Gain The Confessions Of St. Augustine Scripted By Augustine Of Hippo Rendered As Print

experience sufficiently illuminates the truth that free curiosity has greater power to stimulate learning than rigorous coercion.

Augustine, Confessions



Sublime and Original

I cant believe it has taken me so long to read Augustines Confessions.
I might not agree with some of his conclusions my Christian framework, Mormon, would be considered a heresy by Augustine, but his influence on Christianity, philosophy, and the West cant be ignored.
I read this book in little bits on Sunday during Church specifically Mormon church, more specifically Sacrament meeting.


You may notice the math doesn't work I've spent nearly half of the year reading Augustine on Sundays/xand Confessions is NOTpages.
That is easily explained. I have two friends a sixyearold Cohen and a tenyearold Wes with autism, They often sit with me when they struggle with the pews at Church and end up being more than their parents can handle.
I must confess, I can do amazing things on Sunday with Wes or Cohen mints or candy help, but Wes Cohen Augustine never seems to work out well for Augustine.
Thus, my progress has been slowed, I think both God and Augustine would/will understand,

I must also confess that I liked the Confessions part of the book, more than the expositions the lastbooks.


my Mormon framework, Zen Mormon, would also be considered a heresy by most Mormons, : "Day after day I postponed living in you, but I never put off the death which I died each day in myself.
I longed for a life of happiness but I was frightened to approach it in its own domain and yet, while I fled from it, I still searched for it.
"

Reading Augustine of Hippo's Confessions is like plunging into a deep, dark abyss and seeing a slither of light at the far side of the endless tunnel, unaware of whether you reach it or not for Confessions is a protoexistentialist work of a man attempting to achieve inner perfection in a world of material greed and spiritual emptiness.
Sound familiar Because these themes are universal and timeless in the eternal consciousness of man,

Augustine of Hippo is no stranger to this recurring trait of our species, and in the first part of the poetic masterpiece, he bears his fragile soul to all who dare to truly enlighten themselves.
This book was his attempt at addressing the painful sins of his aesthetically dangerous past, and trying to rid of them through tortured prayers to God.


"But the time had now come when I stood naked before my own eyes, while my conscience upbraided me.
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It is obvious right from the start that Augustine refuses to give the reader an easy going reading experience.
For a religious text, it is heart wrenching at times and, while offering a continually fresh perspective on Christianity and philosophy, he retains a strong hold on the reader as he deconstructs his flawed nature, for his suffering was also his redemption, his enlightenment, his forgiveness.
One feels his morally destructive pain in each emotional page for how can a man attempting to achieve inner perfection and a connection with God live with sorrowful reflections of sleeping with prostituteseven living with one He tears himself apart passionately describing a scene from his

childhood when he stole some fruit, not out of desperation, but simply because it was wrong.


"It is in my own mind, then, that I measure time, I must not allow my mind to insist that time is something objective, I must not let it thwart me because of all the different notions and impressions that are lodged in it.
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These confessions continue well after his memoir, In part two, he confesses his theological and philosophical beliefs with extended theoretical examinations on the nature of man, the mind, the senses, time, Creation and its relation to God.
Augustine delves deep into the mind, in an attempt to understand what gave Moses and Christ such inherently profound knowledge.
His dissections into the memory of the rational mind is examined extensively and, upon reflection, his agonizing search for the Truth still provides acute psychological penetration into the human soul over,years on.
His experiments still explain some deep truths in the vast network of human thought,

Ironically, however, there was an everlastingly warm presence throughout the book, for Augustine is not only talking to God, he is also talking to us, the reader.
Part memoir, part philosophical and theological investigation into the nature of existence, Augustine of Hippo's Confessions is an honest and beautiful work of nonfiction, where the unexplained might not be explained, but the door is opened slightly more to the Truth.



That sleep may wearied limbs restore,
And fit for toil and use once more.
. .
Saint Ambrose هي نوع من االاعترافات التي يقوم بها العقائديوين المتشددون بصورة تجليات نثرية مملة تعبر عن مدى مازوشية وحب لجلد الذات بصورة غير مبررة تستجدي من خلالها رغبة نرجسية لجلب اتباع ومريديين, . . فقط ما أشيد به هي الترجمة التي ترجمت من اللاتينية الى العربية لم تكن سهلة . رتيب This is an introspective book, In it, St. Augustine traces his spiritual journey from the hedonism and materialism of his early youth to intellectual pursuits of secular philosophy, academic success, and worldly wisdom to attempting to reach God via alternative spirituality, a blend of false asceticism, skepticism of scripture, and a cafeteria approach to truths of the Church then, finally, to full repentance from these to acceptance of and obedience to Jesus Christ and His Church.


Augustine critically examines each thought process within each of these stages of his life, Its a long process as it has been also for those on similar spiritual journeys,

There is a poetry and a beauty to much of his writing, In other places, however, Augustine seems stuck in a rut as he ruminates at length on some aspect of one of his lifes events or periods that can make it seem plodding at times.


In other places, such as near the end as seemed his wont to do in “City of God” he seemingly gets sidetracked into long philosophical, intellectual discussions.
In one chapter, he does this on the topic of time, I found it very dull, and, although he weaves Gods nature of timelessness into the discussion, it seemed almost an effort to appeal to debates among the pagan and atheist philosophers of his day.


However, over all, “Confessions “ deserves its place as one of the great works of Early Christianity the story of a man who made that difficult journey from the empty trifles of a world in decline to a place of building a close relationship with God via the life of the Church.
I recommend it for those interested in the Early Church, in theology or philosophy, or in Christian spiritual growth and progress.
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