* Augustine's Confessions is one of the first great autobiographical writings in Western literature. What does Augustine expose about his inner life in this work? What does he leave out or hide? How does Confessions relate to modern-day autobiographies? Provide examples to support your response.

Torrey * In Confessions, Augustine exposes the fact that he is an ordinary man, with all of the shortcomings and sinfulness that can be expected from a young man who is trying to find his place in the world. This book is the detailing of Augustine's long struggle to find meaning and reconcile his life with God. This text is very interesting in the way that it comes from a time when Christianity was new to the world, and speaks to the questions that many early Christian philosophers must have encountered. For the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire (excluding Akhenaton's Egypt), a monotheistic belief system was taking root in the world. This must have been quite a change for many people, including Augustine. This shift from a pantheon of Greek and Roman deities to a single god must left many minds wondering, "who is this God, this Christ?" I believe that Augustine'sConfessions contain a strong thread that references these questions. In the beginning of the text, Augustine asks, "Who then are you, my God? What, I ask, but God who is Lord? For who is the Lord but the Lord, or who is God but our God?"(Confessions.1. pg. 849) To me, these are not just rhetorical questions. They reflect the state of conflict and questioning within Augustine himself. Throughout this entire opening section, Augustine is quite verbose in his expressions of love for his creator, almost to the point of distraction. The devotion that Augustine expresses here is pure though, from the standpoint of someone who has given their once sinful life over to a higher power and belief.

I am not quite sure if Augustine is hiding anything in this text. I read a bit further and did not see much mention of the son that he had with his lover though. This is a puzzling bit of side research for me to conduct at a later time. What ever became of his lover and his son? Were they simply discarded and sent away before Augustine became a Christian? If so, would this have been considered the right thing to do, Considering his eventual high standing in the church?

Confessions certainly reads like exactly that, a detailing of Augustine's life, sin and all. I was raised Catholic, and this was one of the required readings in my church. I think mostly because it is so gritty and observant of the life of a sinner before they have found God. It is quite similar to modern autobiographies. However, the use of rhetoric and the combined element of religious instruction make it more of a philosophical text than an autobiography.
Romanda
* When I was reading Augustine Confessions, he gave the audience some insight on his life as a child. Although he did the same type of things growing boys do, he was able to describe himself by his characteristics. I learned that thought Augustine is an ordinary boy, he is not perfect. He did things known to be a sin. He was not at all perfect. There were faults he had and mistakes he made. As he grew from a small child to a teenage boy, he was trying to figure things out about life, his life. The sinful things he mentioned doing were stealing and lust. Although many people speaking of sin did far worst, this was far worst in his eyes than what others have done themselves. The one thing Augustine is struggling with is his relationship with God. He wanted to be closer to God and wants to seek a better understanding of who God is and what is it to know God. He was close to God in the past and in struggling to regain that again. I could not understand why he was questioning God if he once had a relationship with God before. In this autobiography, Augustine kept details or conversations about his parents very short and brief. He did not give many details for the reader to grasp who they really are. However, it was mentioned that his dad had some bad habits that can be considered sinful and his mother was a Christian. In a sense, I feel he could have watched his dad drink or do the other negative things which we consider sinful and may have adopted some of his sinful ways. His mothers faith in religion explains how or why he once had some type of relationship with God and is now desiring a chance to regain that back. His dad may have not been Christianity, but he was very proud to have a son growing up, going into puberty, and turning into a young man. He seemed more proud to have a son that can give him kids and grandkids than to be a role model for his son. I have to admit that it was a different style of reading than what I have read. The way it was presented from the writer's point is what made it different. Confessions can be compared to modern day autobiographies because they have many things in common in the writings. The life of the author from childhood to adulthood is most often discussed. They discuss real life experiences and one's own life stories. As an adult, the accomplishments, careers, rewards, illnesses, death and struggles are often focused on as well. This is a style often seen in these writing.
Jessica
* Maybe I am just a schmuck for beauty and softer words, but this one just dragged. To me, Augustine was just so whiny. I don't understand why it is considered a masterpiece. I understand that it is an appeal to God. I can see that it describes his childhood and events in it that affect him greatly now. But, it seems that this man has a seriously hard life every day of his life. I read the intro to the piece as well, so I know that he is sort of a disgruntled person. I did find it fascinating some of his thoughts, especially about whether how much of God can fit in a person since God was the creator of all things: is only a piece of God in someone or is all of Him? Are we in God or is God in us? The philosophical thoughts got me to think as well. So did the thoughts about his time before his birth and the stealing of the pears just for the pure pleasure of doing something naughty. Very few people will actually admit to doing a bad deed because they get pleasure from doing something wrong. Their excuse is usually because they needed the thing rather than just because they wanted to get away with something

That all being said... A lot of the reading was very long-winded. I feel that Augustine was whining about his lot in life underneath his confession. His "sins" in the past were probably horrible to him, but they weren't as though he committed murder. Plus, I'm sure God new about them already. And he probably didn't write about them in only this writing (unless he did, then I retract this statement). We only needed to read a few "books" of his confession so I can't imagine what else he could be confessing about his life, but I can only imagine if someone today sat down and wrote about every single horrible thing they did in theirs just how long it would be, and I would think it would be whiny as well. It seemed to me less of a confession and more of a butt-kissing to a God who already knows what you did and didn't need all the exaltation.