Just how does one situate a "confession" as a literary genre, and how does it relate more generally to autobiography? Nearly one thousand years before the Church instituted the Sacrament of Penance, Augustine of Hippo rather disingenuously related the sins that he had committed in his pre-baptismal life within a greater biographical narrative. I say "disingenuous" because Augustine is incredibly selective about the details that he chooses to note. For example, he consciously omits any details about the woman with whom he had conceived his son, Aldeodatus, but speaking at great lengths about being stealing pears, being a disciple of the Manichees, and other carefully selected indiscretions. What is it that he confesses in this text and why does he do so? His motivation seems to morph dramatically throughout the text, a problem that makes any concise definition of a "confession" grow more and more elusive.
Like many of the texts that we will read this semester, the Confessions seems to be an attempt to follow the trajectory of psychological transformation, above and beyond a recitation of deeds. At the beginning of Book II, Augustine prefaces the narrative by writing, "I must now carry my thoughts back to the abominable things I did in those days, the sins of the flesh which defiled my soul[;]" yet, he explains that he does this for his God, "not because I love those sins, but so that I may love you. For love of your love I shall retrace my wicked ways" (II. 1). Does this suggest that the mental retracing of his steps is a prerequisite for solidifying his relationship with his God, or is it purely a therapeutic practice which he seeks to undertake in order to achieve at some sense of closure? If it is the former, why not as that famous confessional poet, Anne Sexton, once wrote in quoting Schopenhauer, "make a clean breast of it?" Augustine's selectivity implies that he really has another reason in mind for accounting his sins.
Perhaps his confessions seek to undermine the erroneous philosophical ideas that he had formerly held but has subsequently rejected. This would make his long discussions of the Manichees more pertinent (along with Theodosius' suppression of that group happening near contemporaneously with Augustine's composition of the Confessions). My proposition may be epitomized in the incessant theological questioning that accompanies Augustine's self-interrogation and revelation. He questions just why the Bible--if it is indeed the absolute truth, which for him it became--was not compelling for him in his youth, citing his love of rhetoric and the written word that could not be satisfied with the crude Latin of the Bible that he had read in translation. And from the very outset of his text, Augustine inquires about how pantheism truly functions, "You fill all things, but do you fill them with your whole self? Or is it that the whole of creation is too small to hold you and therefore only holds a part of you?" (I. 3), while simultaneously praising the God whose forgiveness he ostensibly seeks.
If this text is a confession, it is more of a confession of erroneous beliefs than of evil deeds. This assertion is substantiated by the famous Augustinian explanation of theodicy as prviatio boni, that is, that "bad" is but the privation or absence of good and doesn't really exist in and of itself. Perhaps Augustine mitigates his "sinful" action by simply asserting that they were committed from a misguided mind and are therefore not venial, i.e. not damning. If so, he had never been truly malicious, but rather unaware that only Good exists. This might help us to better explain his selectivity in discussing sins, for his carnal sins had nothing to do with thought, rather the absence of will and knowledge.
On the last, less philosophical note, in the autobiographical genre we are constantly confronted with the question of authority. We must ask what alternate perspectives the author of autobiography is allowed to relate in his or her text, and which aspects of the self are equally off limits. Augustine pushes these boundaries by writing about his infancy (I. 7), and claiming the authority to relate and interpret his mother's dreams. How do these readings of others and projections of their motives affect your reading of the text? Does the author of autobiography have free license to speak about the motives and experiences of others? Does this affect the veracity of an already dubiously "true" genre? How is it even more problematic in a text which is dubbed to be a confession? How do Augustine's Confessions compare to Boethius' Consolatio, either as a literary genre or a philosophical approach to understanding the self?
In Confessions, the expectation of the text differs from a regular spiritual autobiography, simply because it is framed as a confession. There is almost a negative connotation going along with the title Confessions because the reader knows that the storyline will just be a description of St. Augustine’s sins and his past sinning. The title also hints at a potential change throughout his life, shifting from a life of sin to a life of virtue. This definitely affects the reading of the text, because one’s knowledge and views on confessions will impact how they interpret the book.
ReplyDeleteThe way we view confessions (especially the religious type) today is definitely different than the way that Confessions precedes. In today’s religious confessions, the conversation is strictly confidential between a religious leader and the one confessing. The fact that St. Augustine turns his confessions into a novel, casts some doubt on the accuracy of his tale. In the beginning he claims that this story is being addressed to God. If this is the case, then why bother creating a book?
Confessions should be the honest truth, but one gets a distinct feeling throughout St. Augustine’s accounts that perhaps they are not entirely accurate. He talks in great detail about both his infancy and boyhood. Although most people may remember bits from their childhood, no-one remembers their infancy. St. Augustine addresses this by saying that he has learned of this from his mother and by observing other babies. Basing a whole segment of an autobiography on his mother’s accounts and the behavior of other infants is ridiculous. The autobiography reaches its unreliable peak when he gets to the story of when he taught himself how to speak, as this can neither come from his mother’s stories nor from other babies. Augustine even discusses his mother’s dreams and her feelings towards them, which once again is something he cannot possibly know nor witness firsthand. From the first chapter, Augustine appears to be a relatively unreliable narrator.
St. Augustine definitely shows some influence from the biblical prophetic tradition. He has a divine vision of the future and seems to be attempting to share that with both the world and the readers of Confessions. Another similarity with biblical prophets is his potential audience of sinners. Because this book is clearly not just a confession to God, Augustine’s goal is to steer sinners (like he used to be) to the path of righteousness.
St. Augustine also seems to be heavily influenced by Paul as there are many parallels between their two stories. They both address many of the same topics and themes. In both of their narratives, they talk about their own personal conversion and how they turned their lives around. They both also converted in the traditional sense, from one religion to another. The last major similarity I saw between St. Augustine and Paul is that both use their own conversion as an example to inspire other sinners to do the same.
Although Confessions is viewed as an autobiography, the reader quickly learns to take what St. Augustine says with a grain of salt. Augustine does not seem to limit the book to his own memories which makes him relatively untrustworthy. This is problematic in the theme of confession as well, because confessions are supposed to be true. However, in St. Augustine’s Confessions, one is left wondering where the truth ends and fiction begins.
Courtney Callahan
DeleteComp Lit 122
During class we defined a confession as the act of confessing is positive and the literal confession is negative, admitting personal flaws, shameful, telling your secrets and several other descriptions. Initially when I hear confession I think negatively, because a person usually admits their wrong doing, which is difficult to express openly. But after reading a good portion of this book I feel slightly different concerning what a confession is. Not all confessions have to be of a negative connotation, they can simply be something that has never been told by the confessor. While reading this text the reader can pin point what confessions truly matter to Augustine and others that he could care less about.
Because of the time period we live in currently, we or I perceive Augustine having an illegitimate child and leaving the woman to be a major confession. In our culture if someone has a child without getting married we view it as wrong and going against the norms of society. But Augustine does not perceive this act as a bad enough sin to be ashamed of which readers of this generation are shocked by. Others and I feel as though leaving a woman alone with your child to make a life by itself is a horrible act. Instead Augustine finds that his sin of stealing the pears is the ultimate confession to make to God. But when you attempt to think about this act in the times of Augustine, it is clearer as to why it was the ultimate sin. In Augustine's eyes what he did was extremely similar to the story of the Garden of Eden, as if this was his version of original sin. Not only this factor, but the idea that Augustine stole the pears just to steal, he did it intentionally with no positive reasoning behind it. And possibly in Augustine’s opinion leaving the woman and his kid was not a malicious act, but was simply accidental. Augustine was extremely religious and devoted to God, which is the reasoning behind much of his confessions, he felt obligated to apologize for the ultimate sins he committed. Therefore the sins that connected more religiously he felt as though were worse than others. Even though Augustine puts the stealing of the pears in front of all other sins, I still do not comprehend his reasoning. I would think that having an illegitimate child with a woman would be extremely against God, in Augustine’s opinion. According to the Bible, a woman and man can only lay in bed with one another once they are married. Because of this factor I do not follow Augustine’s thoughts concerning his sins and confessions. Although what I said before about the pears being an intentional sin, he still lay with a woman before being married.
The way, in which Augustine writes his confessions, the readers learn the kind of thought process that he has. We figure out what is more important to Augustine, and what he thinks God wants him to care about. The reader can also determine the values that Augustine possesses based on the weight he puts on certain confessions; the pears or the woman.
Tom Merritt
ReplyDeleteThe Confession[s] of St. Augustine is a spiritual autobiography that is read through a unique lens due to the label put on the text. A confession has a stigma associated with it that some wrongdoing occurred and the doer of this is taking account for their action with the right people (in a Christian sense, with God and the church). Putting the two of these together, the viewpoint is constructed the Augustine, since it is apparent that he believes strongly in God, that that is who his Confession is to and that most of the book is comprised of sins being reconciled. When the text is actually begun, however, the lens that is established through the labeling of a confession is likely to change. The beginning of the autobiography begins with a sort of questions for God regarding different things that Augustine wonders and about things that happened in his life, where he also expresses his faith in God. More traditional confessions are made moving into Book II on onward, but it in my opinion it is in a manner of deducing Augustine’s exterior validation and outward behavior down so that he can discover. Although these are examples of ways the reading can change your initial “frame of mind”, it still stands that readers initially are affected by the fact that the text is a “confession” and will be an underlying idea throughout the autobiography.
Some readers may begin to see the ‘confessional’ as a way for someone to understand and depict truth, as it is what’s left after the sins have been rid of. After delving deeper and thinking more about Confessions, you begin to realize, as stated before, that Augustine’s underlying desire is to ‘surrender’ himself to God and realize all of the truths that go along with the almighty being. The text is not labeled as a depiction of truth but in confessing ‘wrongs’ in regards to the almighty spiritual being, you can begin to see what is ‘right’ in light of spirituality which some may regard as being a truth. This is especially true in Confessions, which can be seen by the reader when they recognize the tone of and direction that Augustine is taking the text.
It seems as if Augustine’s entire paradigm through which the world is seen is based upon the principles of the biblical prophetic tradition. Everything stems from what God would think is good and what God wants him to do in order to live a good life. A lot of the confession deals with sins that he wants to reconcile to show God that all he wants is to live a good life and devote his love and effort to the “One”. It is also shown that Augustine understands the prophetic tradition that God “is everything”, that everything is a gift of god, and that there is no way that he could have came into this being without the grace of God himself.
The Confession[s] is a unique read, and a different way to understand someone’s perspective on ‘truth’, which is actually quite interesting in this text.
Alison O’Brien
ReplyDeleteSt. Augustine’s Confessions are a longwinded description of his various sins and subsequent transformation into a good Catholic. This book is in the format of a first-person confession and so the reader receives all of his or her information directly from Augustine. Like any first-person narration, we have to determine if the narrator is reliably conveying information. Augustine’s autobiography has a purpose – to convince the reader that sinners can be reformed – and so his words must be taken with that in mind. We must consider whether he is being entirely factual or if he is embellishing or emphasizing certain aspects of his life story. We must also keep in mind that his audience is technically God. He is confessing his sins to God Himself, though other people read them as well. He has a dual audience, and thus his writing has a dual purpose. The purpose of confession is to announce to God that you’ve done evil and to renounce it. Augustine says at the beginning of Book V, “If a man confesses to you, he does not reveal his thoughts to you as though you did not know them. For the heart may shut itself away, but it cannot hide from your sight” (91). Augustine confesses his every malignant thought in this confession because he knows God is all-knowing. In a normal autobiography, the author might not so fully reveal his thoughts as he would in a confession to God. Perhaps Augustine exaggerates or is too hard on himself in Confessions both because he wants to fully renounce sin before God, as well as because he really wants to make the reader believe that he was a horrible sinner.
The medium of confession is a nuanced depiction of truth because it colors the confessor as perhaps worse than they really are, or it only reflects the bad parts of the person. Augustine was a very bright, well educated, and successful person in his youth, but he refuses to acknowledge that and instead brushes it aside to admonish himself. In many autobiographies the author might want to make him or herself look good and write about his or her various accomplishments. This can also lead to exaggeration and half-truths, but in the opposite way of Confessions. Truth is difficult to accurately glean from autobiography because of the tendency of the author to include or leave out pieces of the story as needed.
Augustine seems to be following in the biblical prophetic tradition, similar to Paul in Corinthians. In the form of Confessions, Augustine is attempting to convince and convert his readers, like Paul with his letter to the Corinthians. Paul is addressing both new converts and people yet unconverted. He writes about his Metanoia and how he used to be Jewish and lived outside the Christian ways. Very similarly to Paul, Augustine utilizes his own background and conversion as an example for others to follow. Paul and Augustine are both saying that they used to be terrible sinners and even they have learned to see the light. Augustine does not prophesize per se, but through Confessions speaks about his relationship with God and makes a convincing argument for Christianity.
Matt Mazzella Saint Augustine Confessions Response Paper
ReplyDeleteComp-lit 122 Prof. Wilson
Saint Augustine’s Confessions is written in a manner that makes readers think differently than they would if they were reading a non-confessional autobiography. Because of pre-conceived notions that readers have about what a confession is and the reasons people decide to confess wrongdoings, the book has a different impact on readers than a typical memoir. Once one begins to read the book it is not hard to see that Augustine did not simply write Confessions for his own conscience and personal growth, but as a tool to instruct others how to live and become closer to the God he praises throughout the book. He informs us that we are all sinners even as infants, but he does this by telling his own regret filled story, not by making a simple list of what is right and what is wrong. Our impression of the text is influenced by knowing that he is trying to instruct, and that by providing these accounts he is imparting his wisdom upon us. Because of Augustine’s desire to keep people from making mistakes certain truths in his life’s story may be nuanced by over-exaggeration or understatement.
Saint Augustine’s description of his thievery of the pears in book II is an example of how he takes what many would consider a relatively minor crime and really emphasizes it in order to further educate his readers on God’s will. He opens the confession by saying, “It is certain, O Lord, that theft is punished by your law…”(47). This immediately frames the following story in terms of God’s law rather than whether the pears were rotten and if anyone was hurt by their loss. Augustine is confessing to the reader that he broke God’s law first and foremost, warning them that they need to always be mindful of his will. The reader knows that people often confess when something is weighing on their mind and their conscience can no longer deal with the guilt. Because of this, many readers may think Augustine is over-exaggerating when describing his feelings about the theft. How could someone feel so much shame over stealing bad fruit? Augustine has his reasons for making this story stand out though. By emphasizing how terrible it is to sin for the sake of sinning by stealing the pears, Augustine shows the reader how much he cares about God and how they should beware of such actions lest they wish feel the guilt he did.
Another way we can see that Augustine is attempting to instruct us with is confessions is that he uses the word “us” in his appeals to God. Towards the beginning of book IV Augustine states, “Let the strong and mighty laugh at men like me: let us, the weak and poor, confess our sins to you” (71). By using the word us, he is making a connection with his readers. Not only is he framing his own story as a confession, but he is telling the readers that if they are as weak as he is then they too should confess their sins to God.
The fact that readers know that Saint Augustine is writing a lengthy confession in his work Confessions is significant to the way in which the book is read. We know that a confession is often made to ease ones guilty conscience, but that it also can be made for the edification of others that are reading it. In Saint Augustine’s writing he often emphasizes specific sins in order to warn the reader and help them become closer to the God he believes in.
David Terrasi
ReplyDeleteUpon starting to read Augustine’s Confessions I was struck at how often it seemed that he felt he had to praise god in the text. His confessions started to seem less like the past stories and experiences of a revered figure but started to seem more like propaganda for the church. Every sentence seemed to include an “O omnipotent God” or “O Lord”. It seemed like in sharing his story that he was trying to say that no matter what you do or how bad an act you commit you just need to turn to God.
Browsing Amazon.com it seems like there are countless translations of Augustine’s work, which is very similar to the many editions of the bible. As a translated text how much emphasis can be placed on something that the author did not write? Feminist scholars like Judith Butler or Michelle Foucault spend years writing incredibly dense books because they believe that the word choice, and the semantics of a text are incredibly important in conveying your ideas.
When I got to class and Andrés started reading sections of his book it seemed like he had a totally different text than I did. Upon reviewing the text it turned out that I had the Christian College Edition of the text. Looking over the Oxford World's Classics edition of the text his Confessions seemed a lot less like the propaganda of the church and instead become the story of the life of an important man. Alan Watts writes in his book “Generally speaking, the task of autobiography so embarrasses the writer that he must either boast of confess. Men of action and adventure tend to boast. Men of piety and intellect tend to confess.”
Watts references Augustine’s autobiography as a perfect example as a prime example of confessions. Framing Augustine’s text as a confession seems to imply that he feels guilty or some sort of remorse for his actions, which is not how his text come across. Augustine fathers an illegitimate child and doesn’t seem to feel and remorse or repentance for this, the only time he shows any real guilt for his actions is the pear tree incident. Though he shares a lot of sins that he has committed, yet he does not seem to regret any of them except for the pear incident. Though it seems that he feels less regretful of his sins and more understanding of how his actions in his past have led him to find religion. Augustine’s text feels less like a confession and instead more like a journey.
Born into a town in present day Algeria, St. Augustine became a familiar name with a strange tagline: “St. Augustine: Confessed Reformed Sinner.”
ReplyDeleteConfessions is his life story/confession of selective sins that became a benchmark for future autobiographical novels. However, in reading Confessions, readers are often forced to ask themselves whether Augustine is telling the whole story.
At the beginning of this class, we discussed what we believed a “confession” to be. While some described it as “owning up to past deed(s)” or “admitting personal flaws” or even “revealing something secret,” Augustine’s definition, I think, is much different. Although Augustine calls this collection of thirteen books his “confessions,” he admittedly leaves things out, and doesn’t develop threads that today’s society might deem sinful.
For example, as we discussed in class, Augustine fleetingly admits to having sex in church at one point, but never returns to that point again. Or how, although his illegitimate child is acknowledged in later books, the mother of this child, and the affair that he had with her is not mentioned a being an outrageous sin against the pillars of the Church. However, in book two, Augustine goes into great detail about stealing pears from a tree and throwing them at pigs. Later in Confessions following the death of his mother, Augustine says that although he cannot spare time for every sin he has ever committed, he wants to make time to acknowledge the sacrifices and love that his mother gave him.
Personally, Augustine’s presentation of these writings as a “confession,” while understandable is not realistic. In order to be a true confession, he would have had to further develop the threads of sins that he started and maybe skimmed over to save face. In addition, we as readers will never know what he left out, and cannot judge how truthful he was in his confessions to God.
I do, however, find it interesting that he addresses the confession so blatantly to a God that he at one point did not believe in. I suppose that dedicating yourself to the writing of you life in sins to God so you may be received is true reform, but I wonder how much of his written word was his own ideas.
In class we discussed his adoration of Paul the epistle, and his mother St. Monica. In his written work, he sites many passages of Paul, along with psalms and a few other apostles. Augustine was clearly influenced by these sources, and borrowed heavily from their ideals and school of thought. In his writings, it is clear that he thought highly of Paul, and even modeled himself after him. In addition, he loved and respected his mother, because he saw her as a sort of prophet, as she told him what God wanted of him.
Although Confessions was an interesting read, a captivating story, and a historical text, I am hesitant to say that it was an accurate portrayal of the life of Augustine. I don’t think that it was a transparent look at the life that he lead, and it focused heavily on textual content from other sources. This lead me to believe that he was guiding his confessions by others life stories, without focusing solely on his own. However, in the realm of spiritual autobiography, I suppose it is necessary to focus your story around your spirituality and the lives of others.
Framing a Text
ReplyDeleteViewing any text requires an understanding of context and purpose. When the purpose is to find God and retell that experience, with the understanding that all retellings are colored with an individual’s point of view. What makes a piece readable is the ability for the author to relate to its readers, and Augustine’s life inspires those who read his works to understand that he was not always a holy man; rather, he embarked upon a journey to discover God in his life. It is important to note that Augustine felt divinely inspired in his works, and models his Confessions upon prophetic writings and upon Paul, a man who also took a journey to find God.
When recounting any past events, it is important to understand the frame in which someone speaks colors all retellings. This then means that truth is merely an expression of one’s reality and no ultimate truth exists among man, as all life experiences are colored by man’s own interpretation of the event. Conclusively, Augustine’s confessions are colored by what he perceives as his truth; therefore, when understanding Augustine’s confessions, it is necessary to keep in mind that he believes with absolute certainty that all he discusses is true.
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ReplyDeleteSimilarly, Augustine frames his text in a way that allows the reader to connect to his life. He begins his confessions with describing his life and experiences through which he later found God, but at the time, God was clearly not on his mind. Within the initial first few books, Augustine talks about his illegitimate son, stealing a pear and not wanting to focus on his studies, all stories of typical laymen. Later on, as he begins to dialogue more with God, he discusses the concept of evil, tries to understand the illness that killed his friend, and, finally describes how he overcame his old habits, ultimately culminating in his confession of how he found God. This inspires readers, for it allows them to truly understand that there is a path to find God and that path may contain hardships. This leaves room for laymen to draw the conclusion that they are just as able to find God as Augustine.
On a different note, Augustine’s writing is extremely influenced by biblical prophetic tradition. Augustine feels divinely inspired when writing this piece and composes his works similarly to the fashion in which a prophet would speak. Prophets, as seen with Isaiah, proclaim to their people the message they heard from God. Isaiah reiterates throughout his prophecies that the Children of Israel are sinning and forsaking God; for example, Isaiah states, “O Lord our God, Lords other than You possessed us, but only Your name shall we utter” (Isaiah 26:13). The Children of Israel violated the second commandment; Isaiah asks them to look at their sins and change their ways. Augustine similarly models himself off of Isaiah as he says, “Hear O God. Alas for a man’s sin. So saith man and Thou pitiest him” (Confessions, Book 1, part 7, v. 11). Augustine, throughout his Confessions, is confessing the sins he committed throughout his life, just as Isaiah points out the sins of the Children of Israel. In confessing, Augustine not only follows the model of the prophets who state that the first step to returning to God is admitting that one has committed a sin, but also takes the steps to call on God as his source of salvation, resulting in his ability to call on God at any time.
Finally, Augustine’s confessions seem to also be inspired from Paul. Just as Paul wrote about his experiences of how he found Jesus, so to did Augustine compose a piece articulating how he too came to connect with God and religion. Paul spoke about his personal journey in his gospel and stated “I neither received it [the gospel] of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus” (Galatians, 1:12). Paul believes his divine inspiration came from God and discusses how he found his personal salvation. Similarly, Augustine speaks about his own path to God, and the fact that his journey was also divinely inspired as he states “Thou didst put in my mind” (Augustine, Confessions, Book 8, part 1, verse 26). This is merely one example of many of how Augustine believes he was divinely inspired to find God.
Conclusively, when reading Confessions, it is important to understand that Augustine’s memories and experiences color his recapitulation of his past. His past engages the attention layman, for the layman is able to connect with the fact Augustine sinned in his past. Lastly, Augustine modeled his writing style after prophetic tradition and Paul to express his feelings of divine inspiration.
Sophia Carreras
ReplyDeleteInterpreting the Confession
No matter how factual someone attempts to be while recounting past events or history, especially their own, their information is always slightly skewed by their experience, beliefs, or bias. Living is a human experience and our understanding comes from the self before it extends outside to other people or things. In this way, our information is often framed when we present it to others. This is quite applicable in the case of St. Augustine, who framed his autobiography as a confession.
This approach, to present his past experiences in a confessing manner, alters how the reader interprets the information. Since confessing entails someone admitting something negative, often with the hopes of being absolved of their wrongdoing, people are often looked upon in a more positive light once they have done so. This is partially because revealing their crime shows that they are aware of the consequences and are going to change their actions. St. Augustine was looking for this positive reaction when he wrote his Confessions, being completely open about all of his wrongdoings. We read it knowing that even though he committed sins, he has come to the light as a changed man and is now someone to look to for guidance. At the same time, we keep in mind that a confession is a nuanced truth and that we are only given as much information as he shares. In this way, we can only trust that his words don’t manipulate his history or misshape our understanding. It is to be taken with a grain of salt.
St. Augustine follows right in the path of prophetic tradition with this confession. Both the revelation and realization of his sin ultimately places him on a pedestal as a saint figure. He is to be looked to for guidance and wisdom, for his changes are seemingly made with the hand of God. Perhaps he was influenced by Paul who, at one time was a non-believer in Christ, finally came to the light after a spiritual revelation and encounter with the light of Jesus himself. Paul was open about his disbelief and previous actions, but dedicated himself to showing other people the light and doing the work of God. St. Augustine follows in his footsteps, ultimately searching for approval of his changes and to be seen as an evolved spiritual leader.
In class on Tuesday, there was a discussion on the definition of a confession. In regards to St. Augustine’s Confessions, the definitions can all apply. At times his confession is that of his sins, laid out in an autobiographical narrative. This provides backstory to his life, but also highlights his sins, many of which were very bad in the context of the Catholic Church. And at times his confessions lead him to explore the more spiritual side of his actions, his repentance, his acceptance, and the religion that eventually embraced him as one of their own.
ReplyDeleteAugustine’s life was, as he described in his confessions, full of sin. As is one of the staple issues with autobiographies, nobody can be sure if his life was as sinful as he described, less sinful, or more sinful. We are lead to believe that Augustine’s confessions are all unexaggerated, primarily because he frames it as if he was telling his story in a confessional.
Augustine’s confessions are varied, but many of them focus on his fornication with women and his various acts of petty theft. These are presented openly and honestly, with no desire to downplay his actions, or to exaggerate them. This adds to the credibility that this is actually a confession. This will eventually make Augustine’s conversion to Christianity and the Christian lifestyle something that seems even more saintly. He is the archetype of the sinner brought to salvation and to the light of God.
Augustine is a saint. He is depicted as a man who has gone through sin and indulgence and seen the way clear to change himself at his most basic level, his soul. In the way that prophets often change how people see religion, Augustine gave a message of hope to those people who had strayed from God and had committed sins like Augustine had. He had done many sinful things in his life and his message was one of redemption to many people. At the time, and even now, Catholicism is considered by many, even those within the religion, as a religion hostile to sinners. Augustine proves that there is such a thing as forgiveness in the religion and helps make it more accessible to people who may believe themselves to be too far-gone to be saved.
Augustine’s influences from Paul began in the beginnings of his eventual conversion. He claimed to have heard a small child who “… repeated the refrain ‘Take it and read, take it and read.” This prompted him to read a section of the Bible, specifically Paul the Apostle’s Epistle to the Romans. This became instrumental in Augustine’s conversion, and formed a basis of his influences and appreciation of Paul the Apostle.
The full impact of Augustine’s actions hit him when he stole pears from a tree near his vineyard. For some reason, the action of stealing these pears and feeding them to pigs stuck with Augustine. It could be because he realized the analogues between that and the Garden of Eden. It could be because he realized that the wasteful efforts of him and his compatriots to steal the pears and then throw them to pigs could be construed as a metaphor for sin and its eventual futility in the eyes of God. In any case, the act stayed with Augustine for the rest of his life and was a large part in his writings.
Augustine’s growth as expressed in Confessions is spiritual in many ways. His growth is personal, religious, and influential. It becomes an influence for many of his successors and for many lost souls who read his work. He was redeemed and he gives hope for others to be redeemed as well.
In Augustine’s Confessions, he recounts on his life and past experiences, and how he slowly and internally struggled with his youthful ideas of the world and how he grew into one of the strongest and most influential advocates of Christianity to date. Something to think about as one reads Confessions, is what exactly is a confession? In class, we described a confession as a few things; ‘owning up to something that you have done,’ ‘admitting personal flaws,’ ‘revealing a secret to be expiated, or to “clean the slate,”’ and ‘the act of performing, before a change is made; a stage to achieve growth.’ When we think of the word confession, it often has a negative connotation as something bad that one has done to another, and thus, they must “confess their sins,” etc; but we all know that this is not always the case.
ReplyDeleteAugustine frames his writing in a format of a confession because it could be taken in two ways; in Augustine’s time, a confession meant to both give an account of one’s faults or sins to God and also to praise God and speak of one’s love for Him. Confessions is Augustine’s way of doing both of these; he recalls his life and his experiences and inner struggles on his journey to find the lord. As we read Confessions, we see the humanity and the struggles of one of the most influential people of our time written before us, showing us that even if you have done wrong or have sinned, you can always find your way back into God’s love. When one confesses something, it often means that they are holding nothing back and that they are letting go of all their burdens of the truth, giving their audience the full and true story of their confession. By titling and framing his work as Confessions, it gives the impression that he will be confessing to his audience, the truth of his own faults and his life.
As we read Book VII of Confessions, Augustine introduces the idea of Paul and talks a great deal about him; he saw him as the ideal Christian disciple, one who struggled, as Augustine had. As Augustine recalls his life, we learn that he was heavily influenced by philosophy, and eventually became a scholar who overcame his intellectual and internal doubts, aspirations, and sexual compulsions to become a fully-baptized member and lover of the church and God. For him, Paul was the path to salvation, Augustine seems to have looked up to Paul as someone who understood what Augustine had himself been through and shared many similar values with him. Augustine talks further about how he was too weighed down by his sins, especially by his sexual wants, to fully accept faith and says that Jesus Christ had not entered his heart, but declared that such an event would have provided him with the link between humanity and God. At the time, he did not yet have enough humility to accept the faith, and had not yet accepted the divinity of Christianity and Christ as his savior; he discussed how he struggled with the Catholic faith in Jesus as both fully divine and fully human.
After reading his confessions, we can see both the power of humanity and the power of faith at work. Augustine becomes such an influential being to his audience because of his openness and seemingly truthful – and often times personal – depiction of his life and his experiences. Through his personal and internal struggles with his acceptance of God and his powerful worldly desires, Augustine grows from that of a boy to a man, and then to a Saint, someone who many people over the years will look up to and follow, all influenced by the confessions of this one man’s life.
Augustine’s framing of the text as a confession certainly affects our reading and interpretation of the story. It is made clear early in the text that Augustine is speaking to God. However, we as readers don’t exactly know what God he is speaking to until later on; Augustine also doesn't seem to know which God he is speaking to until later on either. Because God is the intended audience, it makes it more difficult for the reader to fully understand and review the story. It is also hard to know if this is a text that was written for the world to see, or if it truly was just a confessions story meant only for God. Because of this, it is difficult for the reader to know what else would be included in this autobiography, if it was not meant for God. It makes us wonder if only things that pertained religion, sinning, God, etc. were written about in this autobiography.
ReplyDeleteThis type of writing allows the reader to form an impression of the author and main character in such a way that he is a religious being. It is difficult to form an impression about Augustine in any other way because he focuses his life around religion, God, and his sins. Because of this, we don’t see Augustine in any other light.
Because Augustine is writing about himself, there is much that the reader has to question. We wonder if his perception of what happened may be skewed. Does what Augustine says happen really happen? The truth becomes a little skewed while reading because the reader wonders that when Augustine speaks to God and confesses that he committed a sin, is he confessing because he believes that is what God wants or is he confessing to make himself feel better about committing the sin? Is Augustine especially hard on himself and therefore the events that happened come out in the story as skewed, and not as severe as he makes it seem. All of these questions are difficult to know because he is writing his autobiography as a confession to God and not for a reader’s enjoyment.
Augustine began reading the Prophets and was influenced at first in a very literal sense. He took the Prophets as law. He read because he wanted to learn all that he could from the Prophets. This is because he believed it would give him a better understanding of his own spirituality and his own way of learning about evil. It wasn’t until he began reading Paul that this view of Prophets changed. He then learns how the readings can be applied to everyday life, and understands a more flexible translation of what he reads. It was St. Paul’s scriptures that were the final step before Augustine converts to Christianity. While other things, such as Victorinus’ conversion led Augustine to convert, Paul’s writings also influenced Augustine to follow the next step and convert to Christianity.
Augustine's structure of his autobiography as one giant confession was severely off putting for me. As he was taking me through his adolescence, which started off on the truly positive note of SIN! As soon as you are born you have sinned! And stealing the pear from the pear tree for the love of doing something that was “forbidden.” And premarital sex! And philosophizing and attending the theatre! After revealing to god each of these instances in which Augustine has sinned against him, he goes on a half page apology and praise for him and exclaims how he has finally seen the “light of the lord.” In almost every aspect of my life, especially reading, watching movies and conversing with other people about issues, I try and relate what has happened in my own life and my own life to these issues, but with this text I suppose I just could not. I mean, I remember one time I was at the supermarket with my mother and my neighbor (I was probably about 8 years old), I was trying to egg him on to steal a cherry tomato and he refused. To make a long story short, I ended up stealing the tomato and my neighbor ended up telling my mom because he “didn't want to get coal for christmas.” Yes, I certainly felt horrible after stealing the tomato. But only because I got caught and because I definitely didn't want coal for christmas! However what was Augustine worried about? The afterlife? Not being a completely righteous man? He doesn't make this appealing to me though. The entire book was one big struggle; confession, repent, confession, repent. I feel as though he was living his life one way attempting to find pleasure within himself and was made to think that this was wrong and began living his life another way: finding pleasure within god instead of internally. I believe his confessions brought out weakness in his soul especially because what he has sinned is so insignificant.
ReplyDeleteIf Augustine's confession of his sins revealing the “truth” then I don't see it. What is truth? Is it true true that those incidents occurred? He stole from the pear tree, yes. Was the truth that he sinned? That he repented? That it was wrong or right? I have trouble seeing Augustine's confession of stealing the pear's as a variance of what is true. Maybe if the tree owner had approached him and asked him “Hey Augustine did you steal my fruit?” And he had replied “Yes I did.” Then I would say yes, this is truth and not a lie! Maybe i'm missing the point.
I think the better question is, “in what ways is Augustine not influenced by the biblical prophetic tradition?” And especially by Paul. Most prominently in book III Augustine protests the virtue of philosophy. And comments by quoting Paul “'Take care not to let anyone cheat you with his philosophizings, with empty phantasies drawn from human tradition, from worldly principles. There were never God's Teachings.'” He then continues by describing his love for Cicero and love of “wisdom itself” (R.S. Pine- Coffin P. 59). Paul is instructing here to not be fooled by philosophy because whatever it is is not god's desire and should be rejected. He is once again impacted by the teachings of Paul in book VIII he reads a part of the Epistles which changes his life and leads him to commit himself completely to god. And that he does!
When I hear the word “confession”, the first thing I think about is an admittance of guilt. I feel like when you confess something, you are getting something off of your chest, possibly in an attempt to reach some sort of catharsis. As we discussed in class, the word “confession” has other implications as well. It could have a negative connotation which could be accompanied by shame, it could be an admittance of personal flaw, and it could be bringing a secret to light.
ReplyDeleteWhen we read Saint Augustine’s autobiography, we can’t help but react to the fact that the writing isn’t just a retelling of his life as he saw it, but it is a confession of the sins he committed over the course of his existence. His autobiography isn’t just a story of his life, it’s a story of the wrongdoings he committed and how he attempted to make up for them through finding Christ. There is no doubt that Confessions was written as a tool to make sinners and nonbelievers follow Christ, or at the very least have them introspectively think about their own sins and what they might be able to do to atone for them.
Interestingly enough, I have found that Augustine’s interpretation of “confession” can be described less based on Christian law and more based around his own morality. Both morality and defining “good” are subjective. How they are perceived could be different for everyone. Some people dare not venture off into the realm of their own minds to seek a definition and therefore decide to follow the Christian, or the Islamic, or the Judaic definitions of what good is. Strangely enough, I have found that Augustine doesn’t really seem to follow the Christian definitions of what is “moral” and “good”, but seems to follow his own discovered definitions.
For example in the text Augustine describes a scene where he steals a pear: “The pears certainly were beautiful, but it was not the pears that my miserable soul desired. I had plenty of better pears of my own; I only took these ones in order that I might be a thief. Once I had taken them I threw them away, and all I tasted in them was my own iniquity, which I enjoyed very much” (Augustine 32-33). Later in the text, Augustine describes how he left a woman whom he had a child with. Typically, one might consider the act of leaving a child to grow up without his father to be much worse than stealing pears.
The point I’m trying to make here is that Augustine follows his own morality and his own definition of the word “good”. To him, stealing the pears was much worse than having an illegitimate son. This was because he stole the pears while having the intention to take pleasure in his thievery (his sin). When he had a child, he did not take pleasure in letting the child grow up fatherless. In this sense, Augustine did not necessarily confess to sinning against God, but more or less confessed to breaking his moral code. I think that although Augustine followed Christianity very strongly, his definition of “confession” regarded sins as breaking moral code and doing intentional wrong, rather than breaking God’s law as defined by the church. Although if asked, Augustine might not agree with me, I was given the impression from Augustine’s text that to confess is to tell of morally wrong past actions as defined by the self, rather than the church.
DeleteAugustine was clearly influenced by the biblical prophetic tradition as he wrote Confessions as a means to not only educate the masses on Christianity, but to also praise God. In the Bible, it is stated through prophecy that when we all die here on earth, we come face to face with God and are judged based on our actions here on earth. I believe Augustine wrote confessions as a way to atone for his sins because he wanted to be “pure” when his time came to be judged by God, thus following the biblical prophetic tradition.
Augustine’s story is definitely a mirror image to that of Paul the Apostle. Paul was a persecutor of early Christians. Later he converted to Christianity and helped significantly spread and popularize the Christian faith. Like Paul, Augustine did not convert to Christianity till later in his life. Augustine most likely found inspiration in the way Paul completely changed his ways and fully accepted and welcomed Christ into his life.
Works Cited
• Augustine, Saint. The Confessions of Saint Augustine. New York, New York: New American Library, 1963. 32-33. Print.
Confessions by St. Augustine illustrates his life from infancy to his conversion to Catholicism. This account is greatly colored by Augustine’s personal experiences that led him to this conversion, including a lengthy list of his past sins. The fact that Augustine presents his sins and explains them from a personal standpoint affects the tone of the narrative.
ReplyDeleteAugustine not only writes a list of his past actions that he deems sinful, he puts his personal reasons why and how the sin happened. He puts much greater weight on certain sins than others. For instance, his sexual escapades as a young man do not carry an incredible amount of weight in Augustine’s mind. Perhaps this is because the sin was committed for the reason of attaining sexual pleasure and nothing else. In his mind his greatest sin was stealing the pears as a boy with his friends. While on the surface this action seems much more harmless than his other sins, Augustine pains himself over this past action. He describes not even desiring to eat the pears, just take them; to sin for sin’s sake. In Augustine’s mind this mindset is far worse than committing a sin for a sexual desire.
If this story had not been framed in an autobiographical sense, the reader would not be able to discern the differences between these two sins. Whether or not these actions actually happened exactly the way Augustine describes them, the reader still has insight into his thoughts regarding sin. The truth does not always have to be in the actions themselves but can often simply exist as a thought or feeling. An autobiography is the best way of describing this sort of experience.
Augustine also grapples with the truth. He reads many different spiritual doctrines to see which appeals to him the most. This is an interesting approach to religion, especially as this book is now considered a very important catholic text. Augustine grapples with a few different types of worship, struggling between reason and faith. The reader watches his journey to enlightenment, where he finally ends at his natural conclusion of Catholicism.
This is an interesting approach. It allows room for other forms of worship but illustrates why Augustine arrives on the conclusion that Catholicism is the best for him. It lets the reader into his inner thoughts, going from the belief that the bible is simple and poorly written to rejoicing in its simplicity. It makes room for readers who might be questioning their own faith to follow Augustine’s thoughts and reasons why he chose the path he did.
Augustine’s Confessions offer an interesting path to Christianity. By admitting his sins he shows himself to the reader as a (sometimes) relatable character, making his path to religious truth seem more reasonable.
St. Augustine frames his autobiography as a collection of “Confessions”. Having not heard of this text before this class, I assumed that his story would entail some sort of owning up to past wrongdoings or admitting his personal flaws. This is a large part of his autobiography, but I also see it as a useful text in the form of a reflection. Saint Augustine is taking this chance the break down his past as an example for others that we all have our flaws. I personally believe it’s an effective literary approach and have enjoyed the way in which he chose to document his life journey. I also believe that it would be a good guide for people struggling with their spirituality or people looking for more insight into the understanding of religions such as Christianity.
ReplyDeleteThe framing of an autobiography as a confession affects our reading of it because its not simply telling the story of St. Augustine’s life, but its analyzing in detail the ‘sins’ that made him the man that he became. In a way, as a reader we are taking this journey with him and re-living his mistakes so he can give us insight on how to live a better life. For example the way in which he focus’s on the stealing of the ‘pear’ in Book II Section 4 seems at first like an unnecessary confession, or something that wouldn’t usually be pertinent in the telling of your life’s journey. But to Augustine not only is this a crucial point for him, it also correlates heavily with the Bible and his eventual acceptance of Christianity (Augustine pg. 47-8). Not only the story of the Garden of Eden, but also the idea that the motives for sin are always trivial. There was a clear choice by Augustine to focus on this story to relay a message to his intended audience, assumably, God.
I think as with any autobiographical text there is always be a bias in some way. Whether there is a ghost writer or not, how is it possible to decide whether or not what the person is describing is divulging the whole truth or not? I feel as though it is impossible to speak about yourself or tell your story without retaining some biases. I also believe there is no way of deciding whose opinions are correct. I don’t think an outsider can better depict someones being then the person themselves, vice versa. The style of writing as a collection of “Confessions” definitely offers a different view then other forms of autobiographical text, but I still think that the idea and end result is somewhat the same. An example of a biased entry into St. Augustine’s “Confessions” would most clearly be his choice to discuss the sin of stealing a pear of the sin of the conception of an illegitimate child. What seems to us like a much larger act of sin, is portrayed as much less important then the theft of a few pears. St. Augustine shines the light on the story of the pear and brushes of the mentioning of an illegitimate child as if it is nothing. As happens in most autobiographies I have read, stories are often slightly over or under exaggerated to accomplish some ulterior motive. “Confessions” by St. Augustine, though stylistically different, shares many characteristics of other autobiographical text.
For me, I saw Augustine’s definition of the word “confession” as having more than one meaning: as an admittance of guilt and sin, as well as an act of praise for God. The book acts to return the creation of the world to God, and to attract others to accept this, while being a message to God from one of his creations.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading an autobiography, one assumes that everything is nonfiction because it is an account of someone’s life happenings. But when reading Augustine’s Confessions, it is very easy to question the legitimacy of many of the things that occur. Like how does one recall memories from when they were a toddler? He says that he studied other toddlers and assumes he would have acted similarly, but then this part isn’t an autobiography so much as little sociology and psychology lesson. What’s very interesting about this is Augustine’s views on fiction, when he says that he thinks it’s a waste of time. He finds it sinful to read and think about someone else’s sins while not being mindful of your own. Yet, when reading through his confessions, you sometimes wonder whether you are reading fiction or nonfiction, written by the man who hates fiction.
The most important part of the text, his time in the garden in Milan, finds him in a very different mind. Comparing his state to a drowsy feeling sleeper who is trying to get up, he searches for that which will convert him but has yet to find it. He talks about struggling against a second will, "my two wills...one carnal, one spiritual, were in conflict with one and other." He remains attached to the material things in life despite saying the no longer affect him. After beating himself in an attempt to calm down, he comes to a paradox of sorts. While he beats himself, his arms obey his minds will for beating, but his mind could not obey itself. He again suggests he has two wills but this time quickly dismisses that idea saying it would be Manichean and that it was Augustine that was disconnected from himself.
The part I wasn’t thrilled about was the child’s voice from a house that tells him to pick up the bible. So a random child’s voice from nowhere just speaks to this distraught man and helps him to pick up the thing he has been searching for his whole life? This seems a bit over the top, like he was searching for a story to go along with his picking up of the bible for the first time. Just another example of whether he writes fiction or nonfiction, and another reason I’m not a fan of Augustine’s Confessions.
In class we discussed the distinction between a consolation and confession. Some remarked that they didn't see a distinction, or that there was an overlap such that they go hand in hand. I actually happen to think that consolations and confessions are two entirely different entities. A confession is someone telling another their wrongdoings, whether morally or societally wrong, in order to alleviate guilt and continue on with their life as usual. There is really no explanation of why someone did something wrong, or any attempt to make them feel better. In contrast, a consolation does not have to be consoling an individual for something they did that was morally or societally wrong. A consolation could be for any number of things, and unlike a confession is much more in-depth as to reasonings and justifications, in search of a resolution.
ReplyDeleteAugustine's Confessions was much more of a self-consolation in my opinion. If it were a confession, I feel he would have listed off all of the wrongdoings in his life, and not glazed over such large things as his illegitimate son and sexual escapades. His focus was much more geared towards things such as the pear tree which he personally had not come to terms with, as well as his transformation through religious beliefs, interests, and eventual "enlightenment" of sorts. There was a clear beginning, middle, and end that seemed as though he constructed his life as a model for others to read and experience, while simultaneously writing it such that he felt better about himself and his journey afterwards--almost giving meaning to his wrongdoings because he turned out right in the end. His garden enlightenment and story overall had so many parallels with St. Paul that the entire sequence was questionable, as well as his odd glorifying of his mother. Maybe I'm saying this because I really did not like this reading at all, and don't understand why it's so popular through history. I know that people who aren't religious are supposed to get something out of these, but I don't think I did at all. I'm looking forward to reading more literature in this class that doesn't have "O Lord" after every line.
Augustine writes from a place of power and respect, confessing his sins to God as a Bishop of Hippo. He reflects back on his life, but chooses specific events to detail. In his writing, Augustine praises God, "For thou art God, omnipotent and good, even if thou hadst done no more than these things, which no other but thou canst do--thou alone who madest all things fair and didst order everything according to thy law" (book I, chapter VII). Augustine writes with the motivation of impressing his superiors. Few people were literate, so the majority of readers were people of influence. Knowing this, Augustine writes in a way to solidify his position of power in society. He credits God for all things good in his life, making himself impervious to critics.
ReplyDeleteWhen I hear autobiography I think verifiable and factual, so I struggle with spiritual autobiographies because not everything can be verified, Augustine talks of experiences that were not even his (his mothers dream), and makes assumptions about his adolescent motivations.
ReplyDeleteDuring class we were asked what the difference was between a confession and a consolation. Originally I thought they were very different, that a confession is something one makes at the end of self forgiveness, and the consolation is the struggle to come to terms with oneself. Boethius talked to Lady Philosophy and seemed to actively use her to work through his problems, and I thought that this was very different from what Augustine did. But now I am starting to think the two methods were very similar. Augustine was looking back at his life and working with God for explanations. Augustine did not have a dialogue with God as Boethius did with Lady Philosophy, but both writers needed some being to convey their ideas to the public. Some of Augustine's writing is a little flashy, but I sense he is looking for comfort in God the way Boethius looked for comfort in Lady Philosophy.
I too sometimes struggle with the idea that although autobiographies are assumed to be true, it is very difficult to actually verify these "truths" in certain situations. When Augustine speaks of his childhood as a reader it can be difficult to believe that he recalls his childhood, more importantly his infancy with such vivid detail. I can tell you that I myself cannot possibly tell you anything about myself prior to the age of about four. As well as describing his infancy Augustine then describes in great detail his mother's visions and dreams. He describes these things that were not his to tell. He didn't have these visions/dreams so I question the truth behind these visions. How could he describe something he did not see? This leads me to have some doubt concerning other things he has said. This is does not mean I think the whole thing is a lie, but if he is making these situations up what is stopping him from crafting other lies throughout the text?
ReplyDeleteI didn't really enjoy Augustine's Confessions. First off I hardly thought they were really the worst sins he had done (like stealing pears), and secondly I think the term "Autobiography" is used loosely for this piece of writing. Many of the things he describes could hardly be memories. Such as moments in his infancy. I know I can't remember any moments from my infancy really so anything I tell people about my infancy are not even really my memories, but the memories of those who have told me about the moments. He also talks about his mother a lot, which is understandable but to a point. He doesn't just talk about his mother to tie it in with himself, but he actually goes into great detail about many things to do with his mother that has nothing to do with him. This hardly seems like an autobiographical piece in instances like that. Although its not exactly an autobiography the entire time, it is a very spiritual piece.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that his inspiration for writing the text changes but I think that is just on the surface. He has one ultimate motivation and that is God. His perspective on how he lived his life alters while filtering through his memory to write this 'confession.' A 'confession' can be known as a acknowledgement or a realization as well as an admission. Augustine writes of his youth acknowledging his lack of God in his life, realizing how he acted was not fully his fault because he was not sufficiently armed to make better choices.
ReplyDeleteIn this way, I think Augustine and Boethius differ in their approach to understanding the self. Augustine aquits himself of ever having really done wrong. Boethius, on the other hand, is coming to terms with his previous actions, or trying to. His understanding of who he is now comes through the writing of a 'consolation' rather than a 'confession.' Boethius needs consoling of his current situation where Agustine's confessions are associated with himself in the past. I feel the autobiographical approaches taken by Augustine and Boethius differ in the timelines of their lives.
St. Augustine writes his confession in order to share his religious journey with other people across the world in an effort, I believe, to convert people to the Catholic Church. His confession helps illustrate that the path to accepting God is not always one filled with happiness and good deeds. By sharing his sins, St. Augustine is showing people that even a man of his religious stature was once an ordinary man who fell to the lusts of life. St. Augustine does not share some his more scandalous secrets with the public but it does not matter to the effect of the text. People could still be moved by some of his experiences and learn the same philosophical morals that he was writing about. When St. Augustine discusses the incident in which he stole pears he could be reaching out to people who steal in an attempt to relate to them and try to show them the path to God. There is no doubt that St. Augustine had an infatuation with his religion and his motive for writing this confession was to get more people to feel as he did, and join his church. St. Augustine was not trying to mislead readers in any way, he was merely trying to write a piece of literature that could grab peoples attention and open their mind to the Catholic Church. By creating a confession and revealing his sins to the entire world he definitely grabbed peoples attention.
ReplyDeleteA confession is to confess one’s sins, and also to praise God. Typically, when I think of a confession I associate it with the first definition about sins. I believe that Augustine focused more on the praising God side of the confessions. It seems to me that the soul purpose of his text was to praise God, or more specifically, to get people to convert to Christianity. I found it curious which details Augustine chose to dwell on in his writing. For example, when he wrote about how he stole a fruit, he treated it as if it were a horrible atrocity, and he even spend an entire chapter talking about how bad it was. Strangely enough, when he wrote about how he abandoned his family, he seemed to brush right over the topic, shrugging it off as if it were not a big deal. This tells me that perhaps Augustine’s priorities were not straight, and that I cannot trust him. I didn’t relate to his text much anyways because I am not a religious man at all.
ReplyDeleteI think Augustine puts the readings of others and projections of their motives in his writing about his childhood because he is trying to connect with the reader. No one truly knows what the first few years of life were like (or even a few more years beyond that and that), but we can get an idea from what other people witness and eventually an even better grasp on it when we get to witness the upbringing of someone else. When reading it is easy to think, “hmm I bet that’s how I was as a child too.” From that point there is an instant commonality, which may form some bias on how if you lived your life like he does you may reach a level that he reached.
ReplyDeleteThe author of an autobiography does have free license to speak about the motives and experience of others because the author is writing about his/her own life from his/her own perspective. Life is happening all around us. The difference is the perspective you take it all in with. Augustine is sharing his perspective.
The accuracy of an already doubtful genre may be affected by this based on the perspective of the reader. If the reader is reading with an opposing perspective and fights it the whole way, then yes, the reading may seem a bit fraud. If the reader chooses to read as an empty mind and take the words in as another perspective to choose to imagine what the author is saying, then it is as accurate as can be.
This could interfere with the whole confession aspect of the text because, like I said before, it’s all about the perspective. If the reader deems the acts Augustine are confessing are unacceptable there is not going to be praise for the writing.
Augustine’s Confession compares to Boethius’ Consolation from a genre point of view as a spiritual autobiography as a whole. Both authors are telling stories about the ups and downs of their lives, one of which finishes his up and the other down (last moments of consciousness wise). Lessons are taught and shared through out the texts and perspectives change. I think Augustine was more of a “look what you can do with your life even if you do bad things it can end up great – look at me!” kind of writing – while also owing his success to the Catholic Church (in efforts to convert people). While Boethius was more of a “look at what you can accomplish in your life, but don’t take it for granted for it can turn on you in an instant and certain emotions may overtake you whether you like it or not.”
Sherri-Lyn VonSchmidt
ReplyDeleteComp Lit 122 Spring 2017
I grew up Catholic. I went to a Catholic school for 11 years and went to church every Sunday. Looking back at a time when I was active in the church, I think about my confessions and what they meant to me. I was young and admittedly didn’t understand very much. Your first actual confession happens when you are about 7 or 8. Due to age and having never done it before, you ask questions like what am I supposed to say? They tell you to pick any of the things you feel you have done that is morally wrong. So essentially, you are picking from a series of events as to what you may have mixed feelings about or what goes against ways that you were taught. I think this is important, because for me, it makes sense why he chose the apple story and why he elaborated on it versus elaborating further on his family and leaving. We are taught from very young that stealing is wrong and it is one of the 10 Commandments. It was also likely punishable whereas illegitimate children were not. My guessing is that there were others who had similar experiences with family and having children out of wedlock and leaving. It normalized it for him so he likely felt it wasn’t a sin that required confessing and therefore was not given enormous amount of detail in the story. I think to him it was also what weighed on his mind moreover than the other. I also believe that we are people who love “gossip” and to “know” things. It helps us to categorize and relate to other people. When we hear a story about someone confessing, I feel like we are more inclined to pick it up and want to read it. His labeling his story a confession helps to ensure an adequate audience.
I think retracing his “wicked ways” is a somewhat therapeutic practice but I think it provides more closure and is a way to alleviate guilt, so as to not carry on that burden. It is almost like an actual confession where you are given repentance to alleviate your sin. He is absolving himself of sin to become more holy like and bringing himself closer to God. He needs to be absolved of his sins in order to become a holier self. Without absolving himself, he cannot be considered devout or spiritual.
I don’t think that an autobiography has the authority to speak of feelings of others. I take an autobiography as a person’s lived experiences and perspectives. If you are discussing of someone else than I feel it becomes just a narrative. In some ways, I do think it falls in the semblance of a confession because he is speaking of others confessions but I find it problematic because it is an autobiography so we should be discussing Augustine inwardly and not anyone else.