Western Christianity: Augustine Confessions

Augustine Confessions

Augustine of Hippo was an early Christian philosopher who was born in what is now modern day Algeria and his writings have been a great influence on the development of Western Christianity. He was a bishop in the Hippo Regius of Roman Africa during the Patristic Era and is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the West (Mendelson). In his famous writing “Confessions”, Augustine recounts the first 35 years of his life and tracks his spiritual development and acceptance of Christianity. Books 1-9 are autobiographical, while Books 10-13 are analytical and interpretational of his faith. Book 10 of his confessions explores memory while 11 through 13 are his detailed interpretations of Genesis, in which the creation of the world is explained.

Book 10 pursues Augustine’s analysis of memory and the temptation of the senses which has been a mystical concept to him throughout his life. He focuses on the idea that memory is an unconscious knowledge, an idea that he created based on the Platonic notion that “learning is actually the process of the soul remembering what it already knew and forgot upon taking the human form.” Augustine begins Book 10 with expressing his love for God and saying, “When I love God, what do I love?” He does not connect God with the five physical senses, but rather with intangible senses. He claims that in order to sense God, he must reflect into his soul. Augustine says that this is not something practiced among inanimate objects or “beasts” but yet they owe God for their existence. Augustine does not associate God with the “life of the body,” referencing his physical senses, but rather says that he considers there being another power that gives him the ability to live in ...

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... infinite multiplicity."

Augustine suggests looking for God in places other than his mind because like mentioned before, even “beasts” have mind but don’t have the concept of God. He questions the idea of searching for God by offering the question of how we can be mindful of him if God is not already in our realm of eternal memory? His response to the paradox he offered was if one seeks God, he shall find him. Even when something is lost to our memory, we should still try to find it there because it may be a piece of our eternal memory.

Augustine’s interpretation of the human memory serves as an answer to the mystery that surrounds the concept and provides his readers somewhat of a “peace of mind” after reading his analyses in Book 10. Confessions is a powerful piece of philosophical literature that has helped shape modern Christianity as we read and practice.