Augustine's Confessions is a personal recollection of his ascent from a life of sin and emptiness to one of fulfillment and higher understanding. He started his quest (from where we entered his voyage) rejecting God, but as his books are titled Confessions, Augustine begins to confess his sins and flaws to God in order to understand a deeper meaning of life. In a sense his books are a message to Him, serving as Augustine's gradual revelation to spiritual enlightenment. Pertaining to a much broader audience, Augustine's Confessions are a prime example of how all humans strive to reach a higher understanding of God. Because his Confessions are an autobiographical account, the audience has the ability to see the changes in his theological and philosophical approaches to his writings. Before reading the bible, Augustine was avid follower of the Neoplatonic views, but his accomplishments are best realized through his ability to intertwine the values of both the Neoplatonic ideologies with the Christian counterparts.
Jerome Augustine, lived in modern day Algeria, was a philosopher of Neoplatonism and early Christian theologies. In his early years in Carthage, Augustine was heavily influenced by Manichaeism. Manichean faith was the doctrine that Mani, a self-declared prophet, made public accusations claiming that God was not omnipotent (having unlimited power), but rather a superior being that still was challenged by evil-like things living. In addition, the Manicheans also believed that the soul was part of the essence of God, and that all living creatures were made from a part of Him. Augustine began to see deception from teachings of various Bishops, such as Fautus. Augustine refers to him as, "a great snare of the Devil, and many were entangled by him through that lure of his smooth language: which though I did commend, yet could I separate from the truth of the things which I was earnest to learn" (BOOK V).
Greek philosophers, such as Plato, and early religious thinkers, such as St. ... St. Augustine, following Platonic ideas, applied the division of humanity to Christianity. ... Augustine's theory, like Plato's, puts humanity in constant struggle with itself. ... The following is the discovery of my journey for the answers. ...
Early Middle Ages were times of experimentation and preservation, whereas the later Middle Ages were times of self-discovery and definition. ... But who was Saint Augustine? ... Most commonly, he is known as "St. ... St. ... How did Augustine understand man's religious nature and destiny? ...
For example, St. Augustine wrote about war and what justified its enactment against fellow men. This policy was followed and adhered to for hundreds of years after St. Augustine wrote it. ... The discoveries and travel further challenged church authority. ...
As the great migration from Europe to the United States began there was a major discovery made when the new settlers found that there were already people living on the newly discovered lands. ... The first European outposts (St. Augustine, Jamestown, Quebec, Montreal, New Amsterdam) were composed exclusively or primarily of men. ... Catholic priests and nuns in New France and New Spain pressed Indian women and men to convert to Christianity (the Protestants of English America were less energetic in this regard), enforcing new ideas of morality "for example, condemning the premarital sex...
One was the universal history, which found some inspiration in St. Augustine's City of God; it was outstandingly illustrated by Paulus Orosius and continued by such lesser men as Isidore of Seville. ...