You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by beneest11
Confessions by Saint Augustine of Hippo
4.0
I am not smart enough for this book.
The autobiographical elements of this book are wonderful. Augustine sees truth so clearly in how God has worked in his life. The theft of pears in his youth that shows the innate sin in man, Alypius at the games, the continual prayer of his mother and God’s sovereignty to bring Augustine to himself, the classic “take up and read” line that lead him to read the scriptures and be saved are incredible.
The interjections of prayer & confessional aspects of this book are such awesome insights into Augustine’s mind and an example how quickly we should turn to prayer and how much we should hate our sin. I particularly was struck by the methodological confession of Augustine in book 10 where he confesses his way through each of the 5 senses. It made me laugh when he got to smell and was essentially like “yeah, nothing to confess here.”
HOWEVER he absolutely lost me in the some of the more philosophical digressions of this book. Somehow he talks too much about Manichaeism but also too little. I didn’t want to know anything about this philosophy but now I just have questions about why they need to eat more figs to be more spiritual? His discussion of time and whether the past and the future even exist? Important I am sure but whoa that is just so over my head. Essentially all of the discussion of books 11-13 where he goes through his allegorical interpretation of Genesis 1 is completely beyond me. I would honestly advise the first time reader to skip it unless you just want to read a 100 pages of straight up commentary.
Worth the read? Absolutely. I want to continue reading these old books that have stood the test of time. But not an endeavor for the faint of heart if you’re used to more modern language and writing styles (like me lol).
The autobiographical elements of this book are wonderful. Augustine sees truth so clearly in how God has worked in his life. The theft of pears in his youth that shows the innate sin in man, Alypius at the games, the continual prayer of his mother and God’s sovereignty to bring Augustine to himself, the classic “take up and read” line that lead him to read the scriptures and be saved are incredible.
The interjections of prayer & confessional aspects of this book are such awesome insights into Augustine’s mind and an example how quickly we should turn to prayer and how much we should hate our sin. I particularly was struck by the methodological confession of Augustine in book 10 where he confesses his way through each of the 5 senses. It made me laugh when he got to smell and was essentially like “yeah, nothing to confess here.”
HOWEVER he absolutely lost me in the some of the more philosophical digressions of this book. Somehow he talks too much about Manichaeism but also too little. I didn’t want to know anything about this philosophy but now I just have questions about why they need to eat more figs to be more spiritual? His discussion of time and whether the past and the future even exist? Important I am sure but whoa that is just so over my head. Essentially all of the discussion of books 11-13 where he goes through his allegorical interpretation of Genesis 1 is completely beyond me. I would honestly advise the first time reader to skip it unless you just want to read a 100 pages of straight up commentary.
Worth the read? Absolutely. I want to continue reading these old books that have stood the test of time. But not an endeavor for the faint of heart if you’re used to more modern language and writing styles (like me lol).