Augustine's life and confessions book 1

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Augustine's life and confessions book 1

general information

summary

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

By Madinabonu Tal'atova