Confessions Essay -- essays research papers

Augustine titled his deeply philosophical and theological autobiography Confessions to implicate two aspects of the embodiment the acidify would take. To confess, in Augustines time, meant both to give an account of ones faults to divinity and to praise God (to speak ones love for God). These two aims come together in the Confessions in an dignified but complex sense Augustine narrates his ascent from sinfulness to faithfulness not simply for the practical edification of his readers, but also because he believes that narrative to be itself a story of Gods greatness and of the fundamental love all things have for Him. Thus, in the Confessions form equals content to a large degree&151the natural form for Augustines story of repurchase to take would be a direct address to God, since it is God who must be thanked for such redemption. (That said, a direct address to God was a highly original form for Augustine to have used at the time). This idea should also help us understand the ap parently lopsided and funny structure of the text. The first nine Books of the Confessions are devoted to the story of Augustines life up to his mothers death, but the last four Books make a sudden, lengthy digression into pure theology and philosophy. This shift should be understood in the same context as the double meaning of confessions&151for Augustine, the story of his sinful life and redemption is in fact a profoundly philosophical and religious matter, since his story is only one exampl...