The Confessions of Saint Augustine is one of the most unique books ever written, and one of the most fascinating books that I have read. Known as the first Western autobiography, The Confessions is, as the title suggests, the confessions of a bishop known as St. Augustine or Augustine. He tells the story of his life, recounting his sins and offering them to God in the most repentant manner. The whole of the Confessions is one volume, consisting of ten books.
    In Book One Augustine begins the confessions with a prayer and praise to God, which really defines the central theme in the entirety of the book. Nearly the entire book is written in address to God; he is always referring to God in the second person. He also makes many pauses in his story to give prayer, praise, acclamation, or a deep sorrowful confession to God for anywhere from a paragraph to a chapter or more. Essentially, the entire book is a prayer to God, a confession of the most personal sins and a description of his path from darkness to God’s light.
    He then begins his life story talking about his infancy. He continues in a prayerful manner discussing how God formed him in his mother’s womb, health given to him by God, and the infant’s state of so-called innocence. From there he moves to his boyhood, talking mostly about his school and what he hated or liked. In all of this he continually cries to God about his depravity at that time and his possible sins.
    Augustine’s story truly begins in Book Two at age sixteen, when his inherent desire of lust initially begins to take over his life, and when he begins his real schooling. Both of his parents’s wanted him to study and become well educated, and his father wanted him to marry, but his mother urged him to be chaste. His mother wanted him to study because she believed it would bring him closer to God, and she desired for him to be chaste because she believed it would be the Godlier thing to do. His father however, as Augustine describes, had no real thought of God, and wanted “only vain ambition” for his son, which education and marriage would bring.
    Therefore Augustine went to Carthage as a student of Rhetoric. There, he came upon the Scriptures for the first time, but he put it aside, describing it as “unworthy to be compared with the majesty of Cicero.” Later in his life though, his view on that would be drastically changed. In his search for truth, he joined the Manichees, whose teachings he sought for as something to hold on too. At this point in the book Augustine talks about his hunger for God, but how he sought for it in false things, such as the Manichee’s doctrine. He describes the Manichaeans as something for him to eat, but not as something that could ever satisfy him. He repeatedly talks about the Manichees and their beliefs throughout the book, always denouncing their beliefs or describing how they held him in falsehoods apart from God. After many years of being a Manichee, though not a strong one, he eventually lost all confidence in them, but did not leave them until he finds God through the teaching of the Catholic Church.
    He speaks of his mother very often, who became incredibly important to him later in his life story. He tells how she felt much anxiety over his spiritual condition, and how she prayed for him devoutly at every hour, that he would turn to God. He attributes his conversion to Christianity, which comes much later in his life, to his mother’s prayers here. And mentions her many other times throughout the book, always thanking God for her devotion to him and God. Near the end of the book, after his conversion, she dies. He then tells of her life, devotion to God, and love for her family. She was one of the greatest impacts on his life, and he was deeply affected by her death, but he remained confident in her salvation and was thus able to hold back most of his grief.
    In Book Four Augustine tells how he decided to take in a mistress, outside of marriage, and purely so that he could fill his lustful desires. He kept this woman until age twenty-nine, in Book Six, when he was to be married to a girl who is actually two years under the age of marriage. He sends his mistress back to Africa, and he breaks off the engagement, but he takes another mistress in place of them both. His sexual passion is what he describes as being his chief sin; it held him back from God when nothing else did.
    At this time Augustine had settled in Milan and become a professor at the university. In Milan, he met and learned from Saint Ambrose about the Catholic teachings. Under Ambrose’s teaching, Augustine began to see and understand more clearly the ideas of faith, reason, and the authority of the Scriptures. He began to be swayed toward Christianity, but was held back by his sexual passions, as he says here, “But I in my worthlessness—for it was greater thus early—had begged You for chastity, saying: ‘Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet.’ For I was afraid that You would hear my prayer too soon, and too soon would heal me from the disease of lust which I wanted satisfied rather than extinguished.”
    Augustine continues struggling with his thoughts of God; with the problem of the origin of evil and whether God is perfectly good and incorruptible. He spends many chapters reasoning through different philosophies and realizations, until one day when a man named Ponticianus visited Augustine’s house and tells him a story about a great secular teacher who gave up all of his teaching after he converted for the sake of Christ.
    This story affected Augustine greatly, and as he sought to be alone in a garden, the most singular conversion took place as Augustine describes, “And suddenly I heard a voice from some nearby house, a boy’s voice or a girl’s voice, I do not know: but it was a sort of sing-song, repeated again and again, ‘Take and read, take and read.’…I arose, interpreting the incident as quite certainly a divine command to open my book of Scripture and read the passage at which I should open.” He opened the Scriptures and his eyes fell first upon Romans 13:13, “Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences.” After reading, he prayed to God, and Augustine says, “You converted me to Yourself so that I no longer sought a wife nor any of this world’s promises.”
    After his conversion, Augustine concludes the Confessions with Book Ten. He has a discussion on why he made his confession and the various benefits of it, such as how he sent his mistress away and remained celibate, how man comes to know God, and an analysis of memory and how amazing a thing it is. He finishes with a prayer of thankfulness to God for his grace, and a discourse on how he has been changed to have completely different desires since his conversion and how Christ acts as the Mediator through which men are reconciled to God.
     This book was not what I had initially expected, but I thought it was very fascinating and definitely worth reading. Augustine’s diction, referring to how the entire book was written as if in prayer directly to God, surprised me somewhat, and it reminded me very much of Biblical Psalms. Augustine’s zeal and love for God is very evident in how he always applies a title to God, and in how in often changes subject in the middle of his narration to give praise to God and discuss his personal depravity.
    I thought that Augustine observed the theme of human depravity, which is in every page of the book, with a keenness and conviction that most people never see or understand. Augustine was not a murderer or corrupt politician; he was not bad by the secular world’s definition. Yet he saw himself as someone utterly depraved of goodness.
    The Confessions of Saint Augustine biggest contribution to the Humanities has been its insight into one of the most influential men in the Christian Church history. Many authors have discussed Augustine and his contributions to history and the Church, but no other book in history can see directly into Augustine’s mind to see his experiences and life so definitely.
    The Confessions also gives to the humanities the individual ideas contained within it. Not only has Augustine’s story has influenced and inspired many people to follow after him, but also the theology found in the Confessions has influenced and taught many people such as Reformers like John Calvin and Martin Luther.
    The Confessions of Saint Augustine is the story of a unique man of God, along with his honest analysis of man in his most basic depravity. Even if someone does not agree with Augustine and his conclusions, I would believe that it would still be a very interesting read and thought provoker for them. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in religion.