Augustine's life takes center stage in his autobiographical work, where he meticulously chronicles his journey from a life riddled with sin to one of devout Christianity. Despite his conversion, Augustine continues to grapple with his sinful tendencies, a theme he explores in depth in the later books of his confessions.
Augustine's Confessions is a diverse blend of autobiography, philosophy, theology, and critical exegesis of the Christian Bible. Born and raised in Thagaste, in eastern Algeria (then part of the Roman empire), Augustine enters a social world that he now
sees as sinful to the point of utter folly
type
Confession, also called reconciliation or penance, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the acknowledgment of sinfulness in public or private, regarded as
necessary to obtain divine forgiveness.
setting
The Roman Empire: Thagaste, Carthage, Rome, Milan
So, each city in the Confessions adds something different to the book's narrative, largely because Augustine associates each city with a different stage of his life. This is where Augustine spends his young adulthood, sins a lot, and falls inwith the Manichees.
theme
sin
suffering
language and communication
truth
wisdom and knowledge
weakness
originally written in LATIN
Auther
Saint Augustine was born Aurelius
Augustibus on November 13, 354
CE. He lived his early years in
Roman North Africa (now eastern
Algeria), where he would have
spoken Latin at home and in school
Discusses discovery of 12 previously unstudied letters and sermons of Augustine (396-404)
Peter Brown’s book Augustine of Hippo remains the most important biography of Augustine in English
Died on 28 August 430
Ordained priest 391, bishop of Hippo 395
plot
SUSPENSE
Stairway to Heaven Just because Augustine converts doesn't mean that life is now puppies and rainbows. He still has to learn to deal with all of hissinful tendencies, which haven't gone away. The aftermath of his conversion is described in Book IX, and his personal handbook on how to deal with pride and wet dreams is in Book X.
DENOUEMENT
What do good Christians do? They read the Bible, of course. By"read the Bible" we really mean "read the first chapter of Genesis." Augustine basically pulls an Old World Shmoop and analyzes the first few lines of Genesis for his readers in Books XI to XIII, so that we can better understand them. He hopes that all this 'splainin' he has done will earn Christianity some new converts. He's come a long way, that Augustine.
CLIMAX
"I want the truth!" "You can't handle the truth!"
But all is not well in Augustine-town, because pretty soon, he
starts to question the logic of Manichaeism and wonder why he
is so miserable. This is around the time he goes to Italy, toward
the end of Book V, and starts to learn about the Scriptures from
Ambrose. The big climax is, of course, the moment of his
conversion to Christianity at the end of Book VIII.
INITIAL SITUATION
Let's Start at the Very Beginning, A Very Good Place to Start
Where else to begin but when you were born? Augustine's life of
miserable sinnin' begins at birth, you know.
characters
Protagonist
He's our saintly-but-not-so-saintly hero who drives the narrative
Antagonist
Watch out for bad father-figures. Patricius
gets named an antagonist not just because he is a non-believer (after all, there are plenty of those), but also because he stands in the way
of Augustine's conversion. Or, at least he
doesn't guide him in the direction of
Christianity
