Augustine was not, as some scholars have claimed, the work of a weak-willed or self-indulgent man. Rather, it was the work of a very determined and self-sacrificing individual who was looking back into his sinful past. When Augustine wrote the Confessions he had already been a devout follower of the Christian faith for several years. He had a complex motive for undertaking such self-analysis. His purpose in recounting of his own struggle to accept the Christian faith was to exalt God for saving him from the sinfulness of his youth. Through the Confessions, Augustine was also able to reaffirm to himself who he was, and to encourage other believers and disbelievers to follow him in their own personal search for God's true mercy.
In order to illustrate Augustine's unusual determination and strength of character, it is necessary to examine his life. St. Augustine was born in Northern Africa to Patricius, a pagan father, and Monica, a Christian mother. Both parents desired success for their son, so Augustine was sent to school in Carthage to learn to be a rhetorician. What may be counted as his first youthful weakness was his susceptibility to peer pressure. Augustine often felt the need to boast of imaginary sexual exploits and it was with these friends of his youth that he committed a theft of some pears (Book 2, Chapter 4). Augustine was particularly troubled by this incident "what pleased me was not what I stole, but that I stole; nor would I have got any pleasure out of it by myselfThat out of mere fun and play should proceed an eagerness to hurt and an appetite to do harm to others and with no sort of a desire either to avenge myself or to gain anything for myself!" Augustine spends much time talking about his theft of the pears, even going so far as to compare the act to fornication (Book 2, Chapters 6-10).
Literal fornication; however, was to be Augustine's most frequent sin. He was a 17 year old college student in Carthage (Book 3, Chapter 1) when he first committed this act.
Saint Augustine Confessions In the Confessions, Saint Augustine addressed himself articulately and passionately to the persistent questions that stirred the minds and hearts of men since time began. ... According to St. ... Saint Augustine had a choice, to sin or not to sin. ... In Saint Augustine Confessions he states: "What rottenness! ... Saint Augustine found two paths to follow, and in the wo...
St. Augustine's City of God The philosophies of Saint Augustine were remarkable and perhaps revolutionary for his lifetime. ... (Dietrich, St. ... (Dietrich, St. ... (Early Christianity, 186) The final division for all eternity comes at the Last Judgment; this will decide the saints (followers of God) from the sinners (victims of their own pride) and determine their souls forever paths. ...
The Norman church of Ely, and associated monastery was built to honor a group of saints, and one in particular, St. ... (Braughton 2001) The shrines of her sister St Sexburga and her niece St Eormenhilda were placed here as well. ... (Binski 2004) clearly St. ... Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine to Britain in 597 where he met and converted the Kentish King Ethelbert and the Christian message was spread. ... St. ...
I was dead to the world until God's time when Junker Tetzel and Doctor Staupitz incited me against the pope."1 Here in this monastery he chose to become an Augustinian monk, in the Order of the Hermits of St Augustine. ... First the sinner must feel genuine sorrow for their sin. ... The power of indulgences came from the merits of the dead saints. ... The merits of all the saints are counted toward the church, and the pope and other bishops can direct them to where they can do the most good. ... Pope Leo X wanted to rebuild St Peters church, which would cost a lot of money. ...
Autobiography of Margery Kempe: Struggles, Trials, Perseverance and Courage The Book of Margery Kempe is the earliest autobiography written in English, being a fifteenth century manuscript, and is a work of Christian mysticism, telling the tale of a medieval mystic, Margery Kempe (ca. 1373-1438), being transformed from sinner to saint. ... Kempe was illiterate, unable to read and write, however, the style in which her spiritual biography is written has ties to St. Augustine (354-430 AD), whose confessions tell the story of his early life and conversion to Christianity (2001). ...
