Notes on The Confessions of St. Augustine
St. Augustine of Hippo is one of the most well-known and influential church fathers in history. He was born in Algeria in 354. Blessed with a powerful intellect, he rose in the ranks of contemporary society and ended up becoming Professor of Rhetoric, one of the most esteemed positions in Milan, at the young age of 30. Augustine then familiarised himself with Plato's teachings and became a committed Platonist. But then, through a now famously known series of events, he realised the truth of Christ, became a priest, and founded a coenobitic monastery. He was then made the official bishop of Hippo in Algeria in 395, a position he held until his death in 430. Due to his training as a rhetorician, Augustine’s writing and preaching style were extremely effective, and he used this gift to serve our Lord throughout his life. We will no doubt revisit Augustine’s works in the future, but I hope this essay will be a worthy introduction to his thoughts about God, life, and human nature.
Intention
“Nevertheless, even during boyhood when there was less reason to fear than during adolescence, I had no love for reading books and hated being forced to study them. Yet pressure was put on me and was good for me. It was not of my own inclination that I did well, for I learnt nothing unless compelled. No one is doing right if he is acting against his will, even when what he is doing is good. Those who put compulsion on me were not doing right either; the good was done to me by you, my God. They gave no consideration to the use I might make of the things they forced me to learn. The objective they had in view was merely to satisfy the appetite for wealth and glory, though the appetite is insatiable, the wealth is in reality destitution of spirit, and the glory something to be ashamed of. But you, by whom ‘the hairs of our head are numbered’ (Matt. 10:30), used the error of all who pressed me to learn to turn out to my advantage.”1
Here, St. Augustine is talking about his childhood, when he had no true or mature knowledge of God but was very much forming his behaviour based on the expectations of the adults around him. We can all relate to this; unless blessed early on with an intellect that is able to pierce through the illusions of the world, many of us adopt and remain in certain habits that we place no special thought on, but simply do them on a type of autopilot.
Two temptations exist with regards to the above situation; absolving ourselves of any wrongdoing because "everyone else does it." This is a common mistake that, if you're reading this essay, you should already be aware of. The next fallacy involves mistaking an accidental good action for a good intention. God does not care about a good deed done with bad intentions or no intentions at all. On the other hand, when someone performs a bad action with good intentions, it certainly brings him joy. He is concerned with the state of the heart. Nothing else.
Augustine's honesty is the first thing that struck me when reading the Confessions. He has clearly come to a genuine understanding of the truth and, as such, is disgusted by how he used to behave, as these behaviours clearly went against the will of the one true God. In the above passage, he is talking about a time when he used to frequent astrologers' dens. He clarifies that he did this because it relieved him of responsibility. He shifts the blame for his pride, fornication, conceit, and apathy. The movements of the heavens and planets relieved him of responsibility for these things.
Is this not the main psychological motivation for much of the denial of God we see around us in the modern world? People act based on their conscience. And deep down they know that their actions are wrong and offend God. But rather than go through the psychological pain of admitting their wrongdoing and submitting to power that is above them, they deny this power altogether and shift blame to a myriad other things that they simply ‘couldn’t help’. In this regard, they use genetics, upbringing, adverse influences, intoxication, and even hunger as excuses. All to avoid confronting the sense of right and wrong that lingers in their hearts (Romans 1:18-23). As C.S. says in Mere Christianity, is it not curious that when it comes to our bad behaviour, we always find an external excuse, but when it comes to our good behaviour, the reason is always ourselves?
Responsibility
“My studies which were deemed respectable had the objective of leading me to distinction as an advocate in the law courts, where one's reputation is high in proportion to one's success in deceiving people. The blindness of humanity is so great that people are actually proud of their blindness. I was already top of the class in the rhetors school, and was pleased with myself for my success and was inflated with conceit. Yet I was far quieter than the other students (as you know, Lord), and had nothing whatever to do with the vandalism which used to be carried out by the Wreckers. This sinister and diabolical self designation was a kind of mark of their urban sophistication. I lived among them shamelessly ashamed of not being one of the gang. I kept company with them and sometimes delighted in their friendship, though I always held their actions in abhorrence. The Wreckers used wantonly to persecute shy and unknown freshmen. Their aim was to persecute them by mockery and so to feed their own malevolent amusement. Nothing more resembles the behaviour of devils than their manner of carrying on. So no truer name could be given to them than the Wreckers. Clearly they are themselves wrecked first of all and perverted by evil spirits who are mocking them and seducing them in the very acts by which they love to mock and deceive others.”2
Oftentimes, we know that the behaviours we are engaging in are bad. However, because they provide us with earthly praise and pride, we refrain from stopping these behaviours and instead choose to suffer through the rebuke of our conscience. We don't need to take the activities too seriously; what matters is that they elevate us in the eyes of others. And we will quietly accept this reward while inwardly refusing to enjoy the occupation.
The next point is about the company we keep. Humans are social animals. We take much of our self-perception and feelings of self-worth from those around us. If people view a certain group of people as valuable, then we will often view them as valuable too. Even if we think they are not good people, when in a group, a man's identity becomes absorbed into that group, and he forgets himself, his principles, and his values.
This is human nature. But it is a part of human nature that we must overcome if we are to be bound to God. There are many traps and snares in the world which prevent us from returning to God. The enemy desires us to sit in the pride that results from our gifts, such that we forget about the God Who gave them to us.
The Universality of Scripture
“I therefore decided to give my attention to the holy scriptures and to find out what they were like. And this is what met me: something neither open to the proud nor laid bare to mere children; a text lowly to the beginner but, on further reading, of mountainous difficulty and enveloped in mysteries. I was not in any state to be able to enter into that. Or to bow my head to climb its steps. What I am now saying did not then enter my mind when I gave my attention to the scripture. It seemed to me unworthy in comparison with the dignity of Cicero. My inflated conceit shunned the Bible's restraint, and my gaze never penetrated to its inwardness. Yet the Bible was composed in such a way that as beginners mature, its meaning grows with them. I disdained to be a little beginner. Puffed up with pride, I considered myself a mature adult.”3
Augustine brings to mind another great philosopher and apologist, Blaise Pascal. Pascal observes that Christianity successfully and coherently reconciles numerous contradictions and paradoxes, while maintaining their message through an inexpressible intuition. The beautiful fact is that even the most simple-minded person can find meaning and wisdom in the Bible. But the learned, too, are able to satisfy their intellectual rigour with allegories, mysteries, and metaphorical truths that could only come from the mind of a God.
The Moral Law
“I also did not know that true inward justice which judges not by custom but by the most righteous custom of the almighty God. By this law the moral customs of different regions and periods were adapted to their places and times, while that law itself remains unaltered everywhere and always. It is not one thing at one place or time, another thing at another. Accordingly Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses and David, and all those praised by the mouth of God were righteous. When untrained minds judge them wicked, they judge ‘by man's day’ (1 Cor. 4:3) and assess the customs of the entire race by the criterion of their own moral code. It is as if a man, ignorant of which piece of armour is designed for which part of the body, should want to cover the head with a greave or put on his leg a helmet, and then complain that it is not a good fit. Or it is as if on a public holiday when trading is prohibited after noon, someone is furious not to be allowed to sell in the afternoon something which he is able to sell in the morning. Or as if in a house one sees something being touched with the hands by a particular slave, which the waiter who serves the wine cups is not allowed to do so; or as if something is allowed to happen behind the stables which is not permitted in the dining room, and a man is indignant on the ground that, though it is one house and one family, the same liberties are not given to all members to do what they please anywhere they like.”4
Here lies the most crucial point. Our conscience reflects the unchanging law and standard, rooted in God's unchanging character and nature. Men's times may change, but this law never changes. Men sometimes appeal to the changing standards of the times when they desire to do something that is no longer allowed, but they are mistaken in their focus. The times change, but the internal laws do not. Because God created all men in his image and likeness, they are aware of and bound by this law. No matter how hard we try, we cannot get away from the law, and its dictates are for our own good.
God wants us to obey this law because, being finite, we are unable to understand and know the extent of our actions. The extensive chain of cause and effect that weaves a web back to Adam's creation in the garden is too vast for man to perceive. Thus, God gives us rules—the decalogue—to protect us against the adverse consequences of sin. The conceit and pride mentioned above prevent man from obeying these laws, and he proceeds to suffer the consequences.
St Augustine, “Greek and Latin,” Confessions, p14
St Augustine, “Wreckers, Cicero’s Hortensius,” Confessions, p38
St Augustine, “Maniches,” Confessions, p40
St Augustine, “Abolooute and Relative Ethics,” Confessions, p44