Monday 3 September 2012

The Confessions of Saint Augustine (Hubert Kinkoh)

Reading of the Spiritual Classics
By KINKOH Hubert                                     Registration Number: 11026T 


Book Title:  Confessions by St. Augustine


        






SUMMARY OF ST. AUGUSTINE’S CONFESSIONS

The Confessions follows a tripartite arrangement: the first nine Books recount Augustine’s life and his spiritual journey; Book X is a discussion of the nature of memory and an examination of the temptations Augustine was still facing; Books XI to XIII are an extended exegesis of the first chapter of Genesis.
Book I of the Confessions is dedicated mainly to an analysis of Augustine’s childhood, which he knows only from the report of his parents, beginning with his infancy up through his school days in Thagaste. He begins this book with a statement of praise to God, then he launches immediately into a very rhetorical discussion of God’s attributes. For him, God fills all of creation and God is perfect, eternal, unchangeable, all-powerful, and the source of all goodness. He notices that God is beyond his ability to describe and so he asks God for the words to describe such greatness. Turning to his brutish infancy, Augustine maintains that he was a sinner already as a child for he thanked no one, and revenged himself on his caretakers with unbearable weeping. He is harsh on himself for this nasty attitude mentioned above, but concludes with a dismissal of responsibility for those times which he could “recall not a single trace.” Soon, however, he begins to exercise his memory, particularly in the service of learning to communicate through language.
With the onset of adolescence in Book II, Augustine enters what he seems to consider the most lurid and sinful period of his life, a period when he “ran wild in the jungle of erotic adventures.” At this point, Augustine was preparing to leave for Carthage for studies. He talked about his parents, thanking his father Patrick for trying so hard to educate him. About his mother, Monica, he says she often admonished him against fornication although at the time, he saw her warnings as “womanish advice which I would have blushed to take the least notice of.” After that, Augustine considers the theft of pears which he blames on peer pressure and this is particularly disturbing because this teenage prank was done out of no other motive than a desire to do wrong.
In school at Carthage, Augustine continues to be lost in carnal desires, and so he opens Book III with a wholesale self-condemnation that this lust was a misdirection of the love for God. In his pursuit of truth, he comes across Cicero’s Hortensius and it changes his entire outlook. Reading the book animates his love of philosophy, and he resolves to pursue true wisdom. Next, Augustine decides to study the Bible, but finds it lacking in literary style. Still burning for truth, he began to fall in love with the Manichees, accepting their absurd mythologies as the literal truth. Monica is grieved by Augustine’s conversion to Manichaeism. Meanwhile, she has a dream in which she sees herself and Augustine standing on the same measuring stick. She goes to a bishop to plead with him to talk to Augustine, but he tells her that Augustine will recognize the errors of the Manichees soon enough on his own. Augustine’s Confessions, Book IV opens with a short description of his pursuits in Thagaste, which he says consisted primarily of “being seduced and seducing, being deceived and deceiving.” Chief among his regrets about this period are his career as an instructor in rhetoric and his persistence in keeping an unnamed concubine. She stays with Augustine for nearly ten years, bearing him a son, Adeodatus who died aged seventeen. He again left Thagaste for Carthage where he wrote The Beautiful and the Fitting. Book V follows Augustine from Carthage, where he finds his students too rowdy for his liking, to Rome, where he finds them too corrupt, and to Milan, where he will remain until his conversion. Manichean beliefs begin to lose their luster for him during this period and by the end of the Book, he considers himself an unbaptized Christian. He encounters a number of important figures, including a Manichean Bishop - Faustus. Dissatisfied with his arguments, Augustine becomes disillusioned with Manichaeism, although he does not abandon it. Augustine is appointed teacher of rhetoric in Milan, where he hears the sermons of Bishop Ambrose. Monica has come to join Augustine in Milan and is pleased to hear that Augustine has given up Manichaeism (Book VI).
            In Book VII, Augustine reads Neoplatonic philosophy, paying particular attention to his conceptions of God as a being and of the nature of evil. He imagined God as “incorruptible and inviolable and unchangeable.” After a brief discussion of astrology, he briefly touched on the excitement he found in reading an unnamed Neoplatonic text, which is thrillingly similar to Genesis and authoritatively contrary to Manichean dualism. He criticizes it, however, for mentioning nothing about God and for its tainted polytheist tendencies.
Book VIII tells the story of his conversion in Milan. Augustine is now a Christian in his heart, but he is unable to give up his worldly affairs, particularly sex. He goes to speak with Simplicianus, Ambrose's teacher, who congratulates him for studying the books of the Platonists and tells him the story of one Victorinus, as a means of encouraging Augustine. Augustine is moved by the story but his old life has become a habit he cannot break. What is more, Augustine and his friend Alypius are visited by Ponticianus, who tells them about two of his friends who were inspired to dedicate their lives to Christ after reading the story of St. Antony. Augustine is overcome with shame at his inability to follow their example. Extremely troubled, Augustine retreats to the garden of their house with a divided will. He breaks down in tears beneath a fig tree and hears a voice saying, “Take and read.” Accordingly, he opened to Romans 13:13-14, where he read: “...not in revelry and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Book IX recounts some of the events directly following Augustine’s conversion including his retirement from his position as teacher and his resolve to embrace Christianity. Along with his son, he was baptized by Ambrose on Easter Eve in 387. His mother, who had rejoined him in Italy, rejoiced at this answer to her prayers and hopes. She died soon afterward in Ostia. Augustine recalls feeling a great deal of pain but decides not to grieve over her death since she was going to be with God.
Book X marks the transition in the Confessions in form and content, from autobiography to the direct analysis of philosophical and theological issues. Augustine introduces his investigation with an appraisal of his love for God. He maintains that the five physical senses alone are inadequate in knowing God; and the spiritual faculties are not also sufficient. Augustine ascends beyond this function, to memory. But the vastness of memory is more than his capacity to grasp. Augustine thus suggests looking for God elsewhere in himself since animals also have memory. Whether one is rich or poor, he maintains, life brings numerous temptations, from which only God can save people. Then he considers three kinds of temptations: lust of the senses, curiosity, and power, and then moves to consider time, maintains that God is separated from His creation by virtue of His eternity and by virtue of creation’s temporality. In Book XII, Augustine examines the second verse of Genesis: “The earth was invisible and formless, darkness was over the deep” and proposes other possible interpretations. He concludes that multiple true interpretations of the passage exist and do not contradict each other.
In the last Book, he maintains that all of creation depends on God’s goodness, and God chose to create because of the abundance of his goodness. Then Augustine examines the action of the Holy Trinity in the creation by looking at the verse “the Spirit moved over the waters.” Augustine examines the rest of the Genesis creation story, interpreting it in a unique way. The last day of the creation was for rest; so, too, will the faithful rest with God on the eternal Sabbath day.

PERSONAL REFLECTION ON THE CONFESSIONS
            In Chambers English Dictionary, the word “confession” is used in a number of senses, all of which run throughout this work. Confession can mean acknowledgment of one’s crimes or faults, which Augustine does with passion, confessing not only his ambition and his lust but also his intellectual pride, his misplaced faith in Manichaeism, and his misunderstanding of Christianity. Secondly, a confession is a statement of religious belief, and this aspect is echoed in Augustine’s detailed account of how he arrived at his Christian beliefs and his knowledge of God. Finally, confession means a statement of praise; a creed. In the Confessions, Augustine constantly gives praise to the God who mercifully directed his path and brought him out of misery and error.
I see the Confessions as one long prayer by a devout mother for the conversion of his son, hence it is a spiritual journey. This makes me also see the Confessions as a conversion story for Augustine actually undergoes several conversions even though he assumes the existence of God. The Confessions is Augustine’s personal story, showing his amazing insight into the human condition trying to rediscover the divine, the only source of true peace and satisfaction. It is a reflection of my own story because Augustine’s experiences are not foreign to mine.
What a phenomenal text! Having read it, I also have a few confessions of mine to make. My only regret after reading the Confessions is waiting so long to read it from cover to cover. Of course I had come across excerpts and quotes from this distinguished work, but even when I had the opportunity to read it, I put off reading it.  I already knew that Monica, Augustine’s poor mother, had begged and pleaded with God for years to bring about her wayward son’s conversion.  I knew Augustine had spent his youth leading a very sinful life, and frankly, I assumed that in this work he described in detail his many indiscretions. These two elements are very true of my own situation. As a boy I was very stubborn and this only increased the more as I grew. For these, I received punishments of various types from my father, ranging from insults to thorough beating. My mother on the other hand would sit me down and advice me and would offer Masses for her special intention, which became clear to me later on that they were for my change of manner of life. I always see my being in the religious life, something which still baffles many people, as a result of her continuous prayers for me. The religious value of the Confessions in my life remains unquestionable. Having read the whole of it, I can join Augustine in affirming that “our hearts are restless until they rest in God.”

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