steals pears for fun. St Augustine doesn’t even eat the pears he steals, but throws them to the pigs to eat. Through the story St Augustine struggles interna...
The death leaves Augustine feeling lost and broken and he cries out “He has become a great problem to himself” (Page 57). This pivotal time in his life caused him to begin the journey back home, back to his Lord and Creator. He begins to meet with a man name Ambrose who convinces Augustine that the Bible may be more rational and valuable than he once thought. Under the mentorship of Ambrose Augustine begins to question his faith and return back to his Catholic
One of the most documented and honest journeys to accepting Christ is presented in St. Augustine’s book, Confessions. He embarks on a mission to find truth and explains the many barriers he had to overcome to understand the greatness of God. Throughout the book, St. Augustine lays out different significant milestones that enabled him to overcome certain barriers of thought that he originally believed. These significant milestones included him meeting Ambrose the Bishop of Milan, the learning of Neoplatonism, meeting Simplicianus and Ponticianus which lead him soon after to convert, and finally reaching the end of his journey to Catholicism when he becomes baptized. Each of these milestones presented a realization that played a significant
7-12- Again Augustines thoughts on God reflect that of the religious teachings of his day, namely those of the Neoplatonists. For example he refuses to speculate on how the soul joins the body to become an infant and even follows Plato when he suggests that this life could possibly be some kind of “living death”. He then goes into an examination of his infancy, which he depicts as a quite pitiful state. He described himself as a sinful and thoughtless creature who made demands on everyone, wept unceasingly, and gave everyone a hard time that took care of him. Though very brutal in his self examination, he later states that he does not hold himself accountable for any of these sinful acts because he simply can’t remember them.
”1 He was already a steady believer in God and was ready to be baptized however he was kept from it and was influenced by the other people as they said “Let him be, let him do as he likes, he is not baptized yet.” Without the proper reinforcement and teaching he progressively strayed away from his beliefs and eventually lost himself in sin. This led to one of the most important incidents in Augustine’s childhood. Augustine spends more time lamenting on the time he had stolen the pears than he does with many of the other sins.... ...
Augustine addressed God as the fountain of life. He writes, “I fell away to those material things…I heard your voice behind me calling me to return, but because of the tumult of men hostile to peace, I scarcely heard it. But now, see, I return, burning and yearning for your fountain. Let no man forbid me! I will drink at this fountain, and I will live by it. Let me not be my own life: badly have I lived from myself. I was death to myself, in you I live again”. (Book 12.10). Here it is now when Augustine throws away all the ideas of disobedience and follows after God. He came to the conclusion that Gods word was unique. He wrote “I do not know, O Lord, I do not know any such pure words, which so persuade me to make confession and make my neck meek to your yoke, and invite me to serve you without complaint.” (Book 13.15). He was pleading for Gods word and reading gods word constantly after this happened. This is the same for us when we are reading scripture. It makes us ask questions, and let us use our thoughts. Scripture leads us to the fountain of life, as it did with
When it comes to renunciation, "no pain, no gain" is what I've slowly, reluctantly, inexorably come to believe. And when Pete opted for scholarly monkhood, I think he was just trying to outsmart his pain. . . . He'd calculated that by considering the physical world "illusory" and burying his nose in metaphysical texts he could go on doing something comfortable--while his ignorance and sufferings and hometown and troublesome family just fell away like so much excess poundage. Obviously l question his calculations: to slough off half a self in hopes of finding a whole one is not my idea of good math.
Saint Augustine’s Confessions are a diverse mix of autobiography, philosophy, and interpretation of the Christian Bible. The first nine Books of the work follow the story of Augustine 's life, from his birth (354 A.D.) up to the events that took place just after his conversion to Catholicism (386 A.D.). Born and raised in Thagaste, in eastern Algeria, he has one brother named Navigius, and two sisters. His father, Patricus, a small landowner and an official of the local government is still a pagan. Monica, his mother is a devout Christian. Augustine starts off by praising to God and that it is the natural desire of all men. Yet Augustine does not have a lot of knowledge about God because he felt that he was powerless for God to come to him
Taylor claims that St. Augustine initiated a concept of inwardness, a turning towards the inner self to find truth and the idea of authenticity is simply a further development of Augustine’s inwardness. In this paper I will discuss in detail Taylor’s idea of authenticity: the pros and cons. I will lay out some of his arguments as to why he thinks this idea originated with Augustine. I will talk about Augustine’s view on the inner man and how this is connected with knowledge and memory. I will then talk about some of Augustine’s views. Freedom is also an important aspect to moral conduct so I will explore both Taylor’s and Augustine’s view of freedom. Finally, I will argue that the ideal of authenticity (although it contains some truth) is not an ideal that Augustine would promote.
Throughout the Confessions, Augustine provides a journal of his life. Education played a major role in his development. Augustine the character’s education began from the moment he started to communicate. He later went on to be formally educated before being removed from school for financial difficulties. Augustine the narrator believes his education a granted will from God; however, at times, Augustine the character seemed to take advantage of this will. Through this ability, granted by God’s will, Augustine the character was able to become literate.
...unconditional love for God. Once Augustine converts, he attains the purest form of love and it is solely reserved for God.
Why does St. Augustine seek God? Through his Confessions we come to understand that he struggled a great deal with confusion about his faith, before finally and wholeheartedly accepting God into his life. But we never get a complete or explicit sense of what led Augustine to search for God in the first place. Did he feel a void in his life? Was he experiencing particular problems in other relationships that he thought a relationship with God would solve for him? Or perhaps he sought a sense of security from religion? A closer analysis of the text of St. Augustine’s Confessions will provide some insight into these fundamental questions.
..., the closer he was really moving toward God. He began to realize that God is all good, so nothing he creates will be of evil. “God does not create evil but it is of the world” (Augustine 230-31). Once he took responsibility for his personal life and spiritual walk, Augustine began to uncover the truths to his life. He reveals one must take responsibility for their actions and confess to develop a stronger connection with God. He then comprehends; God allows bad things to happen in your life to show you that you need him. Evil is not a lesser good, but it is a reflection of ones moral well-being. In order for one’s well being to be saved one must confess their sins to Christ.
The relationship between reading, conversion and memory is that in order to go through a conversion one must read and be able recall the important information through memory. While Saint Augustine is talking to God he says “For you have granted to man that he should come to self-knowledge through the knowledge of others, and that he should believe many things about himself on the authority of the womenfolk” (p. 7) With this statement, Augustine is showing us that God believes we should learn from each other and the main method of learning from each other is through reading each other’s literary works. He also believes that once you read something it can “convert” or change your way of thinking and looking at things. He displays this belief in the following remark “…which he here reads of me as I recall and confess them of myself, let him not despite me – fo...
W. Andrew Hoffecker. Building a Christian World View, vol. 1: God, man, and Knowledge. Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., Phillipsburg, New Jersey : 1986. William S. Babcock. The Ethics of St. Augustine: JRE Studies in Religion, no. 3.