The Confessions

In my opinion, this book is really two books in one, and should be treated as such. The first book is composed of the first nine chapters and forms the autobiographical portion of the Confessioons, and the tenth through thirteenth chapters make up a concise overview of St. Augustine's basic theological views.

The first part is by far the easier to read, and depend on you are searching for by reading this book, this may be all you really need to read. St. Augustine sets out candidly for his readers the story of his life; the faith of his mother that initially so disgusted him and eventually aided in his conversion, his lusts and youthful errors, and his final dramatic conversion in the garden. Some claim that many of St. Augustine's gruelling criticisms of himself are exagerations ment as examples to his parishioners (he was the Bishop of Hippo) but irregardless the cincerity and spiritual earnestness of St. Augustine's writing shines through every page. It is amazing to think that someone who lived over 1500 years ago is so much the same as men today.

The second part is the most intellectual of the two and this is the one that contains most of the theology of the work, and while I will say that this section may not be for everyone (but after reading his autobiography I hope you will feel compelled to read this) this section should NOT be read without first reading the more spiritual autobiography. St. Augustine here provides an outline for such celebrated principles as the everlasting now, and such difficult questions as was God compelled to create the world. While he does not mention much of one of his other very famous an important theological principles here (i.e. predestination) this is still the best introduction his entire cannon of theology that is available.

I'd like to say a few words on the Vintage Spiritual Classic s edition. This is a handsome well-priced paperback volume that offers a good easily readable modern english translation. I shopped around when looking for an edition of this book, and while there are some editions that offer more notes, this is the only edition that offers refferences to the scriptual passages St. Augustine is referring to. It also contains an invaluable concise introduction and timeline to St. Augustine's life and the environment in which he lived.

If you liked this, and you have good reading stamina, chack out his other major work "City of God".


An Honest Human account of the love that God has for us   May 21, 1999
12 out of 17 found this review helpful

St Augustine sets out to honestly be apart and not separate from everyone of us, by letting us know of his frail and human existence which is embodied by sin and corruptiblity, but he so reassurringly reminds us that through God's mercies and graces we are loved and forgiven of sin by acknowledgement and by a constant repentance of sin. Augustine speaks of God's love in a penatrating fashion that touches the soul of whoever is in search of releasing the hard coated cover of restraints and freely allowing God's love to touch the depths of our heart, which as Augustine so reverently feels and leaves one who reads along with a hair-rising experience of Love from our Father.


I suppose if you are a Catholic you might like this book   May 17, 2000
Tim Lieder (New York, NY)
11 out of 42 found this review helpful

Much like the New Testament, this book caters to the faithful, but the curious will be left with a great "what's the point?" feeling.

Augustine spawned the genre of confessional literature and as far as confessional literature goes, this is a pretty good book. Unfortunately he lost my attention towards the beginning when he whines about his grievous horrible sin in stealing the fruit from the tree. Couldn't he just apologize to the owner of the tree? Maybe buy the guy a new tree? Offer to work it off?

The rest of the book is much like that. Augustine feels guilty, horribly guilty all the time. If you are a fan of the Catholic guilt complex, this is the book for you. If you don't think that the earth is horrible place to test you for Heaven, then try someone else.


good translation--but poor edition   August 10, 2001
Michel Aaij (Montgomery, AL)
10 out of 13 found this review helpful

This is one of Augustine's best-known works, for all the right reasons. Sometimes comic, sometimes haunting, sometimes moving, this is the original autobiography. The narrative starts in early childhood and attempts to find an even earlier stage of existence, goes through adolescent error, until death (his mother's) and rebirth (Augustine's baptism). The last sections of the Confessions are explorations of memory and a reading of Genesis.

This translation, by Maria Boulding, is very adequate: Augustine's relatively straightforward style is rendered into highly legible English. The introduction (by Patricia Hampl, not by the translator) is solid too, and introduces the book by way of the faculty of memory, an essential structuring device of autobiography.

However, I can only give this three stars because the edition itself totally lacks apparatus. For starters, the index is somewhat meagre (no references to 'language,' 'rhetoric,' 'Virgil,' 'Dido,' for instance). Even less helpful are the notes. This book is part of the 'Vintage Spiritual Classics,' and 'spiritual' here means 'exclusively Christian.' This is a somewhat misleading choice of words (not to mention colonialist), and results in notes only giving biblical references. Thus, there are no notes explaining, for instance, Manichaeism (very relevant to the discussion in 3.7) or Neoplatonism. A few general observations in the Chronology, which precedes the Confessions, hardly suffice for a modern reader, and those remarks are not contextualized.

In all, for its price this is a decent book (although overpriced in Amsterdam, unfortunately), but I had hoped for and expected a slightly more expansive editorial philosophy from Random House.


A powerful read   February 12, 2006
R. S. Fertig (Newfield, NY United States)
10 out of 13 found this review helpful

This is a profound book in so many ways; here are just a few. Augustine writes with a combination of confidence and humility that is not seen today. His confidence stems from faith in the God he clearly knows so well and his humility from a deep understanding of the sinfulness that dwells at the very core of his being. Worship is the purpose and attitude of the book; one can't help but be moved to do so after reading it. This book has also stimulated me to much thought in the areas of entertainment, evangelism, conversion, and scripture. Although this book is a great classic that has influenced Christianity and beyond for many centuries and people feel like they "should" read it, I recommend reading it for the pure delight of listening to a man who lays himself bankrupt before the Almighty and sincerely asks, "Give what you command, and command what you will."