However, when referring to what is God's will and what behavior and actions are considered pleasing to God's eyes, St. Augustine did not specifically enumerate or identify these. Consistent in his arguments, however, is to live life in accordance to His will, among which he recommended acquainting one's self with the Christian doctrine (as he did so himself when he sought the Christian faith). In this section, salvation from sin is

Augustine and Science Science in the modern sense did not exist for Augustine, or indeed for any of his contemporaries, nor were the events of the material universe and the physical-temporal bodies located within it of any great importance to him. Nor was his purpose in writing the Confessions to explain the natural world, but rather to uphold the Truth (in the sense of absolute and eternal Truth as revealed by

Monica was honored for her forbearance in marriage to an undisciplined, often cruel pagan man. Augustine's father suffers by comparison to Augustine's mother, but rather than suggest that she should have left his father because of his mistreatment, Monica's quiet example of patient endurance is praised by her son. Augustine's turning towards his mother was seen, through hindsight, as the major development of his life, but he went through several

" When these words of mine were repeated in Pelagius' presence at Rome by a certain brother of mine (an Episcopal colleague), he could not bear them and contradicted him so excitedly that they nearly came to a quarrel. Now what, indeed, does God command, first and foremost, except that we believe in him? This faith, therefore, he himself gives; so that it is well said to him, "Give what

Augustine is a Christian father of the late Roman Empire -- the traditional date of the "fall" of the Roman Empire is about a half-century after Augustine's death -- while Thomas Aquinas is a thinker of the medieval period. It is worth noting this substantially large time difference -- eight hundred years separates Augustine from Aquinas, just as another eight hundred years separate Aquinas from ourselves -- because we need

Augustine relates the common human condition of procrastination directly to himself. It thus serves the dual purpose of expounding both the phenomenon of procrastination as experienced by humanity, and of illuminating for the reader the process that Augustine went through at this time. The significance of this is that Augustine is honestly reviewing his life and the mental processes that brought about his conversion. The way in which he treats