A good, but lengthy, read. Prepare to sit and ponder. And reread and ponder some more. ( )

A spiritual self-examination it tells of Augustine’s restless youth and of the stormy spiritual voyage that ended some 12 years before the book’s writing in the haven of the Roman Catholic Church. In reality, the work is not so much an autobiography as an exploration of the philosophical and emotional development of an individual soul. Confessions broke entirely fresh ground as literature, and the genre of autobiography owes many of its characteristics to Augustine.

Although autobiographical narrative makes up much of the first 9 of the 13 books of Confessions, autobiography is incidental to the main purpose of the work. For Augustine, “confessions” is a catchall term for acts of religiously authorized speech: praise of God, blame of self, confession of faith. The book is a richly textured meditation by a middle-aged man on the course and meaning of his own life. The dichotomy between past odyssey and present position of authority as bishop is emphasized in numerous ways in the book, not least in that what begins as a narrative of childhood ends with an extended and very churchy discussion of the book of Genesis; the progression is from the beginnings of a man’s life to the beginnings of human society.

Between those two points, the narrative of sin and redemption holds most readers’ attention. Those who seek to find in it the memoirs of a great sinner are invariably disappointed, indeed often puzzled at the minutiae of failure that preoccupy the author. Of greater significance is the account of redemption. Augustine is especially influenced by the powerful intellectual preaching of the suave and diplomatic bishop St. Ambrose, who reconciles for him the attractions of the intellectual and social culture of antiquity, in which Augustine was brought up and of which he was a master, and the spiritual teachings of Christianity. The link between the two was Ambrose’s exposition, and Augustine’s reception, of a selection of the doctrines of Plato, as mediated in late antiquity by the school of Neoplatonism. Augustine heard Ambrose and read, in Latin translation, some of the exceedingly difficult works of Plotinus and Porphyry. He acquired from them an intellectual vision of the fall and rise of the human soul, a vision he found confirmed in the reading of the Bible. ( )

Simultaneously read a contemporary academic translation by Peter Constantine (University of Connecticut) and a contemporary translation by a non-academic, Benignus O'Rourke of the Order of St. Augustine, that seeks to make the text more easily accessible by simplifying the sentence structure and, uniquely, breaking the lines into short poetic-like units of text. Augustine likely would have approved such an effort as he wrote in a simpler Latin than that of the famous orators and intellectuals of his own day that he taught to students for many years, and in the work bemoans that he was initially put off by the simplicity of language of the Christian scriptures: "It struck me as unworthy of comparison to the distinction of a Cicero. My strutting pride shunned the simplicity of the Scripture, my eye not keen enough to penetrate its interior." (trans. Constantine).

Could my own strutting pride enjoy a translation inspired by a desire to provide today's youth with a text that is easy to follow, non-poetry formatted to impersonate poetry? Happily yes! Clarity is no fault, and the poetic-like structure works I think. Here's an example where I think it heightens the emotion that Augustine wants to communicate, concerning his state of mind following the death of a close friend when he was a young man. First, Constantine:

Not in shady groves, not in amusements, nor in song could my soul find repose, nor in fragrant gardens or sumptuous feasts, not in the pleasures of bed and couch, not in books or poetry. Everything repelled me, even light itself. Everything was irksome and vile that was not what he was, everything except for laments and tears, since it was in those alone that I found a little solace.

Now O'Rourke:

Not in sheltered groves,
not in music or play,
not in gardens scented with flowers,
nor in feasting and company;
not in the pleasures of love,
not even in books, nor in poetry,
could my soul find rest.

All these I hated.
I hated the daylight.
Everything that was not him was painful and hurtful to me.
Only in my tears and sighs
did I taste some little peace.

Here's an instance where O'Rourke adds clarity to the passage that in its reference to the Roman god Jupiter would surely have been clearly understood two thousand years ago, but using a strict translation today it isn't quite so clear. Constantine:

Did I not read in you of Jupiter the thunderer and adulterer - he surely could not have been both, but was presented as such so that a fictitious thunder might mimic and pander to real adultery.

Have to admit I didn't quite follow Augustine's point there. What's all that about thunder and why can't you thunder and adultery both? Then I read the O'Rourke:

It was an accepted belief in the studies I followed
that Jupiter was both the one
who sends his thunderbolts on the wicked
and the one who was also an adulterer.
How could he possibly be both?
But so the story goes.

The result is that those who follow him in adultery
can put a bold face on it
by making false pretence of thunder.

Aha, Augustine is highlighting the hypocrisy of the gods in classical texts and how this is also present in humans, blustering one way yet behaving in quite another. This regrettable aspect of human nature was copy/pasted onto Roman gods, leaving Augustine unconvinced that what he was reading and teaching to Rome's youth bore witness to actual truth. And one thing the Confessions makes clear, that I didn't really appreciate earlier, is that Augustine was embarked on a long journey in search of Truth from a young age, from reading Cicero to the community of the Manicheans to the philosophy of the Neoplatonists and finally to baptism in the Christian faith after becoming convinced by it after years of first intellectual resistance and then years of a resistance of his will (the famous "make me chaste, but please, not yet" years).

O'Rourke's unique translation is one I would highly recommend then, although he only translated the first 9 of the 13 books of the Confession, those in which Augustine composes the world's first written autobiography in the modern sense. Books 10 through 13 are a philosophy of time and memory, and an exegesis of Genesis. These more academic topics must be read in an academic translation. But O'Rourke gives us Augustine's personal journey of the intellect, of the heart, of the seeker, in a highly relatable reading that can seem quite contemporary.

I was delighted to hear Ambrose
often saying in his sermons to the people,
and saying it with emphasis,
The letter kills,
but the Spirit gives life.

When he lifted the veil of mystery from the Scriptures
and opened to the people the spiritual meaning of texts,
which taken literally would seem to be absurd,
he said nothing that would offend.
Even so, I did not know whether what he said was true.

---

What you were I did not know.
But that you did exist,
and that the care of human affairs was in your hands,
I did believe.

This conviction was at times strong, at times fickle.
But at all times I believed that you existed and that you cared for us,
even though I did not know how I ought to think about you,
or work out what way would lead us to you,
or lead us back to you.

---

These books bade me
to return to myself.
So with you as guide
I entered into my deepest self.
But only because you helped me
was I able to do this.
I entered, then,
and with the eye of my soul
I saw the light within,
the light which never changes.

Or, one might say, there is a light and it never goes out (Morrissey. Not translated.).

1. AUGUSTINE - PHILOSOPHER, THEOLOGIAN
2. REDEMPTION ( )

1. AUGUSTINE - PHILOSOPHER, THEOLOGIAN
2. REDEMPTION

I don't know where to begin in reviewing this. I will just say as a Christian, I would suggest to anyone that delves deeply into the study of Scripture, philosophy, and theology needs to read this work. Both memoir and exploration of Augustine's allegorical beliefs. Definitely something to chew over in the mind and spirit.

This translation and the copious notes made the reading much easier for me to follow. ( )

Rightly a classic, but if only he'd hadn't been a professor of rhetoric .... ( )

Rereading this book I am reminded once again how powerful it is and how modern it seems to be. Like all classics it bears rereading and yields new insights each time I read it. But it also is unchanging in ways that struck me when I first read it; for Augustine's Confessions is both an apologetic account of his intellectual search for understanding and wisdom, yet in pursuing that search finding a rootlessness due to an ultimate dissatisfaction with different philosophical positions that he explores. From the carnality of his youth to the moment in the Milanese Garden when his perspective changed forever you the story is an earnest and sincere exposition of his personal growth. You do not have to be a Catholic or even a believer to appreciate the impact of events in the life of the young Augustine. The certainty for which Augustine strives is not found in philosophy alone, but rather in faith, only Christian faith, is this certainty possible for him. Having recently read Cicero myself, I was impressed that Cicero's writing had an important impact on Augustine.

His relations with his mother, Monica, are among those that still have impact on the modern reader. The combination of his personal insights, relations with friends and teachers, and the unusual (for his time) psychological portrait make one realize that this is one of those "Great" books that remind you that true insight into the human condition transcends time and place. ( )

I want to give this two stars, but I really enjoyed the last hundred pages or so, where he goes into a spiral of thinking about language and time and what "in the beginning" could possibly mean. This section of the book shows a guy trying to negotiate his place in the world and in his beliefs. I can appreciate that. Or maybe I do have Stockholm Syndrome after all. ( )

Uf! Te rompe la cabeza. ( )

9507398392

12/6/21

12/6/21

L'autobiografia sembra essere un semplice esercizio di scrittura sia personale che collettiva. Cosa c'è di più facile che parlare di se stessi o della società. Specialmente nel mondo di oggi, quando l'io individuale è diventato tutto sociale. Nella storia della letteratura non sono molti i saggi, i racconti ed anche i poemi che hanno uno scopo aubiografico. Queste Confessioni non sono quelle di un uomo comune vissuto nel quarto secolo d.C. Agostino è passato alla storia oltre che come un Santo, anche come una personalità quanto mai complessa tanto nella sua umanità, quanto nella sua spiritualità. Un Uomo diventato Santo perchè sempre alla ricerca della sua spiritualità.

Le sue Confessioni sono molto diverse dalle Meditazioni di Marco Aurelio per la profondità del suo pensiero, la sua ossessione per il peccato, il suo rapporto sofferto con il mistero della divinità e la sua ricerca di salvezza oltre che di significato. Questo cittadino romano, nato in Nord Africa, divenne vescovo e forse è passato alla storia come uno dei più strenui difensori della Chiesa. Eppure confessa di essersi avvicinato a questa fede soltanto all'età di trentadue anni dopo di aver provato tutti i piaceri della carne.

Ma prima egli attraversò le esperienze del Manicaesimo, del Platonismo, della Scetticismo e del Neoplatonismo. Senza dire poi della grande influenza che ebbe su di lui Monica, sua madre. Fu quella decisiva. Famosa la sua conversione descritta nel libro VIII, una delle più mistiche opere letterarie. Questo libro contiene teologia e apologetica, memorie ed esperienze, il tutto indirizzato sopratutto ai non credenti in cerca della verità.

Ma è anche un libro di auto-rivelazione, un libro di come un uomo di nome Agostino, un uomo vero non una figura letteraria, fece il viaggio dalla Città dell'Uomo alla Città di Dio. In tutto il racconto emerge la sua grande umanità che cerca di descrivere la sua ricerca della Verità in forma di un viaggio autobiografico che rimane una esperienza unica nella storia della letteratura. ( )

Ha scritto lo scrittore spagnolo Ortega y Gasset : "Originale o plagiario, l'uomo è il romanziere di se stesso". Un aforisma questo che, a mio parere, sintetizza egregiamente la condizione umana, divisa tra l'essere e l'apparire, tra l'aspirazione a mostrare veramente se stessi e la spinta alla imitazione dell'altro. Tutti sperimentiamo quelle tensioni tra chi vogliamo essere e chi realmente siamo. Più diviso è il nostro io, più ci rendiamo conto di soffrire e per questo voler guarire dal nostro male. Ci portiamo dentro questo tormento, alcuni con grande consapevolezza e coscienza, altri senza rendersene conto, altri ancora, ignorandolo volutamente.

Il personaggio di cui intendo parlare in questo post portò con se questo tormento sino all'età di trenta anni. Anche se è vissuto oltre 1500 anni fa la sua storia resta attuale nella sua originalità, tanto da diventare romanzata. Una storia di vita e di fede è il libro delle "Confessioni". Agostino ebbe modo di scrivere la vicenda della sua fede, dimostrando che nel profondo di ogni animo umano, solo la fede può apportare pace e ordine.

Agostino nacque nell'anno 334 negli ultimi anni dell'impero romano in nord Africa, in quella che è oggi la moderna Tunisia. Nella prima parte della sua vita, Agostino ebbe successo da un punto di vista professionale, ma né la sua attività né la sua intelligenza potettero soddisfare i vuoti che egli avvertiva nel suo spirito.Suo padre Patrizio era un pagano, suo madre Monica una convertita al cristianesimo. Non ebbe molta voglia di studiare a scuola. Nelle "Confessioni" dice che a scuola si dava più importanza alla forma ed allo stile piuttosto che ai contenuti morali. Quando si trasferisce a Cartagine, allora centro culturale di grande rilevanza, scopre un mondo al quale aderisce senza riserve.

"Giunsi a Cartagine, e dovunque intorno a me rombava la voragine degli amori peccaminosi. Non amavo ancora, ma amavo di amare e con più profonda miseria mi odiavo perché non ero abbastanza misero. Amoroso d'amore, cercavo un oggetto da amare e odiavo la sicurezza, la strada esente da tranelli. Avevo dentro di me un appetito insensibile al cibo interiore, a te stesso, Dio mio, e quell'appetito non mi affamava, bensì ero senza desiderio di cibi incorruttibili, né già per esserne pieno; anzi, quanto più ne ero digiuno, tanto più ne ero nauseato."

Continua a leggere avidamente. Ama un libro di Cicerone in particolare "Ortensio", un dialogo perduto, con il quale cresce la sua passione per la filosofia e per la ricerca della verità. Si avvicina alla Bibbia, ma ammette di non possedere la necessaria umiltà per comprendere quel messaggio. Tende verso il Manicheismo, una setta che mescola i Vangeli gnostici, Zoroastro e il Buddismo. Per quasi dieci anni è un manicheo. Diventa maestro di retorica, privilegiando la forma sul contenuto. Diventa cinico. Convive con una donna dalla quale ha un figlio, perde un caro amico e si inoltra in una notte oscura dell'anima. Verso i trenta anni comincia a rendersi conto che né l'intelligenza, né la cultura possono portarlo alla verità. Comprende di avere soltanto imparato a come fare domande ed avanzare dubbi. Arriva alla conclusione che se l'intelligenza non viene illuminata da una luce superiore, tutto resta vano.

A 29 anni lascia la madre e si trasferisce a Roma. A Milano poi trova un posto di insegnante e conosce come suo mentore il vescovo Ambrogio. Comincia a rendersi conto di non poter continuare a vivere solamente di cose esterne, esteriori al suo spirito. Senza Dio, scrive che si sente soltanto "una guida verso la propria caduta". Si rende conto che se diventa un prete dovrà rinunciare ai piaceri della carne, lui che si sente soltanto "uno che sa di essere ciò che sono". Ha una improvvisa illuminazione, sente una voce che gli proviene dalle parole che sente dire ad un bambino mentre gioca, "raccoglilo e leggilo". Un segno indiretto affinché riprenda in mano un libro, la Bibbia e lo legga come un percorso da fare verso la conoscenza di Dio, attraverso Gesù. Rassegna le dimissioni e ritorna in Africa nel 396. Diventa prete e viene nominato vescovo di Ippona.

Questo è il percorso narrativo delle "Confessioni", il percorso esistenziale di una persona tormentata che potrà essere guarita per mezzo della religione. Ma non si creda che Sant'Agostino e il suo libro siano fonte possibile di ispirazione illuminata alla stessa maniera di come fu San Francesco d'Assisi. Il suo dogmatismo e il suo senso di colpa circa il sesso e il gusto del vivere hanno avuto una influenza negativa sulla Chiesa cattolica. Molti preferiranno Agostino il giovane con le sue amicizie proibite, il suo spirito allegro, libertino e indipendente, le sue ampie vedute, i suoi interessi, alla figura pesantemente dottrinaria e dogmatica del vecchio vescovo. Ma questo è l'uomo e il suo personaggio di questo "romanzo"-

Non si trova facilmente nella storia della letteratura sia laica che religiosa una figura umana reale ed immaginaria così tanto potentemente espressa. Da oltre un millennio Sant'Agostino continua ad essere forse la principale figura intellettuale dell'occidente cristiano. Oltre alle "Confessioni" va ricordata "La Città di Dio", un libro che impiegò 13 anni a scrivere. Un'opera teologica fondamentale della emergente religione cristiana. Tutto questo da un uomo di "colore". Perché Agostino, non dimentichiamolo, era un "nero", vissuto ai bordi di un impero fatto di "bianchi". Morì nel 430 lasciando al mondo ed al cristianesimo la certezza che alla base del segreto spirituale, alla base di tutte le religioni deve esserci la fede, portatrice non solo di pace ma anche di ordine. La prima è in funzione del secondo. Questo, premessa alla prima.

Dal mio blog: unideadivita.blogspot.com ( )

Logistics: I mainly listened to the free podcast audiobook, and made highlights in the free kindle copy. The kindle version is in much older English and doesn't have chapter divisions, only book divisions, so it'll be a little harder to gather the ideas later, but that's fine.

Overview: this goes back and forth between technical and experiential, but always worshipful, which was nice. He was a very normal guy! Struggling with secular education, lust, ethics in his job, personal guilt, theatrical entertainment, semi-Christians, and big questions. There was also a lot of extreme confession, convicted of delighting in any of the senses instead of delighting in God. If you read nothing else, read book 8. It was awesome, and that's where his personal salvation testimony is. ( )

The Confessions outlines Augustine's sinful youth and his conversion to Christianity. It is widely seen as the first Western autobiography ever written, and was an influential model for Christian writers throughout the following 1,000 years, through the Middle Ages. It is not a complete autobiography, as it was written in his early 40s, and he lived long afterwards, producing another important work (City of God). It does, nonetheless, provide an unbroken record of his development of thought and is the most complete record of any single person from the 4th and 5th centuries. It is a significant theological work, featuring spiritual meditations and insights. ( )

The Confessions, is a worth reading Christian Classic. Probably Augustine's masterpiece . The Confessions contains a lot of Augustine's life, his conversion, but more importantly about his theology, which eventually influenced Western thought.
The last portion of the volume (book 11-13) is an impressive theological elaboration, which connects Genesis 1 (creation account) with other salvation aspects in the New Testament. Augustine in this last portion adopted an allegorical method of interpretation. I think he has gone too far with allegory. ( )

The Confessions, is a worth reading Christian Classic. Probably Augustine's masterpiece . The Confessions contains a lot of Augustine's life, his conversion, but more importantly about his theology, which eventually influenced Western thought.
The last portion of the volume (book 11-13) is an impressive theological elaboration, which connects Genesis 1 (creation account) with other salvation aspects in the New Testament. Augustine in this last portion adopted an allegorical method of interpretation. I think he has gone too far with allegory. ( )

I read the Pusey translation of Augustine's Confessions about three years ago. A friend read Chadwick's version earlier this year and seemed to get more out of it, so I decided I'd like to try this one. I found Chadwick's version easier to read. Ideally this should be used as a daily devotional, reading only one or two of the smaller enumerations each day, depending on their length. (Some consist of one short paragraph.) I read large chunks on days I read it, but I suspect I would digest more of it with further reflection on the passage. Chadwick's version contained helpful textual footnotes. ( )

Rated: D
Confessions by St. Augustine is a Christian classical read written around 400 AD (like before we knew the world was round). The autobiographical books (I-IX) reveal his life of sin before his conversion to Christianity. Very enlightening witnessing a misspent youth coming to know the truth in Christ. However, the remainder of the books (X-XIII) where he shares his commentary on time and creation based on his understanding of the book of Genesis were far too glandular to the point of irrelevance. ( )

He was born 354 A.D. in Thagaste, Numidia of a Roman father (Patricius) and a Berber mother Monica, and died 430 A.D. in Hippo, Algeria. He became one of the greatest writers of Christian theology largely through the preservation of his writings. He was a product of his times; women were for sexual enjoyment, and procreation, and were to obey their husbands. This was a challenging read, completed through a sense of duty, not of enjoyment. ( )

Normally when I give a rating to a classic work like this it's solely on the basis of the quality of the translation and accompanying scholarly apparatus. Chadwick's translation is fine! I just think if Augustine were around today, he'd be that one insufferable guy in a graduate seminar who postures about his hobby collecting artisanal whiskeys while not so secretly being a fundamentalist with a lot of issues about sex and women. ( )

An interesting look at the spiritual and philosophic evolution of a man during a relatively undocumented stage of history. Too much empty praise of God ("Oh glorious God who gave us everything" paraphrase of what feels like 30% of the book) for this modern reader. However, some interesting chapters/ideas:

• Information about the Manicheans, who Augustine was a follower of. It is interesting to hear of the various sects of Christianity before Roman Catholicism came to dominate.
  
• A discussion of original sin that doesn't make it seem like an arbitrary concept designed to create permanent guilt. Augustine presents it as holding children to the same moral standards as adults. By this measure, what baby hasn't been selfish? This seems an unfair standard, but gives some interesting insight into the socialization aspects of parenting.
  
• Why do we go to watch sad plays/movies? Does our feeling of sadness for fictional characters prove to ourselves that we have empathy, and are therefore good? By feeling righteous in this way, are we blinded to tragedy that exists in the real world? Perhaps we should not look for fictional drama, but seek to remove drama from our real lives.
  
• Does artistic intention matter when it cannot be know? This series of chapters was in reference to to Genesis, and the meaning of vague phrases by the supposed author, Moses. If two meanings can be attached to a phrase, without a way to prove one or the other, perhaps they were both intended. The only person Augustine can not deal with is someone peurports that their interpretation is the one true interpretation, when that is clearly unknowable. He is more interested in exploring how different interpretations add to our knowledge. He suggests that if the author was too explicit, then he might leave out some correct interpretation. This seems to relate to the interpretation of modern visual arts. Art that is too direct and explicit in its message, become shallow and uninteresting. A statement from an artist on his intentions might prevent viewers from exploring possible interpretations which also contain truth.
  
  Interesting read, but I did not find as many thoughts worth pondering as I hoped.