somehow forgot to rate this initially, probably because i was too tired to write a review to do it justice. i am still too tired and there will never be a review to do it justice.

suffice it to say that if i sorted my books like dante sorted sinners this would be in the rose, and, since reading it, i have referenced it in class possibly even more frequently than mr choi has teased peter.

El nombre de San Agustín ha trascendido los siglos, aunque poco se conoce normalmente sobre su pensamiento. Lo que más trasciende es su notoria conversión al Cristianismo luego de llevar una vida licenciosa en la que asegura haber cometido todos los pecados posibles. De esto también trata este libro, el más célebre de los que escribió que, además de ser una larga confesión sobre su vida y su conversión, es una autobiografía (hasta los cuarenta años, pero vivió muchos más) poética, filosófica y reflexiva, bastante literaria (pues cuida mucho la belleza de la forma y de las palabras) y está construida como una larga alabanza a Dios, pero también como un tratado filosófico.

Primero nos narra su nacimiento e infancia en Tagaste (África, Imperio Romano, estamos hablando del 354 d.C.) junto a sus padres, Patricio, un funcionario pagano, y Mónica una cristiana devota que más tarde sería santificada. Pese a la fé de su madre, Agustín no fue bautizado, según la creencia de la época en la que algunos pensaban que era mejor no bautizar temprano a los niños para que así pudiesen pecar antes de ser consagrados a Cristo, lo cual era una especie de permisividad (ya que según el dogma cristiano, antes del Bautismo pertenecemos al maligno). Agustín creció aficionado a los juegos callejeros y ciertas tretas, aunque desarrolló un gusto por el estudio, las lenguas y las letras (pese a que odiaba el griego y por ende, los textos griegos como La Ilíada y La Odisea), pero prefería el Latín.

Después estudiaría artes liberales y retórica, y empezaría a tener oficio y relativo éxito en esta disciplina, al tiempo que se dedicaba a los placeres mundanos, sexuales (no quería comprometerse con una mujer ni casarse sino "explorar"), desarrolló una afición a los espectáculos públicos como el teatro y el circo romano (del que diría después que era un horror que alguien disfrutase de aquello). Aquí ya está en Cartago y más tarde marcharía a Milán. Más tarde se uniría a la corriente de pensamiento y religión maniqueísta, en la que empieza un camino espiritual de búsqueda sobre todo del origen del bien y del mal (el Maniqueísmo sostenía que el bien y el mal eran dos sustancias independientes), y aunque empieza a conocer sobre los textos sagrados y el Cristianismo, aún su vena lógica y racional no le permitían creer en Cristo y sus misterios, sobre todo el de la Encarnación. Por este tiempo es profesor de retórica, pero se empieza a dar cuenta que todo lo que repite son mentiras y acomodamientos de la palabra y la lógica, así que decide dejar de dar clases, y es cuando conoce al arzobispo de Milán, San Ambrosio y este cambia su pensamiento y fe con el fervor de sus discursos. A partir de ello y de sus lecturas del autor neo-platónico Plotino, Agustín reconstruye su fe y sus creencias y se convierte en Cristiano. Su mayor lucha -cabe resaltar aunque se conoce- era la de la abstinencia. Finalmente la venció y decidió no tomar esposa sino consagrarse completamente a Dios.

Es entonces cuando su curiosidad y sus inquietudes filosóficas y existenciales aparecen en este libro, y aunque en el mismo estilo formal y narrativo, pasamos de una autobiografía-testimonio a un tratado filosófico en el que San Agustín pregunta y responde, indaga y elabora ideas acerca de los grandes temas como el cuerpo y el alma, qué es el tiempo (el pasado, presente y futuro), la memoria, la Creación, el origen de las cosas, el origen de la tierra y del Universo mismo (es casi una aproximación a la astrología y a la física cuántica), la nada y el todo, el antes de la existencia y del origen del mundo/universo. La Nada, así con mayúsculas, quizás el primer filósofo que hizo disquisiciones sobre este tema. El tiempo, el transcurrir del tiempo, la memoria como medidora de ese transcurrir y el alma misma como medida del tiempo son el mayor enigma (como él mismo lo dice) que trata de desentrañar en la mayor parte de la segunda mitad de este libro.

No es un libro de lectura fácil por su estilística (barroca antes de que existiera el barroco), pero el ritmo que tiene es incesante, casi como el transcurrir del tiempo mismo pero con una vena lírico-espiritual que lo hacen fluir como un cántico. Sí, como una larga plegaria en la que se va develando el hombre, la existencia, Dios y el universo.

Memory, experience and expectations filtered through our now shade our reckoning for how we think we think about our past, present and future when all we really have is our grasp of the now through our being, actions and our will as he analogously states in reference to the mystery of the Trinity. Augustine tells his life as it unfolds in time and his beliefs on time, creation, memory and ‘on the nature of things’ while professing his faith through confessing as an individual who is in awe of the infinite as it has been revealed to him by living right and with right character inspired by the writings of Cicero while incorporating St. Paul into his belief system as a whole.

Augustine gave one of the most cognizant lessons I have ever seen on how women can stop being beaten by their husbands while not having to show up the next day with bruises that can’t be easily hidden. As St. Monica (Augustine’s mother) demonstrated by her words a wife should not engage their husband as the husband is going off and they should at the best do everything in their power to minimize the situation and wait till calmer times come before engaging verbally with their spouse. When one ignores the absurdity of a society or a religion that accepts beating spouses in any sense of the word, the advice is actually not bad because most disagreements between people aren’t really worth losing emotional capital over and one can profit from realizing that the person is just speaking emotional truths for themselves and there really is not room for disagreement. Even if a simpleton says something like ‘the dark web within the government purposely has spread Covid-19 in order to make Trump look bad and to propagate child molestation because nobody loves a quarantine more than a predator’ (that is actually a real Qanon argument), there is really nothing to say except ‘uh huh’, because irrefutable premises are nothing but pseudo-science and there is no data or experiment that I could design to show them wrong. Similarly, a spouse or acquaintance who is vulnerable to losing their temper and heading towards anger the best strategy is just to say ‘uh, huh’, because in the end they are speaking emotionally and it is part of their emotional truth and to everybody except that person emotions are not things so just let them spout their emotional truths because to them they are things and it is the truth. St. Monica gave good advice even for those who aren’t afraid of being beaten.

I would rank this book on the list of the greatest 100 books ever written. It reminds me of Proust’s ‘In search of Lost Time’ especially volume 6, The Fugitive. Augustine is way ahead of the curve with this book. Augustine overall gets something, that we are in a paradox that keeps us from understanding since our memories come from our previous experiences which were tainted by our expectations and that our now is all that we ever have. (Proust did exactly that with his oeuvre). Now, Augustine resolves his paradox by promising us an infinite existence after this life and makes God's love the thing in itself that provides our meaning, value and truth and believes Adam and Eve are real as well as a talking snake acting as a tempter and that a mediator is necessary between Man and God and that the 'Son of Man’ can suffer vicariously for your sin and that the Devil is real and will never have eternal life since the wages of sin is death and a lot of other such things.

I think all modern day Evangelicals who write their convoluted books would be well served to limit their arguments to what Augustine presented here in this book because Augustine has a consistency, coherence and a foundation that they seemed to have forgotten if one were only to look past some of the absurdities.

Take up and read, has there ever been a more apt affirmation? Regretfully, Augustine took the affirmation to be only in defense of one narrow system of beliefs, because he brought a depth to questions we still wrestle with such as what is my purpose, what should I do, how should I act and what should I believe in as well as what is time, memory, or why is there something rather than nothing and how does form come out of the formless and what was God doing before his will started to act through his thought and created a universe out of nothing, Augustine had an answer for that, ‘God was making hell for those who asked such questions’, at least he quoted an anonymous friend who jokingly said that.

The guy with the soothing voice on YouTube recommended this book. Honestly, it is probably just mind control, but I had to add this book. FYI....guy with soothing voice is actually called Jared Henderson. This is the video where he said this book was one of his Top 10 Books of All Time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-56bg...

Also, part of James Mustich's 1,000 Books to Read: https://www.listchallenges.com/1000-b...

St. Augustine’s Confessions is such a lovely and honest book. I’d recommend it to everyone, if people who aren’t remotely religious. It’s one of those works that really manages to encapsulate certain feelings and articulate them in ways that are clear but also sort of startling in their clarity, saying obvious things in ways you’d never quite thought of before.

Take this bit from Book 8: “In my heart I kept saying ‘Let it be now, let it be now!’ and merely by saying this I was on the point of making the resolution. I was on the point of making it, but I did not succeed. Yet I did not fall back into my old state. I stood on the brink of resolution, waiting to take a fresh breath…And the closer I came to the moment whichw as to mark the great change in me, the more I shrank from it in horror. But it did not drive me back or turn me from my purpose: it merely left me hanging in suspense.”

It’s a distinctly theological feeling for Augsustine, but I also think it’s just generally a human one, and that’s what makes this book such a joy to read. Augustine is also just a lovely writer, and he’s honest and inquisitive about himself, his God, and his world. It’s one of the most accessible ways to get a look at the worldview of an early medieval Christian.

There are also two sections on memory and time (books 10 and 11) that are just loads of fun.

This is an introspective book. In it, St. Augustine traces his spiritual journey — from the hedonism and materialism of his early youth — to intellectual pursuits of secular philosophy, academic success, and worldly wisdom — to attempting to reach God via alternative spirituality, a blend of false asceticism, skepticism of scripture, and a cafeteria approach to truths of the Church — then, finally, to full repentance from these to acceptance of and obedience to Jesus Christ and His Church.

Augustine critically examines each thought process within each of these stages of his life. It’s a long process — as it has been also for those on similar spiritual journeys.

There is a poetry and a beauty to much of his writing. In other places, however, Augustine seems stuck in a rut as he ruminates at length on some aspect of one of his life’s events or periods that can make it seem plodding at times.

In other places, such as near the end — as seemed his wont to do in “City of God” — he seemingly gets sidetracked into long philosophical, intellectual discussions. In one chapter, he does this on the topic of time. I found it very dull, and, although he weaves God’s nature of timelessness into the discussion, it seemed almost an effort to appeal to debates among the pagan and atheist philosophers of his day.

However, over all, “Confessions “ deserves its place as one of the great works of Early Christianity — the story of a man who made that difficult journey from the empty trifles of a world in decline to a place of building a close relationship with God via the life of the Church. I recommend it for those interested in the Early Church, in theology or philosophy, or in Christian spiritual growth and progress.

You can read my review here: https://classicalcarousel.com/confess...

I will be forever grateful that I did Professor Cook and Professor Herzman's Course, St. Augustine's Confessions on this classic work of antiquity, so misunderstood today. If you plan to read this book, do yourself a favor and take this course.

The most important thing Professor’s Cook and Herzman's Course taught me was something which I felt but could not articulate and that is St. Augustine’s Confessions, although often classified as an autobiography, is actually a PRAYER.

It is not a diary or a set of memoirs. Augustine is not justifying or excusing himself; he is talking to His God, literally in confession and as Augustine knows that God is omniscient, there is no point in trying to impress Him. So instead, he begs forgiveness for his actions and praises God for His forbearance, Goodness, and Love.

This is not a book to be read once or twice, casually or without some assistance. Once upon a time it used to be part of the Western canon and was included in religious as well as secular reading programs. Now you will be lucky to find it even mentioned as suggested reading in Catholic universities. It is an amazing book, staggering in its brilliance, yet sadly neglected. I am truly at a loss when I think about how to review it in a way which it deserves.

We talk about ‘Social Justice’ today but in fact we are reinventing the wheel. The ancients, especially Augustine, understood very well about Justice in Society and how difficult it was to establish. It is exactly what he was trying to explain in his story of the stealing of the pears.

This was only my fourth (or fifth?) read; some parts I have read more than that. God willing, it will not be my last because I truly do not think I have scratched the surface of all that is here. But then I know I would also like to go on and read more of the writings of this great Saint, Doctor and Father of the Church. We shall see...

10 stars if I could!



I don't write reviews for likes. I write my reviews according to what I believe and people either agree with me or not, often as not they don't, which is fine. They are entitled to their views just as I am to mine. But in this case, I care tremendously that it be known what an amazing book The Confessions is and that it is every bit a FIVE star book, so I am rereading it in order to write the best review I know how...

I do realize ratings are subjective, just as much as likes are ... but ... but ... 3 stars for the most popular review for The Confessions!?

Second reading was great. It only gets better. What a great heart he had for God, and what a great God who had his heart!

هي نوع من االاعترافات التي يقوم بها العقائديوين المتشددون بصورة تجليات نثرية مملة تعبر عن مدى مازوشية وحب لجلد الذات بصورة غير مبررة تستجدي من خلالها رغبة نرجسية لجلب اتباع ومريديين......... فقط ما أشيد به هي الترجمة التي ترجمت من اللاتينية الى العربية لم تكن سهلة .... رتيب

I don’t have words to express how deeply this book moved me.

It’s been 84 years… but I finally finished the whole thing. Books 10-13 as well