Rating: 
Summary: good translation--but poor edition
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: A True Classic
Review: This is a great introduction for people looking to see the progression of Augustine's thought and his spiritual journey that lead him to accept the basic orthodoxy teachings of Christianity. This is one of Augustine's books I have been meaning to read for a long time, and it was well worth the wait. In it he gives his classic definition of evil being 'not a thing' - and goes through some brilliant work on time/infinity at the end of the work (which is hard to keep up with as times! :-) ). He was a brilliant man, whether you agree with him or not. His thoughts do deserve some time - and this is a great place to start with this book, or his "City of God."
Rating: 
Summary: A moving story of a great man's spiritual journey
Review: Although he lived centuries ago, Augustine lived much as we do today...Gifted but unfocused, he builds a successful career as a teacher. Gradually, he loses enthusiasm for his work, finds his sensual pursuits less and less fulfilling, and realizes his life has no purpose. His search for meaning and direction becomes agonizing and desparate. His mind and soul are in torment: he increasingly sees his answers lying in the direction of God, but he fights against faith with all his might, unable to give up the sensual indulgences he clings to so tightly, if only out of habit. Augustine describes his struggle vividly, passionately, and with utter honesty. When he finally breaks through and embraces God with the whole of his being, he discovers in himself a strength and focus so powerful he changes the world forever. Yet Augustine is in many respects an average person, full of flaws and inconsistencies. And clearly, he worked hard to find his faith, suffering many setbacks along the way. These things make Augustine seem all the more human, and his story all the easier to understand. The second part of the book is less personal, mainly a reflection on key passages of Genesis. The writing becomes more theoretical, and somewhat difficult to understand without a strong grasp of the Scriptures. (It would be helpful to read or reread Psalms before tackling "Confessions"--it's Augustine's favorite book of the Bible and he quotes it extensively throughout the work.)
Rating:
Summary: Gifted but misguided
Review: The saint in question was undoubtedly one of the most gifted, if not the most gifted intellect of his period. Whenever he attends to a purely philosophical problem, say on the nature of time, or problems of semantics, then he makes good sense. He is capable to think for himself and always able to discover an original angle in some old problem. He was the first to state Descartes' "cogito" Ð some 1200 years before Descartes. But it is typical for the methods of dissimulation in the ChurchÕs teachings, that Augustine is misrepresented as a defender of the doctrine of free will. In fact he was nothing of the kind. Augustine wrote 2 treatises on the subject, the first ascribing to the freedom of will BEFORE he became a Christian, the second recanting his position in favor of predestination AFTER his conversion. Both essays are object lessons how to argue the case. Unfortunately these gifts made the man one of the most formative thinkers and makers of the Western mind-set. Why unfortunately? Because his thoughts are not just a product of genius, but of a person suffering from a pathological guilt complex. Being Augustine, he managed to find for his obsession a vehicle in the teachings of St. Paul. If you ask me whom I detest most in the New Testament, I would say St. Paul. But we owe it to St. AugustineÕs interest in Paul and his influence on orthodoxy and heretics alike (Luther!), that someone, who prided himself in his abilities for dissimulation so that he could be everything to every man, would cause for centuries of Christian history so much intellectual and emotional misery. Paul is not the only voice in the New Testament, but his carried the debate and the blame for this rests squarely on AugustineÕs shoulders. So here we have his autobiography; the man himself reveals his deeply neurotic and problematic character. The patterns are pretty typical for a child of middle-class parents who lack the means to secure a standing in the upper crust and with considerable sacrifice provide for the best education their money can buy, in the hope that it will help their child to climb the social ladder. There is plenty intellectual irresolution which turns all too eagerly to an atrocious radicalism after his conversion - his fierce controversy with the Donatists and the infamous response to the sack of Rome. All too often his monumental ego makes a public display of its not quite so humble humility. Genius is the child that survives inside the adult. He was a genius alright and physically a spoiled brat for most of his childhood and adolescence. It remains veiled under AugustineÕs adulation of St. Ambrose, but this aloof church politician who combined mild manners and calculated acts of violence, looked right through AugustineÕs character, and one senses a certain condescension on AmbroseÕs part. In his view Augustine was not exactly leadership material. So he recommended him for the thorny but unrewarding post of a provincial diocese, where Augustine got stuck for the rest of his life. The ÒConfessionsÓ are modelled on JeremiahÕs autobiography (Jerem. 1:1-12; 11:18-23; 15:10-21; 17:14-18; 20:7-12, 14-18;) and follow up on the tenor in JeremiahÕs question Òwhy me of all people?Ó which in the case of the prophet is a testimony to his intellectual integrity. AugustineÕs narrative tries to emulate this by taking on an air of continual bewilderment over the most minute incidents of his life. This heightens very effectively a sense for their presumed symbolic significance and for a writer there is something to learn here; French intellectuals had always held AugustineÕs ÒConfessionsÓ in high regard. But all too frequently the saintÕs eloquence becomes shrill and hysterical. Apparently he still needed to drown his niggling doubts by stylistically turning up the volume. Not exactly a pleasant read. Even so, coming from as far back as late Antiquity, it is probably one of the 5 most influential books on modern literature.
Rating:
Summary: A book that you will never forget
Review: First time i read this book was about 5 years ago < i am 22 now> , at that age i was taking any relgious matter so much seriously and i could never the big effect of this book on my spirit , it is really a great experience to see the deep inside of the heart of another person ...st.augustine is simply saying all about himself in this book , it is a reall confession as if the whole world is his priest , i could imagine i could say all what he sais in his confession even in spoken words not in written ones as he did . well now after 5 years and i am taking all this religious stuff less seriously than i used to do this book still got a big influence on my heart at least i need to have a look into it every few monthes.
Rating:
Summary: "Shepherd's Notes...An Invaluable Study-Aid for Confessions"
Review: In order for this review to be understood properly you must understand that this is a study guide for the "Confessions" and may be ordered through further inquiry...I submitted the review to the actual book "Shepherd's Notes" but it appeared here, so I hope this may help.
Shepherd's Notes is an exemplary force acting as a quick and easy systematic approach to venture into the key literary and theological themes manifested by the greatest Christian thinkers the world has known. The scripture indexes, historical and cultural passages, quotes and key persons, critical commentary and summaries - all headed by indicative icons- further the value of this already resourceful and valuable study aid. Use it before, during, or after reading the classic at hand...any way you use Shepherd's Notes will pay off. Augustine's heralded "City of God" is also available in Shepherd's Notes...highly recommended for the busy student or reader in general.
Rating: 
Summary: The man who gave Christianity a license to kill
Review: This book should be read with all of your critical faculties alive and well. The author is a brilliant and sensitive man, who apparently wishes humanity well, but remember that he acted in the context of an early Christian church which had just abolished religious freedom in Europe(!), and, even worse, Augustine himself developed the fatal doctrine "Compel them to enter" -- his own solution to the "issue" of pagans, non-believers and heretics was that they should be forcibly enrolled in the Christian faith, or die. In doing this, he singlehandedly caused one of the greatest disasters in Western history. Be aware of this as you read this profoundly dishonest book.
Rating:
Summary: Saint Augustine's spiritual journey
Review: Saint Augustine's "Confessions" is a very beautiful and fascinant book that narrates, as his title suggests, in a sincere and humble way, the spiritual journey and conversion of the author from darkness to light, vice to virtue, and error to the truth of the catholic faith, proving that saints, even the greatest and wisest as Augustine, are also simple and common men (sinners) ruled by an imperfect human nature. Really, after the read of this book, it is impossible to deny that each one of us have something of Augustine in his own character, and this is one of the greats merits of the "Confessions". A real classic, essentially an intimate and personal work, it simultaneously develops some of the major concepts that influenced decisively western civilization for fifteen centuries (the essence of God and His role on creation, the universality of moral law, the decayed human nature or the notion of free wiil, for example), which is one more reason to recommend that book to every person interested in west's religion, moral,philosophy and law. Five stars!
Rating:
Summary: An original from any point of view
Review: St. Augustine's Confessions is a treasure of Western literature, and, much like the book of Job and the Psalms, really belongs to the heritage of the entire culture and has transcended sectarian importance. That is not to say that these books are not religiously important--of course they are, and the Confessions perhaps even more so to a confessing Christian. Much of what the entire Western church still believes comes straight from the mind and pen of St. Augustine, and to understand his mind one really needs to read the Confessions. Nearly the entire orthodox Catholic tradition of fall-redemption theology sprung full-formed from Augustine's mind, which can be seen in his allegorical interpretaiton of Genesis 1, the section that ends the Confessions and gives them an "unfinished" quality. Augustine was a well-known and revered man when he wrote this book, and rather goes out of his way to depict himself as a youthful deviant to his followers. This is both a heuristic device and what Ausgustine really believes about himself; he is interested in his flock realizing his own fallenness and finitude, and seeing it in themselves as well. A brilliantly modern book for fourth-century fare, it is amenable (at the risk of anachronism)to a multitude of interpretations. Here one can find existential angst, control-dramas, the quest for and the overturning of the ego-self, and an almost pathological study of human guilt (it has been quipped that if the Saint from Hippo had had a good psychotherapist, the Church might have been spared nearly two millennia of sexual dysfunction). Augustine's conversion in the garden reads almost like a kensho experience in Zen. Read the book and draw your own conclusions, but never forget that, as you read, you are sitting at the feet of (and in judgement of) one of the sharpest minds ever produced in Latin Christianity. He writes, "For although I cannot prove to mankind that these my confessions are true, at least I shall be believed by those whose ears are opened to me by love" Book 10.3, and whether or not your ears are open to him in love, they should at least be open. Augustine always has something to say to the careful reader, and no less a careful reader than Derrida lui-même is an inveterate reader and student of Augustine's. Quite a compliment from a reader who certainly does not share Augustine's faith concerns....
Rating:
Summary: The Aeneid of the Faith
Review: The North African sinner who becomes a bishop and, eventually, a saint, retraces several of the most important steps that Aeneas took in his journey to Italy in order to help in the construction of what he later called "The City of God," a spiritual city that would replace the glorious, albeit decadent, city that Aeneas had been so fundamental in creating (at least in myth). There is plenty of myth in the creation of the Catholic Church, as well, but these "Confessions" are a revelation into the workings of faith in the mind of an intelligent and extremely influential man. Many of the pitfalls that he considers sins we would call childlish pranks or, at the most, indifference. His philosophical pursuits end up convincing him that the only way, the only truth, and the only revelation worth pursuing is that of the faith. I do not agree with Saint Augustine, but I admire the flow of his prose and the candor of his confessions. The content has obviously been edited by the author in order to convince the readers (his parish and those he expected to convert) that even extraordinarily great sinners such as himself could be illuminated by the light of God. This was fantastic Public Relations for the Church at a key time when it was still competing against paganism in many forms and even adopting certain pagan attitudes. The problems pile up soon after Saint Augustine's childhood, though. This is not a book that glories in misogyny, but one where the absence of significant women apart from the author's mother implies a space that was not filled properly. Besides, it relies heavily on the teachings and works of Saint Paul, a man not known for his love of women. Saint Augustine doesn't care very much for the woman who was with him in his pre-faith days, and he parts easily with her: I don't even remember if he provides her name. The death of his son with this woman causes him pain, but nothing that can't be handled in a few lines. Saint Augustine's concerns are elsewhere, in books that if do not help the reader get closer to God, are not good at all and should not be read. The author is enthusiastic regarding censorship, which is curious to say the least, given his mention and knowledge of "The Aeneid", going so far as to structure most of his book in the way that Virgil structured his poem (North Africa-Carthage, a woman delaying him, voyage to Italy, and, for the departure from Virgil's "Aeneid," the return to North Africa to preach and bring the word of God to the non-Europeans like himself). "Confessions" is a testimony of faith and a guided tour by the man who feels that his faith is the most important thing in the world for him. Unfortunately, he also advocates the idea that the Church must make sure that faith and a Christian life are the primordial, if not unique, goals of everybody else. In the "Confessions" it is clear that a penchant for religious intolerance is very much part of Saint Augustine and of his Church. He cannot conceive his faith without eliminating books that do not conform to religion and, by omission, he doesn't see much of a place, or a reason, for women at all. "Confessions" is a good place to start in order to move on to "City of God,", his defense of the Church against the charge that it was one of the many factors that helped in the infamous sacking of Rome in 410 A.D. It would also help to read the history of the period (as in history of the early Church, or just history of the late Roman empire), in order to know the background that the author, because it was his time, takes for granted. This is a book of faith. I am a non-believer. It is an important and interesting document, however, especially if we consider how influential Saint Augustine of Hippo became in Church teachings and doctrine, which became dogma after a few centuries. The doings and reasons of the Church of the Middle Ages cannot be understood without understanding Saint Augustine, and to understand him we must read his "Confessions."
|
