Confessions, Volume II: Books 9–13

by Augustine of Hippo, Carolyn J. Hammond (Translation)

Aurelius Augustine (AD 354 430), one of the most important figures in western Christianity and philosophy, was the son of a pagan, Patricius of Tagaste, and his Christian wife, Monnica. While studying to become a rhetorician, he plunged into a turmoil of philosophical and psychological doubts, leading him to Manichaeism. In 383 he moved to Rome and then Milan to teach rhetoric. Despite exploring classical philosophical systems, especially skepticism and neoplatonism, his studies of Paul s letters with his friend Alypius, and the preaching of Bishop Ambrose, led in 386 to his momentous conversion from mixed beliefs to Christianity. He soon returned to Tagaste and founded a religious community, and in 395 or 396 became Bishop of Hippo.

"Confessions, " composed ca. 397-400, is a spiritual autobiography of Augustine s early life, family, personal and intellectual associations, and explorations of alternative religious and theological viewpoints as he moved toward his conversion. Cast as a prayer addressed to God, though always conscious of its readers, "Confessions" offers a gripping personal story and a philosophical exploration destined to have broad and lasting impact, delivered with Augustine s characteristic brilliance as a stylist.

This edition replaces the earlier Loeb Classical Library edition of "Confessions" by William Watts."

Genres: Religion, Philosophy, Biography, Christianity, Christian, Classics, Autobiography

496 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 398

About the author

Early church father and philosopher Saint Augustine served from 396 as the bishop of Hippo in present-day Algeria and through such writings as the autobiographical Confessions in 397 and the voluminous City of God from 413 to 426 profoundly influenced Christianity, argued against Manichaeism and Donatism, and helped to establish the doctrine of original sin.

An Augustinian follows the principles and doctrines of Saint Augustine.

People also know Aurelius Augustinus in English of Regius (Annaba). From the Africa province of the Roman Empire, people generally consider this Latin theologian of the greatest thinkers of all times. He very developed the west. According to Jerome, a contemporary, Augustine renewed "the ancient Faith."

The Neo-Platonism of Plotinus afterward heavily weighed his years. After conversion and his baptism in 387, Augustine developed his own approach to theology and accommodated a variety of methods and different perspectives. He believed in the indispensable grace to human freedom and framed the concept of just war. When the Western Roman Empire started to disintegrate from the material earth, Augustine developed the concept of the distinct Catholic spirituality in a book of the same name. He thought the medieval worldview. Augustine closely identified with the community that worshiped the Trinity. The Catholics and the Anglican communion revere this preeminent doctor. Many Protestants, especially Calvinists, consider his due teaching on salvation and divine grace of the theology of the Reformation. The Eastern Orthodox also consider him. He carries the additional title of blessed. The Orthodox call him "Blessed Augustine" or "Saint Augustine the Blessed."

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Reviews

[M. A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Augustine’s ultimate love letter to God, part 2. Not as fun as the first - think more hermeneutics and less panicked cry for help, but interesting nonetheless.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great.

[Ryan Denson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume contains the final five books (IX-XIII) of Augustine’s Confessions. Like the previous volume by Hammond, the English translation is done in a modern and straightforward style. The translation of the philosophical sections is exceptionally commendable for its clarity and insightful footnotes that will no doubt be helpful to non-scholarly readers. As before, the introduction provides a well-balance summary and background.

Book IX of Confessions finishes up the autobiographical content, concluding with Augustine’s baptism and his mother’s death in Ostia. Similar to the previous books, it gives us a rare insight into the personal life of one individual in antiquity, highlighting the emotions and thoughts following the death of his beloved mother. Books X-XIII transition away from telling his personal story and reveals his purpose in writing Confessions. Rather than being a wholly autobiographical text, as some modern readers would like to believe, it is intended to encourage conversion to Christianity. Here, Augustine discusses his ideas on the nature of memory and time, which would become highly influential among theologians and philosophers in the medieval period. He concludes with an allegorical exegesis of the beginning chapters of Genesis. While that may seem a strange way to end such a work, Augustine appears to have meant to convince contemporary readers of the magnificence of God as a final incentive to convert. Though these sections are not as useful as the prior books for historians and classicists, it is worth reading for the intriguing ideas posed and how eloquently Augustine states them in the Latin text and Hammond, just as eloquently, expresses them in English.

[Sara Sheikhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a very pleasant experience to be guided through Augustine's confessions. The language is poetical and dramatic without getting blurry. It spans between "mundane" everyday experiences of being human (for instance: why are we sometimes restless and rootless even when we are in our own home?) to great attempts to understand metaphysical phenomena (for instance: what is meant by the Sabbath and is heaven a boring place where one only sleeps?). The elaborations on what time is and to what extent it is possible for a mind to conceive time are still relevant and refreshing. In these books, Augustine also enters the discussion of trinity and what is meant thereby. The greatest effort to an argument is put in to understanding what the holy spirit is (which is analyzed as love...of God or God as love). Here he also enters a longer discussion on what a gift is and is not (a discussion that other guys such as Derrida will take interest in later). Augustine has read Plotinus but is not Plotinus. He therefore adds some philosophical discussion to some things initiated by Plotinus. I was very surprised to find a nice and progressive discussion on interpretation and author's intention, basically an elaboration on the possibility of hermeneutics. Augustine questions that there even is such a thing as a "literal interpretation" and suggests that it is impossible for a human to have a solely one literal interpretation that is correct of a text. Although this line of thought seems trivial at first, Augustine is providing some simple but crucial insights on the scope of a reading and meaning.