Confessions Essay Research Paper ConfessionsThe content of

Confessions Essay, Research Paper

Confessions

The content of my paper will be an analysis of Augustine’s Confessions. I will focus on the first nine chapters of the book. First, I will write an introductory page about Augustine. Second, I will explain why Augustine wrote the Confessions and the importance of the Confessions as a philosophical work. I will analyze Augustine’s view of God and show the main theme of his book, which is, the sovereign God of grace and the sovereign grace of God. I will focus on Augustine’s view of God and His grace.

Augustine was born Aurelius Augustinus on November 13, 354 in North Africa. He received a classical Latin education and went to study rhetoric at the age of twelve in Madaura. He later studied at Cathrage and became a Manichean. After reading Cicero’s Hortensius Augustine was inspired to dedicate himself to the study of philosophy. He opened a school of rhetoric in Cathrage, he later went on to teach in Milan. In 386 he had his conversion and was baptized later. In 391 Augustine was appointed Bishop of Hippo.

He is considered the greatest Church Father. He was a defender of the Catholic faith and wrote and developed many doctrines to combat the heresies of his day, including his most famous rejection of the Pelagian doctrine. Pelagianism denied original sin and affirmed the ability of human beings to be righteous by the exercise of free will. “Augustine insisted on the fallen nature of man and the need for salvation by divine grace. (592)”

Augustine was also a great philosopher. His analysis of the nature of time, skepticism, and the relationship between divine foreknowledge and human freedom are all important philosophical contributions. His two most famous writings are the Confessions and The City of God. They are both theological as well as philosophical works.

Augustine wrote the Confessions ten years after his conversion.

The Confessions is divided into thirteen books. I will focus my analysis on the first ten books, which are his autobiography. The other three books are important but they do not have to do with his life story.

The book expresses three main concerns. One is Augustine’s frank and detailed acknowledgment of his personal sinfulness and the power he came to recognize as God’s provident grace—protective, creative, salvific—in every moment of his life. He also wrote in order to confess his own Christian faith and clearly repudiate any supposed lingering connections on his part with Manichaeism. Finally, The Confessions are a heartfelt paean of praise and thanksgiving in honor of God’s glory.

Augustine begins his autobiography with a prayer and meditation. This is fitting because the main theme of The Confessions is to praise and thank God. He begins by saying that God has, “made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in you.” This is a very good point because it is a reflection of Augustine’s struggle to find piece with himself. Throughout the rest of the book Augustine is constantly changing his beliefs and looking for the truth, his heart is restless. And it is not until he finds the Catholic faith and has his conversion that he finds piece. Augustine like all philosophers is a lover of truth.

He is unsure how he should call upon the Lord (3). He points out that it is his faith, which is a gift, that calls upon the Lord (3). He wants God to come into his soul, yet he is afraid that there is no room and that He will be disgusted with the sins of his past (4). This is appropriate because the reader will later find out what those sins are, yet Augustine maintains that the Lord must be in his soul since, “I would not exist at all unless you were already in me (4).” Augustine asks many philosophical questions about the nature of God, however he does not once question His existence.

Augustine is considered to be one of the Catholic Church’s greatest theologians. However, he was also a philosopher. See pg 244 textb

Augustine’s Confessions is a beautiful prayer to God, it is also a philosophical work. It should be noted that while Augustine was a theo, pertaining to the philosophy of religion. Although Augustine is a saint and theologian, there is a distinct difference between religion and the philosophy of religion.

Infancy.

Book I.

Augustine begins his autobiography praising God. He describes God as being all-powerful, everywhere, and beyond description. The reader can see how deep Augustine’s love for God is and with what reverence he praises Him. Augustine acknowledges the fact that God is in his soul, either partially or wholly. He wants the Confessions to be an example of God’s existence throughout his entire life. His soul is restless until it rests in God. He praises God for giving him the family he did.

Augustine acknowledges the fact that as an infant he was not innocent. This seems strange since babies are thought to be pure and helpless. However, Augustine believed in the doctrine of original sin. Original sin is the sin of Adam, which all human beings inherit. It can only be taken away by baptism. Augustine mentions his regret that his mother did not baptize him as a young child. In those days it was customary to wait as long as possible to receive the sacrament of baptism. This was because baptism took away original sins as well as all other si