Reading Augustine: A Guide to the Confessions

by Jason Byassee

The Confessions of St. Augustine is one of the few Christian classics that is still widely read in the secular academy. Yet, oddly enough, it is not often read in the manner Augustine appears to have intended and in which the church read it for as a model of conversion, devotion, friendship, and the love of God. This book is a companion for any reader of the Confessions-whether in an academic, ecclesial, or devotional context-informed by the latest scholarship yet always directed toward pushing the reader, with Augustine, toward God.

Genres: Theology

102 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2006

Reviews

[Monte Hickingbottom]

I wouldn't have understood Augustine's Confessions without this guide!

One of my favorite quotes: "The way to “ascend” to this God is to “descend,” to the humble realities of church life, boring committee meetings, ornery fellow human beings, with weak commitments and half-baked intentions, the very grime and glory of life. That people is our means to growth into this God. Not a solo intellectual flight, but a descent to the crucified God at our feet, and the humble, stubborn, intractable people at the church you grew up in."

[Phil]

This rather short guide to Augustine's Confessions is an excellent companion to the reading of the Confessions. I had picked it up, partly because it has been on my To Read list on Goodreads for a couple years and partly because I got it into my head to read the Confessions in Latin. I was doing well enough until I lost momentum in May and June and then collided with Book 7. I was getting the Latin (kind of), but I was at sea with the philosophy. Byassee, among other things, helped me understand the problem- I don't get Platonic philosophy very well. So, not a language problem, but a philosophy problem. I'm rather relieved.

However, back to this guide. Byassee's aim with this book is to provide what is in essence a study guide for university students studying the Confessions for the first time. The context isn't necessarily the university (at least, the secular one), but rather a Christian one. Byassee takes seriously Augustine quest to under the divine story within his life and the effort is all the more useful for that. Too many commentators on the Confessions don't get that this is the story of Augustine and God, not just Augustine the neurotic. He provides the historical and the sometimes difficult philosophical background clearly and his reflections questions encourage the read to dig deeper.

So, this is a worthwhile book to keep on hand while reading the Confessions (whether in Latin or not), if only to decipher the sometimes difficult concepts Augustine confronts.

[Kenneth]

A small compendium that assists one in a book-to-book reading of Augustine's Confessions. Though the book is thin, the scholarship and insights behind this slim volume are immensely compact. A must read for those who wish to get more out of our their reading of the Confessions.