Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Blog 9: Augustine's Confessions
Could Confessions have been written today? Does our culture support such serious, intensive, analysis of the self and the meaning of life? Or have psychotherapy and such phenomena taken the place of self-motivated searching like that engaged in by Augustine? What role does reading play in Augustine's search?
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Augustine’s Confessions is a work discussing Augustine’s life story through the work that God did through him when he became a follower of Christ. It is both a look into Augustine’s faults and a letter to God for the work that he did in Augustine’s life and the changes that Augustine sees as a work of Christ in him. Through Augustine’s self-reflection of his life and the things, he had done throughout his life whether good and bad Augustine looks at various experiences through the lens of the things he has learned in studying different philosophers and views on the “Big Questions” of life. Augustine analyzes questions like Who is God and how do we know that he is with us no matter the circumstances, and how can God be all knowing and ever present in every moment of our lives. Augustine begins Confessions by recounting Childhood memories of teachers that he criticizes for the way that they taught him to write, speak, and read. Augustine recounts stories of classical texts that he was forced to read. He tells of how he found that fiction was pointless to read, he argues that fiction is sinful that it is a sin to read about other people’s sins to avoid confronting his or her own sins. This written work is most definitely relevant to today’s society while if it were written today it might speak to the same dilemmas and questions but from a very different perspective. If it were written today I don’t think it would focus on the extensive self-reflection that Augustine went through on this journey to find answers to these Big Questions of Life. Today’s society does not support this type of deep considerations of life’s greatest dilemmas, but one could argue that the society that Augustine was surrounded by didn’t support this way of thinking either. Though the difference in the two cultures is that Today’s culture is not driven by religious teachers and intellectual philosophers that supported one way of thought, but is driven by distractions from those big questions that Augustine was so willing to debate and bring to light in his culture. Today’s society is focused on self-preservation and looking out for one’s own interest rather than looking out for the interest of the greater population. Today’s culture is very much obsessed with superficial surface thinking and the culture we live in supports distractions that prevent us from debating and contemplating the type of questions that Augustine discusses in his confessions. Even the type of self-motivation shown by Augustine in his research and discovery of his beliefs is rarely seen in today’s society, which leads to the conclusion that while it could be written in today’s society it would take on a much different perspective/outlook on the issues discussed in the text.
- Gracie Cahalan
Augustine’s, “Confessions,” is his personal experience with coming into contact with Christ and developing a relationship with Him. This gives the reader a sneak peak into the life of Augustine and can even be a way of sharing the gospel with the reader if they have never heard it themselves. Augustine’s work also points out his faults and shows the reader that even he is human, and God still loves him. The beginning of the story points out how Augustine credits God for everything he knows. For it was not the people who were teaching him, for he already knew because God gave him the ability. Then comes Augustine talking about leaving his past behind and coming to know Christ. Honestly speaking on if this were written today, the author would get judged by what they believe. In our culture today, it is not frowned upon believing in a higher power other than yourself. I mean, most people today tend to rely on themselves more than anything. But, it is respected that you believe in something higher than yourself. Now, another thing is, I doubt someone would go into such detail as to find the answers to life like Augustine did. He reflected on himself and noticed God’s work within him. Most people today would not take more than a couple of days to reflect on their reason for being alive.I do believe that people in our culture today are more likely to self-diagnose or go to a person for help rather than looking deeper into the problem. We are a culture of wanting answers, and wanting them immediately. We want to know that the answer is also tangible and can be seen and fixed. Another thing that stops us from knowing the absolute truth is distractions of the world. We are so easily distracted, and do not focus on ourselves. We are always on the go or are busy doing something. Augustine was willing to take the time and figure out the meaning of life. While we are busy doing our own things, and we couldn’t care less about the meaning of our existence.
Augustine shared his testimony in a completely truthful way. In his "autobiography," (quotations because the term "autobiography" did not exist at that time) he shared the good, the bad, and focused on the ugly. I think only a select few people in history could write something as brutally honest about themselves. Society as a whole today could not examine them selves this intently. What changed? Nicholas Carr sheds some much needed light onto this topic in his article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid.” Society would rather have a therapist or someone else discover the answers for them and give them immediate feedback, like a Google search. Carr would argue that because of the limitless knowledge a keyword away, people do not think for them selves anymore. Augustine was able to focus much better than the average person today. He did not have the constant distraction of social media jolting him out of his thoughts with every notification. People today, myself included, would be pulled out of any deep thinking by the irresistible siren-song of modern life.
Reading played a central role in Augustine’s conversion to Christianity. Growing up, he chose to read secular books over scripture despite the disapproval of his elders. Throughout his quest he began to read the scriptures more and more as secular books of reason and philosophy repeatedly failed to provide a satisfactory answer in comparison to the Bible. In fact, he finally accepted Christ when he stumbled across Romans 13:13-14 by either chance or divine will. Romans 13:13-14 states, “Not in revelry and drunkenness, not in debauchery and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and as for the flesh, take no thought for its lusts.” It is no surprise this verse struck the very core of Augustine because he admitted earlier in the autobiography he aimed only to please his lusts in young adulthood.
In conclusion, people today could never repeat Augustine’s feat. The capacity for focus just is not there anymore. Augustine’s “Confessions” has been held in high regard for over a thousand years and is showing no signs of slowing down. Only time will tell the continued success of the autobiography of a very interesting man.
Augustine writes “Confessions” to share about his struggles through his relationship with God. He begins by recounting his infant years and explaining how he learned to talk, not by any method but just by observation and the power of God. Then, he moves through his realization and acceptance of Christ, and then how he turned away from Him. Augustine says that it was his readings that caused him to turn away from God. He states that, “in that among these studies I was becoming dead to You, O God” (50). I do not believe that “Confessions” could be written today. Todays culture focuses on living in the present and not dwelling in the past or in your own mistakes. There is a lower level of respect of religion today than there was in Augustine’s time, making “Confessions” an unlikely story for today. In today’s world, Augustine would be mocked and considered a prude. He would be seen as too serious and judgmental- making “Confessions” disregarded. In our culture, people are after a quick fix. Whether it be fast food, cell phones, or even transit, people want fast. People do not want to spend time waiting for things to happen. Unlike Augustine, people in our culture are mostly unwilling to go on a long and rigorous journey in pursuit of finding themselves, but more importantly, finding God. That idea is often quickly dismissed when people realize that it will not be easy, and it will not be fast. If someone could offer them a quick way to do it, like taking a pill, then more people would attempt to find God. Of course, that is not how God intended someone’s spiritual journey to be. Society today disregards religion as the solution to problems because it does not always offer a crystal clear answer or an immediate fix. What people today do not realize and what Augustine did, is that Christianity is a long and hard road, but the benefits you will reap are incomparable to any this world has to offer. Augustine realized that even though God’s answer might have been “no”, He was still there, He was still loving, and He was still in control. Augustine was very transparent in his writings. This is another thing not supported by today’s culture. Today, people put on masks that hide their flaws, and instead create a false sense of perfection. Augustine was not afraid of sharing his flaws because he knew that his transgressions had been forgiven by God. He believed that his sins were how he grew back to God. He speaks of how his sought to fulfill his worldly desires and by doing that turned away from God. His honesty and transparency would not be widely accepted in today’s world.
While something similar to Confessions could perhaps be written today, it would be greatly ridiculed in our culture today. Our culture dies not support the analysis of self that Augustine approaches and delves so deep into. In my opinion, our culture today teaches that some certain sins, even sins that Augustine commits, are acceptable as forms of growing up and self discovery. Our culture teaches us that things are not our fault, but what we are taught, and are necessary in maturing. Many sins that Augustine experiences are still very prevalent today, such as the sexual sins that he indulges in. Yet, if someone were to write something similar to Augustine’s Confessions, critiquing himself and confessing of such sins, our culture would not be supportive or accepting. Many times, to even feel reason to do such search in one’s sin, there requires motivation from the scriptures. Reading the scriptures plays a large roll in Augustine’s search, as this is how he ultimately came to convert to Christianity. Even today, with our drastically contrasting culture, reading scripture and being familiar with such truths is of great importance. It is often hard to be as self motivated as Augustine was to explore one’s sin without the motivation of the Bible. While obviously not everyone conformed to Christianity and its ideals, such as Augustine’s father, and himself for the duration of his young life, the ideas of exploring religious beliefs were greater supported than they are today. It someone today were to write something like Confessions, confessing all of their wrongs and exploring why they committed such wrongs, I feel as if our culture would critique them as being far to harsh on themselves, as many sins have become increasingly executable and less looked down upon. One struggle that Augustine faced in his life was perceiving the image of God. He was not sure if the phrase “made in His image” was literal. He was taught in Mancheeism that God was like a glowing force, so Augustine assented to that for sometime yet was still curious. Today, many non-believers in our culture may believe in a godlike force, that somewhat governs, and is like this “glow” as it is energy that is all around. One similarity that many even today share with Augustine is the always present search for some sort of meaning. Even if not motivated by religion or the God of the Bible, humans naturally yearn for a higher sense of meaning.
- Karli Haws
Augustine’s, “Confessions,” is his autobiography and his testimony of discovering Christ and overall converting to begin sanctification. In his writing he gives the reader a summary of his life and uses at what we would call today a testimony of his faith in writing. This piece of work was influential enough to change the way Martin Luther look at Christianity and the Scriptures, which catapulted the reformation. Augustine starts out by telling his sins and mistakes he has committed and proves that even though he has had a sinful past as a human, he loves God. To start the story, Augustine talks about how God is responsible for everything he knows by claiming that God allowed him the ability to learn this knowledge. Augustine then brings to light his sinful past of trying to fill a void in his life with things such as sex money and education. Though through all this he later repents of his sins and converts to Christianity. If this were written in the modern era, Augustine would be ridiculed and few of many regarding his beliefs. In this time, it is not the status quo to believe in a god. Atheism is the most abundant belief within the world. The foundation for Atheism is the ultimate sense of relying on yourself rather than a supreme power or god. Augustine has a rare attribute that is not common today, he has the need to get to the core of an idea and a hard work ethic to understand something. He reevaluated his life and thought through the concept of reality. Nowadays people don’t take the time to research or reflect on life with the internet and the media on tv to know whether something is true or not. The new technology has taken the concept of digging deeper away from most of society and has terminated the idea of self-diagnoses. People often make the excuse that they are too busy and don’t have enough time. I’ guilty of this also. This excuse is just the best example of have lazy and lackadaisical our society has turned out compared to the times of Augustine. We need to take to light the example that Augustine has set forth for us in his confession piece. As we read his self-diagnoses and self-thinking, we need to take the time and energy to put ourselves into his shoes and consider the questions he asks and answer them reflecting on ourselves.
The teacher and famed philosopher, Augustine provides a detailed account of his early life all the way up to when he decided to accept Christ in his heart, in his autobiography, “Confessions.” Augustine begins his writing by discussing his childhood and his many faults he had, this includes his childhood mischief to his many sexual sins. By doing this he allows his audience to see that he is not a perfect man by any means and only God can forgive him. As Augustine became of age, he began his education, as a child he despised receiving an education, he compared it to torture, however he did understand the need for a proper education and how knowledge was so important in his time. This education would allow Augustine to become an undeniably important figure in Christianity. His knowledge would also allow him to effectively look back on his mistakes in life and to discuss and write about them. Personally, I do not believe that Augustine’s book; “Confessions” would be widely accepted and sought after in today’s society. Society today has drastically changed from the ancient society the author resided in. For starters, society today rarely looks back on their past mistakes and does not make any attempt to correct them or analyze them to find what a better outcome could be. No one today enjoys being corrected, much less correcting himself or herself. I believe that another key reason that “Confessions” would not be prominent in today’s society is the blatant lack of respect we have for not only religion, but our God as well. In order to even begin to analyze oneself and their personal beliefs about daily life as well as God and religion, it is imperative to have a strong personal relationship with God. Our culture today often refuses to accept religion because they want a simple and quick fix to any issues they might have. People today find it hard to wait for anything and religion is something that is a long and hard road that takes a lot of time. Society today will acknowledge that they have many issues, the difference between them and the philosopher Augustine, is that Augustine had the strong religious foundation that is necessary to confront the issues of the past as well as the issues that face our society every day. Without having the deep respect and knowledge for the Christian religion, Augustine would have never been able to become the man he did.
-Jack Brunton
The manner in which Augustine wrote “Confessions” is a way that could have been duplicated in today’s modern times. The confessions consisted of a deep analysis of his own life. He left nothing out in regard to his transgressions and had the utmost of honesty in writing it. Through this story of his life, he unpacks several crucial theological concepts. The basis of his conversion to Christianity is what makes the foundation of the story so exceptional. He recounts his years of infancy with inferences that he makes based on the observation of other infants and recounts from nurses and his own mother. He then progresses towards the discussion of his boyhood in which he concedes that he embraced his truly sinful nature and the pleasure it seemed to bring him. This is where it becomes plausible that something of similar nature could be written in today’s time. Though it would be difficult to find someone who could rival Augustine’s eloquence and thought process, the message conveyed is still very applicable in today’s modern society. The things he struggled with in his lifetime are struggles that people face today. The feeling of emptiness and the pursuit of worldly things to fill the void remains a prominent issue. Despite this, our society may not fully support such an extensive analysis of oneself. Today’s society seems to be focused on the quickest fix to a problem or what works best for themselves at that particular time. To an extent, one could conclude that psychotherapy have taken the place of self-motivated searching. Nowadays, people hope to find oneself through various different popular methods, however very few involve a true self-motivated searching. The reading Augustine did in is self-motivation played a crucial role in what he thought originally and then, ultimately what spurred him to convert to Christianity. His readings originally pointed towards other forms of religious systems especially in dealing within the context of good versus evil. However, as time progressed he came to a different conclusion when he read Romans and became a Christian. In other words, his reading was his way of searching. He searched for answers to his emptiness by reading and by trying to learn as much as he could. Through these readings he developed inquiries related to Christianity and its specifics. These questions caused him to continue his search to fill the void within himself until the day he became a believer. Even after that he still wanted to search and know more about the God whom he believed in.
-Sterling
“Confessions” by St. Augustine of Hippo is a work by Augustine full of personal experiences, prayers to God, his philosophy on life, and his understanding of the world. He writes if his childhood and his philosophy of how he came to talk, read, write, and think for him. He claims that as a child gaining understanding was not always easy but his elders pushed him into finding what he believed to be the meaning of life. His writings could have been manufactured in modern times due to how he writes of all topics that are still relevant in today's culture. He still read books of religion and philosophy, and although his writing date back to 400 A.D. we still can use many of his ideas in the world we live in now. Augustine seems to dig deep into his philosophy on life, which is uncommon within many individuals today. In modern times people seem to not think for themselves but rely of great thinkers to form their own opinion of life's meaning. People now have resorted to finding truth by means of psychotherapy, which differs from Augustine’s deductive reasoning. Augustine’s main goal was to find the truth behind the world. He primary relies on his religion to guide him to the answers he is looking for. He prays to God throughout his readings and confesses, giving the book its name. He also uses his own thinking to discover his answers for life. One of way he comes to his philosophy is by reading. He states that as a young boy he never wanted to learn because it was easier to take life as it is and not find a greater understanding. His elders persuaded he to keep reading and learning which sparked his interest in the philosophy of life. This means without his parents encouraging him to read and without reading he would have not come to his philosophy on life. All of his writings are based on the growing knowledge that stemmed from what he read at a young age. After reading confessions it is clear that Augustine was searching for a greater meaning that is often lost in the superficial way of our culture today. He writes of all things important to the understanding of life. He resorts back to his basic understanding of the world and grows that understanding with religion, reading and his own personal belief making confessions a book that all should read.
- Golda
Augustine’s confessions is an autobiography written by St. Augustine of Hippo, in which he discusses his life from infancy to boyhood to puberty and finally to adulthood. Ultimately he discusses what his life was like before and after he converted from Paganism to Christianity.It is a letter to God and, at the same time, also a confession of his sinful actions, both past and present. It is a piece of self-examination on Augustine’s part, of his actions throughout his life and how they led him to where he is in life. More than a millennia later, Martin Luther, catalyst of the Protestant Reformation would read this series of books and realized that he has misunderstood the gospel; leading him to post the ninety-five theses that ignited a revolution. It is of personal belief that Confessions could have been written in today’s culture. Much like Augustine when he desired to rid himself of the “emptiness” he felt, many people today also turn to alcohol and sex and sins in general to fill the void. In the world filled with advertisements of yoga and meditation and other things that preach self-reflection and “finding oneself,” such intensive and serious analysis of the self and the meaning of life is supported by many. While psychotherapy may be helpful to those who need it; such as people with severe mental illnesses or those who are suicidal, it is evident that people in today’s day and age are obsessed with finding out who they are when everything else is gone. Despite the sinful or sacrilegious mediums that people use, they are just as many who turn to various religions, including Christianity. Nonetheless, Augustine is a highly self-motivated man, whose readings of philosophy and religion, in the end, lead him to his salvation in Christ. This lack of procrastination and inclination to do things that do not reap an apparent reward is rarely seen in society today. Also, today’s culture often refrains from thinking at a deeper level, often accepting things as they seem, rather than questioning them, as philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle did. In a society ransacked by tragedy, people have been forced to recognize that it all might end soon which leads them to question, not necessarily the meaning of life, but rather what happens after life and even after death. Even though most people today are not willing to go on a rigorous and time consuming task of finding who they are and there place in the world, the circumstances that are crippling the world today have forced them to reevaluate their lives and make any changes they believe may delay the inevitable.
The famous philosopher, Augustine, wrote a series of Confessions. He admits to all the wrong doings he has committed against himself and the world around him. A mindset of lust for sex and women took over his life. When he had a desire, there was no want to avoid his temptation. Today our society almost lives in the same was as Augustine. The people of today’s culture are constantly haunted and tempted to chase after the things they lust over. Instead of confessing our wrongs, we live and move on. In a way, they people embrace their sins and show off what they have done. We are not encouraged to confess our sins in the way Augustine did. It is considered a way of life and apart of growing up to experience and live in so much sin and lust such as Augustine. To stop an examine ourselves is something that is frowned upon and look down on. We are supposed to live with ourselves and not focus too much on one specific issue. To believe everything is okay and that we should not care is the mindset our culture instills in us. Augustine’s Confessions would be considered strange. Change was one of the main things Augustine was after and his Confessions helped lead him on the path in the right direction. He wanted to become a better person. In our culture, that is something that is far from encouraged. Change is something that our culture wants us to avoid at all cost. They want us to “embrace who we are” and not to change. Change is something our culture is not used to and encourages us to stay away from it. If someone today wrote the same Confessions it would introduce a whole new meaning to the way we look at life. The act of Confessions is religious in a way of becoming a new person. Therefore, our culture refuses to encourage the acts of religion. Religion evolves change, which results in the lives of the people changed. Change is scary and our culture is scared that if the people change then they will no longer support and follow the culture. They will rebel and go their own way and not worry about what anyone, especially the culture, thinks about them.
-Abigail Wells
Unfortunately, I do not think that Augustine's "Confessions" could be written in society today. This is for many reasons. To begin with, society has obviously moved to be vastly more secular than in Augustine's time. People no longer question things and believe that technology is so advanced there is nothing to question. Reality is reality and that is unfortunately as much thought as people use today. Furthermore, our culture has given itself over to extreme relativism. People would be astounded that there is a meaning of life. Rather, culture has personalized truth and now says there is no meaning to life but merely a meaning for MY life. Also, people tend to avoid hard topics. Thinking deeply is not easy and requires a lot of effort and patience. People now dismiss thinking deeply for themselves and would rather have the "smart" people tell them what they should believe in or rather not believe in. It is honestly kind of sad how stuck in being apathetic our culture is. So many people I know just genuinely could care less about a deeper meaning in life. They simply want to be successful, however they define that, and have fun. Truth is no longer something that is absolute and imposed on everything and everyone, but merely defined personally and subjectively. No one worries about being wrong because one thinks as long he is not hurting anyone else there is no way he could be wrong. The thought of a transcendent being is regarded as foolishness and mankind is praised for things it has no authority to posses. It is obvious from history and from the writing of Augustine that culture in his time was not in a great place either. People dismissed the Scriptures and praised man not too far from what we see today. The difference, however, is that people in his time still cared. Did they smirk at thoughts of God and the Scriptures being divine? Absolutely! Yet, they still cared about the meaning of life as a whole. Today, this is not even the case! Not only to people laugh at the Bible and call its followers bigot idiots, but they do not even know what they personally follow. Even more so, they do not care! It absolutely blows my mind how people today do not care about what they believe about life. How can you have purpose if you do not even know what you personally believe? It makes absolutely no sense to me. I understand when people are skeptical of the Bible I was and at times still am, but to not care about belied blows my mind. Why do you think Augustine read so much? He wanted to learn what he believed and solve problems he had internal conflictions about (problem of evil). That is why his "Confessions" would be quickly dismissed as something stupid today. No one cares about what he is discussing, and that, to me, is disgusting.
Augustine’s Confessions could have been written today, but it would probably not have been as influential or widely accepted as when he actually wrote them. Most people do not have the attention spans or care enough these days to read something like that. Long pieces of literature and writing are not the primary influence on society anymore, and people care more about other things now. Gone are the days of Socrates where people would engage each other on analysis of the self and the meaning of life. In modern society, there is not as much self-motivated searching into the meaning of life as there was during Augustine’s time. Now if you tried to engage people with the same ideas, they would not care as much. Our culture does support analysis into the meaning of life, but this is more supported in other ideas besides Christianity. As we talked about in apologetics last year, there used to be a time where it was impossible not to believe, and then a time where it was possible not to believe. Now we are living in a time where it is becoming impossible to believe, and it becomes more impossible as time goes on. Things like relativism are becoming increasingly more common in modern society. More and more people are starting to believe that there is no such thing as an absolute truth, and people are starting to make up their own truths. Something that is true for one person might not be true for another, and people do not seem to have an issue with that. Now that the majority of the people living on the earth do not believe Jesus and the Bible, ideas that deal with the analysis of the self and the meaning of life that oppose Christianity are more likely to be widely accepted than ideas that support Christianity. People also do not seem to research and read as much like the people of Augustine’s day. Reading played a pivotal role in Augustine’s search into the meaning of life. He enjoyed studying Latin because of stories like the Aeneid that were written in the language. He studied literature and poetry during his time at the university at Carthage. The writings of Cicero inspired him to seek the truth in self-analysis and the meaning of life; he also read up on the ideas of Manichaeism and was influenced by its divide between good and evil. In addition, he was also heavily influenced by Plato, and the ideas of Neo-Platonism ultimately led his conversion. He believed in the Neo-Platonist ideas for a long time, and a large portion of his theology came from those ideals. Eventually, as he thought about those ideas, he was led to a conversion to Christianity. After his conversion, he denounced Neo-Platonism, although some still believed that those ideas stayed with him, even after his conversion.
I would argue that confessions could be written today. The reflection of Augustine’s life, while deep, could be rewritten by a man who is self-aware of the depth of his sin, like Augustine. However, our society has thrown away this idea of any awareness of self in our culture. I should clarify a true self-awareness of self. Our culture has covered our eyes to reality and is causing more and more trouble for people in our generation to examine the true reflection of self. In our generation, we get bogged down by how we feel, not what is true. So, any chance of self-reflection would fall short because all that people would reflect on what they thought about themselves not what they really are. In our culture, there is no reality to what you actually ours. Boys can be girls and vise-versa, so if there is any reflection of self it would be a lie who said that they were a different gender than you really are. So, while I believe that one man with a clear state of mind than, yes, you could have a piece such as the Confessions. However, with the state of our culture the chance of that happening would be slim to none. We have given these people badges of honor and called them brave for embracing this condition. We have taken away from a society that used to be able to reflect on themselves in a pure manor, now our society has no since of truth so there would be no way to reflect on yourself in a true and honest light. We also see in the Confessions that Augustine found in his earlier years his whole life revolved around epics. His main influence was Virgil and he got lost in his books. Augustine would put so much time into books that he would care more about those characters than he would care about his own feelings. Augustine found his pleasure in education and he fulfilled his empty life with knowledge through reading. Even in his conversion books played a major role in Augustine’s life. Augustine was in the church and was contemplating Christianity while in the pew. He hears children in the distance to pick up and read. And Augustine saw this as Christ’s way of telling him to pick up the bible and read. So he did, and he found salvation in Romans 13 and his life was forever changed.
-Joseph Huett
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