St. Augustine Confessions (Oxford World's Classics)
by Saint Augustine
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Book Summary Information
Author: Saint AugustineTranslator: Henry Chadwick
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-06-25
ISBN: 0192833723
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Book Reviews of St. Augustine Confessions (Oxford World's Classics)
Book Review: Beyond classification.
Summary: 5 Stars
Augustine on Augustine, philosophy, sex, science, skepticism, scholarship, rhetoric, vanity, humility, foolishness, wisdom, reason, the human perspective, exegetics, time, and the attributes of God. 'Confessions' is truly one of the great works of western literature and the [Oxford World's Classics] translation by Henry Chadwick beautifully retains this literary quality (and is extensively and helpfully footnoted). Written and published circa 398-400 AD, Augustine's autobiographic Confessions is an important theological treatise. It is also historically significant in its revelation of a faltering Roman society and of the convergent thinking of Judeo-Christian theology and neo-Platonic philosophy. While many of the discussions are centered on a culture from which we are 1600 years removed, they are surprisingly relevant to a western society that we see is not so different.Very interesting are Augustine's discussions of the physical characteristics and boundaries of 'time' -- in fact since about 1930, our 'scientific' understanding of time is, in some important aspects, identical to Augustine's. This is a subject with which every theist should be familiar ['time' is on their side, so to speak], yet, like others more concerned with what's on TV tonight, most are woefully ignorant. Of further interest (from the standpoint of apologetics) is Augustine's destruction of "linguistic paradoxes" which atheists and agnostics claimed (and still do claim) to prove God's non-existence. These arguments, which Augustine calls "jokes", must be waged against an erroneous characterization of "god". The arguments defeat only a temporally bounded "god", a humanized 'smarty-pants' version of God, which is something that, by definition, God is certainly not. The supposed 'paradox' arguments prove merely that no human-like being could be God, that nothing fully contained by space-time could be God, that no finite consciousness could be infinite (i.e., omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and unchanging). In other words: not God equals not God. That humans pose such feeble arguments against God, and think them profound, is an example of what Augustine calls "learned ignorance."
Augustine's exegesis of Genesis 1 is very well considered, and supported, and varies vastly from so-called literalist interpretations. Much like Philo 400 years earlier, Augustine concludes that the language of Genesis 1 is carefully constructed so as to make a fully "literal" understanding of Creation unknowable. Although less than is its Creator, the acts of Creation are a wonderful mystery beyond "slower minds." While he clearly holds scripture to be without error, Augustine says that error-prone human minds are quick to over-simplify, misunderstand, and misrepresent the mysteries of an infinite God so far beyond the minds of men. Augustine understands Genesis 1 as both an introductory and advanced study of theology, and not as a text for 'Creation Science'. He points out that if references to God Himself in Genesis 1 are interpreted as literal descriptions, we must accept within the text ideas about God which cannot be reconciled to reason or Biblical theology. These relational references to God require spiritual and not physically literal understanding or else we must accept God to be bounded in space and time, a sloppy theology which cannot be reconciled to the scriptural Deity. By contrast, a spiritual [as opposed to a 'scientific'] interpretation, illuminates the nature of being and the will of "the One." Augustine says that any exegesis but that of spiritual allegory is fraught with logical difficulty within the theology of scripture and without. Aware of the depth of many Christian's commitment to what they consider to be a literal interpretation of these texts, he states that his only desire is to seek Truth and that he does not wish to quarrel or debate, as no sincere interpretation fails to acknowledge the primacy, sovereignty, and grace of the Creator. No sincere exegetic stands in conflict with the teachings of Christ -- however, conflict over interpretation is an exercise in the vanities of humans trying to prove they are "right" and such conflict might easily violate Christ's commandment of Love. He cites 5 different interpretations of Genesis 1:1 and asks seekers of truth to bring humility, not pride or comfort or esteem for popular ideas or religious traditions to the study of scripture. "Spiritual persons ... exercise spiritual judgment," says Augustine, and not "notions which they hold because of their familiarity with the fleshy order of things." While the "literalist" exegesis tends to claim that its alternative is to reject the inspiration of scripture and perhaps the very existence of the Creator, the "spiritual" exegetic holds the Creator and His works, including divine inspiration, to be beyond logical refutation, beyond human vanity, perhaps beyond human understanding, causing, and then entering space-time and the material world from [infinitely] without. Eight centuries later, Aquinas was to express a similar exegesis of Genesis 1.
In Augustine, we find a man confronted with error: that of others, and his own shortcomings as well. We find a man much like David or Solomon; a burning intellect certain of its own inadequacy and "hungering and thirsting" for Truth. A prolific writer, Augustine is one of the most influential thinkers in western history, his thoughts being important to any study of theology, philosophy, or cosmology. His Confessions is the story of a prominent [African] Roman educator's spiritual journey to Christianity, and has been rightly called "a masterpiece beyond classification."
Summary of St. Augustine Confessions (Oxford World's Classics)
In his own day the dominant personality of the Western Church, Augustine of Hippo today stands as perhaps the greatest thinker of Christian antiquity, and his Confessions is one of the great works of Western literature. In this intensely personal narrative, Augustine relates his rare ascent from a humble Algerian farm to the edge of the corridors of power at the imperial court in Milan, his struggle against the domination of his sexual nature, his renunciation of secular ambition and marriage, and the recovery of the faith his mother Monica had taught him during his childhood.Now, Henry Chadwick, an eminent scholar of early Christianity, has given us the first new English translation in thirty years of this classic spiritual journey. Chadwick renders the details of Augustine's conversion in clear, modern English. We witness the future saint's fascination with astrology and with the Manichees, and then follow him through scepticism and disillusion with pagan myths until he finally reaches Christian faith. There are brilliant philosophical musings about Platonism and the nature of God, and touching portraits of Augustine's beloved mother, of St. Ambrose of Milan, and of other early Christians like Victorinus, who gave up a distinguished career as a rhetorician to adopt the orthodox faith. Augustine's concerns are often strikingly contemporary, yet his work contains many references and allusions that are easily understood only with background information about the ancient social and intellectual setting. To make The Confessions accessible to contemporary readers, Chadwick provides the most complete and informative notes of any recent translation, and includes an introduction to establish the context.
The religious and philosophical value of The Confessions is unquestionable--now modern readers will have easier access to St. Augustine's deeply personal meditations. Chadwick's lucid translation and helpful introduction clear the way for a new experience of this classic.
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