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    Confessions by Saint Augustine Summary

    Confessions
    Saint Augustine
    3.99 (71867 Reviews)
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    Overview of Confessions

    Augustine's "Confessions" - Western literature's first autobiography written 397-400 AD - revolutionized introspective storytelling. This theological masterpiece influenced Luther, Calvin, and Dante with its raw journey from sin to redemption. What spiritual truth could a 1,600-year-old confession reveal about your own life?

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    "Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."

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    "Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."

    @Erin, Investment Banking Associate , NYC
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    "Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."

    @djmikemoore
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    A young man steals pears from a neighbor's tree-not because he's hungry, not because the fruit is particularly delicious, but simply for the thrill of doing wrong. He doesn't even eat them; he throws them to pigs. This seemingly trivial incident, confessed by a fourth-century North African bishop, cuts to the core of human nature with surgical precision. Why do we sometimes choose wrongdoing for its own sake? Why does rebellion itself hold a perverse attraction? These questions, posed over sixteen centuries ago in what became Western civilization's first spiritual autobiography, remain as urgent today as when Augustine first penned them. His "Confessions," written around 397-398 CE, isn't merely a historical document-it's a mirror held up to the human soul, reflecting our contradictions, our longings, and our capacity for transformation. Born in 354 CE to a pagan father and Christian mother in North Africa, Augustine's early years read like a cautionary tale. Brilliant but arrogant, passionate but undisciplined, he pursued pleasure, ambition, and intellectual recognition with equal fervor. A long-term relationship with a woman he couldn't marry due to social status produced a son, Adeodatus. Meanwhile, his restless mind embraced Manichaeism, a dualistic philosophy that viewed good and evil as equal cosmic forces locked in eternal battle. His intellectual journey took him from Carthage to Rome and finally Milan, where he encountered Bishop Ambrose. Through Ambrose's sophisticated preaching, Augustine began to see depths in the Christian faith he'd dismissed as intellectually shallow. Simultaneously, Neoplatonic philosophy helped him conceive of God as spiritual rather than physical-a crucial breakthrough for his materialist mindset. The turning point came in a Milan garden, where Augustine wrestled with his inability to commit fully to the Christian path. Hearing a child's voice chanting "Take it and read," he opened the Bible randomly to Paul's words: "Not in reveling and drunkenness, not in lust and wantonness, not in quarrels and rivalries." In that moment, everything shifted. Light flooded in; doubt vanished. This dramatic conversion led to baptism, ordination, and eventually becoming Bishop of Hippo, where he would write works that fundamentally shaped Western thought. His journey demonstrates that transformation remains possible regardless of how far we've wandered.

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