Book Review: Augustine’s Confessions
I’d read Augustine’s Confessions several years ago, but found myself reading it again for a seminary assignment in my Early Church History class. Here is a review that went along with the class…
Augustine’s Confessions is vastly different from other biographies. Though the book is autobiographical in character, it is not written in an attempt to lay down the nuances and recount the events of Augustine’s life. Augustine’s purpose is not to satisfy the reader’s curiosity as to his person, or to create a voyeuristic vehicle used as an end to acquire (further?) fortune and fame as so many biographies written in our time are.Instead, Augustine seeks to understand the psyche of fallen man and his sinful condition, contrasted with the infinite grace of God by examining keenly God’s work in his own life. This method has made his book of vital important not only in helping the modern reader to understand the historical background of the church during Augustine’s life, but also to see the truths of total depravity, irresistible grace, unconditional election, etc. as found in the scriptures and experienced in Augustine’s life.
Augustine understood that men would read his Confessions, but writes to God much more than man. Consider the opening line of book one: “You are great, O Lord, and greatly to be praised: great is your power, and to your wisdom there is not limit.” (p. 43). Thus the feel of the book is that you’re overhearing one long confessional prayer that becomes a corporate prayer as Augustine’s struggles and ultimate conversion resonate within us as we recount our own experiences.
Book one deals with Augustine’s infancy. Admitting that he has no special gift of memory in remembering his first two years of life, Augustine recounts his experience through information delivered by eyewitnesses and his own observations of other infants. Though the information about Augustine’s personal life during this time is scant and generic, his observations about the nature of infants have a lasting impact. Taking into account a baby’s jealous desire for his own pleasure, be it by food, attention, or toys and the murderous rage that comes across an infant whenever he sees any ‘competition’, Augustine concludes that children are born with the staining sin of Adam, and continue to sin of their own will.
This kind of thinking runs contrary to the position the Pelagius, whom Augustine regularly combated. Pelagius and Pelagianism held that man was born in the same state as Adam, being able to sin or not sin, without any original sin in him. Pelagius reasoned that there were perfect men before Christ, and perfection could still be achieved through a legalistic obeisance toward the law. Augustine, who had battled his constant sinful desire, the story of his lust for stole pears is well told, found this view reprehensible and fought vehemently against it, though ultimately Rome adopted a semi-pelagian view which it still holds.
Augustine continues to unfold his life, telling of his training in the field of rhetoric and his subsequent travels in search of fame and fulfillment. A continuous update is provided throughout the narrative relating to his mother, who famously prayed and prayed for her son’s salvation. Augustine fell in with a cult known as the Manicheans, though he ultimately fell away from them when their chief bishop Faustus was unable to provide him with answers relating to the nature of God and man. Augustine would later write against the Manicheans.
Tied into Augustine’s search for meaning in life is his dramatic conversion story: At the age of 32 while in Rome he heard a child saying “Tolle lege” or “take up and read”. Augustine opened a Bible and read Romans 13:13-14 -
“Not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”
His conversion was instantaneous and heart felt, a work of the Holy Spirit by grace. The Bishop Ambrose of Milan baptized Augustine and his son.
The account of Augustine’s life ends with the death of his mother Monica, who died a happy death due to her son’s long awaited conversation to Christianity. Augustine finished his book with a treatment of Time, Form & Matter, and Creation.
The results of Augustine’s writings are far reaching. It was his insistence on the doctrine of Grace as portrayed in the Bible, particularly the gospels and Pauline epistles that had a heavy influence upon John Calvin and Martin Luther during the Reformation. However, it isn’t just the Reformed Protestant church that lays hold to Augustine. The Roman Catholic Church, though they misinterpret the doctrine of grace[1], looks to Augustine as a supporter for baptismal regeneration as well as an (overemphasized) supporter for the prestige of the bishop of Rome.
Augustine’s confessions are truly unique and edifying to read in that their purpose to awaken or reaffirm knowledge of the creator and our own sinful hearts in the reader. If we were to take an average autobiography at random, the most connected we might become is if the author provides us details of a story in his or her life that was coincidentally similar to something in our own lives. Augustine foregoes the ‘war stories’ unless they serve to illustrate his deeper purpose, to reveal the nature of God, the depravity of man, and the overwhelmingly merciful grace bestowed by Jesus Christ by grace through faith.
[1] The Catholic position is that grace is given by God to those whom he sees will accept it before the foundation of time. Therefore, he looks into possible futures; sees who would work with him, and elects that particular individual, knowing that all the rest would reject his grace.
