Augustine's Confessions
Q and a on Confessions
What is Augustine confessing, why, and to whom?
Augustine is confessing to God, because he was a public sinner and in order to justify himself as a Catholic it is necessary to confess and in this sense he is renouncing his old views and letting it be known to both God and man that he now believes as a Catholic. The Confessions is written to God, whom Augustine addresses at length: "Accordingly, my God, I would have no being, I would have no existence, unless you were in me" (Augustine, 2008, p.4)
What book by what author does Augustine read at age 18 that changes his life?
Augustine reads Hortensius by Cicero and this makes him want to pursue philosophy rather than mere sensual pleasure: "That book of his…Hortensius…it altered my prayers" (Augustine, 2008, p. 39).
What method does Augustine learn from the books of the "Platonists" that allows him to see his god's invisible nature? What does it look like?
Augustine learns that materialism does not explain everything and that there is a spiritual aspect to life that can be understood by means of the use of reason and the pursuit of objective...
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