Confessions of St. Augustine
'Confessions of St. Augustine' Summary
The work is not a complete autobiography, as it was written during Saint Augustine's early 40s and he lived long afterwards, producing another important work, The City of God. Nonetheless, it does provide an unbroken record of his development of thought and is the most complete record of any single person from the 4th and 5th centuries. It is a significant theological work, featuring spiritual meditations and insights.
In the work, Augustine writes about how he regrets having led a sinful and immoral life. He discusses his regrets for following the Manichaean religion and believing in astrology. He writes about his friend Nebridius's role in helping to persuade him that astrology was not only incorrect but evil, and Saint Ambrose's role in his conversion to Christianity. The first nine books are autobiographical and the last four are commentary and significantly more philosophical. He shows intense sorrow for his sexual sins and writes on the importance of sexual morality. The books were written as prayers to God, thus the title, based on the Psalms of David; and it begins with "For Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee." The work is thought to be divisible into books which symbolize various aspects of the Trinity and trinitarian belief.
Book Details
Authors
Saint Augustine of Hippo
Algeria, Rome
Augustine of Hippo also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian, philosopher, and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings influenced the development of Western philo...
Books by Saint Augustine of HippoDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
- Select Speed
Related books
Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
Twelve Years a Slave is an 1853 memoir and slave narrative by American Solomon Northup as told to and edited by David Wilson. Northup, a black man who...
Castles in the Air by Baroness Emma Orczy
Castles in the Air is a short novel or a collection of interconnected stories told in the form of an autobiography by a charming yet unscrupulous Fren...
St. Francis of Assisi by Gilbert K. Chesterton
For Chesterton, Francis of Assisi is a great paradoxical figure, a man who loved women but vowed himself to chastity; an artist who loved the pleasure...
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas De Quincey
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater is a deeply introspective and influential autobiography by Thomas De Quincey. Written in a majestic neoclassical...
Handel by Romain Rolland
Handel by Romain Rolland is a compelling biography that delves into the life and artistic genius of one of the most influential composers in history....
Mark Twain by Archibald Henderson
Many writers have penned studies of Mark Twain's life and work through the years. Twain authorized this biography, having met and hosted the writer, A...
Autobiography of a Super-Tramp by William Henry Davies
The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp is a fascinating and insightful account of the life of a tramp in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States...
Liber Amoris by William Hazlitt
Liber Amoris is a deeply personal and unflinching account of William Hazlitt's obsessive infatuation with a young woman. The work goes beyond a typica...
Mark Twain: His Life and Work by William M. Clemens
It is an interesting and funny biography on Samuel Langhorne Clemens (otherwise known as Mark Twain). He became stronger while he grew up as he was a...
Life-Story of a Russian Exile by Marie Sukloff
Marie Sukloff's 'Life-Story of a Russian Exile' is a deeply personal account of her journey from a young peasant woman to a radical activist involved...
Reviews for Confessions of St. Augustine
No reviews posted or approved, yet...