CLAS / PHIL 2610. Paganism to Christianity

Reading Handout 15. Reading for Thurs. May 2, 2002

Reading:

Lane and MacMullen 22.1-4 (pp. 279-83)

Norlin Reserve: Augustine Confessions Bks. VIII-IX.18 (p. 133-67) or at http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF1-01/npnf1-01-16.htm#P1137_471801

Aurelius Augustinus, known to us today as St. Augustine, was born in 354 to a Christian mother (Monica) and a pagan father in the North African town of Thagaste (modern Souk-Ahras in Algeria). Augustine's father was a man of moderate means and he spent much of what he made paying to educate his talented young son. Augustine grew up learning the greats of Roman literature (Vergil, Cicero) by heart and became a gifted teacher and public speaker successively in Carthage, Rome and Milan. At Carthage he met a woman (never named) with whom he lived faithfully for fifteen years without ever marrying. When this young lady, however, became an impediment to his career, Augustine abandoned her and was subsequently plunged into a deep spiritual crisis. Augustine had long been interested in his spirituality, as were most people of this period. In North Africa he had followed the Manicheans; after moving to Italy he abandoned this theosophical system for Neoplatonic mysticism; but none of this satisfied. In July 386 in a garden in Milan, he finally turned to Christianity. In 387 he was baptized by St. Ambrose in Milan and his mother died the following year in Ostia, the port of Rome. After burying her, he returned to Africa in 388 and was forced, against his will, into ordination as a priest in 391. Within five years he was bishop of the North African city of Hippo where he remained until his death in 430.

Augustine wrote literally thousands of pages of some of the most important literature in western Christendom. Today we are reading the eighth and ninth chapters of his Confessions. This spiritual autobiography was written in 399 for the benefit of learned friends and acquaintances struggling in their own religious journeys. In it Augustine describes his youth, his education, his life as a Manichee, his moves to Rome and then Milan, his struggle with Neoplatonism and, in the chapters we are reading, his conversion and its immediate aftermath. As you read, keep in mind that the Confessions were written as an extended prayer or "confession" to God. They offer one of the most penetrating insights into the psychology of an individual available from the ancient world. Though the writing can at times seem turgid, we should pay close attention to this valuable work which is rightly regarded as one of the classics of western literature.

Questions

1. What was Augustine's circle of friends like? What class did they seem to come from? What religious beliefs did they hold?

2. What were the concerns of educated aristocrats as they contemplated baptism? What might have held them back from converting? What were the procedures for baptism?

3. Describe the experience Augustine had which led to his conversion? What drove him to his spiritual quest in the first place? Would you guess that his experience was typical or atypical for this period?

4. What did Augustine do in the year immediately following his conversion? Was his reaction to his new faith earth-shattering or mundane?

5. What was Augustine's relationship with his mother Monica? What role did she play in encouraging or even engineering his conversion? Would this have been typical or atypical for this period?

6. If Augustine were alive today, would you say that his conversion experience would be typical or atypical? Do his concerns and feelings reflect those of moderns or was he totally bound to the historical and social context in which he lived?