Notes
on Augustine's Confessions
Book
3: Carthage
Contents of Book 3:
|
The
Move to Carthage (3.1 -3.3) |
Summary
During the years 371-374 Augustine was sent
to Carthage to finish his education. He was obviously 
recognized as a
talented lad and was sent to Carthage--a much larger city with greater
resources--to begin the study of rhetoric. Keep in mind that throughout
the ancient world, the mastery of rhetoric was seen as a means for young men
with limited resources to improve their station in life.
The city of Carthage was approximately a two
day journey from his home-town of Thagaste and filled with all the temptations
of any big city [the move would be similar to a young man from a small town in
Wisconsin going to Chicago to study]. Right
from the start Augustine gets into trouble in sin city: he has casual
sexual relations with nameless women (and perhaps men as well) [3.1] and gets
caught up in attending plays of dubious moral quality [3.2]. He also
develops "unfriendly friendships" with an unsavory bunch of young
men (the "Subverters), although, being ambitious, he never goes so far as
to allow his relationship with them to interfere with his studies [3.3].
|
Conversion
#1: Philosophy (3.4 - 3.5) |
Summary
In the midst of all his dissipations,
something remarkable happens to Augustine that changes the entire course of
his life. He is given a copy of Cicero's Hortensius, which is an
exhortation to pursue a philosophical way of life. He is set "on
fire" by the work and dedicates himself to the pursuit of the truth
through the use of his own reason [3.4].
Cicero also inspires him to pick up the
Bible again, but he is immediately turned off by its simplistic style.
The problem, he maintains, is that it takes humility to discover the truth in
Scripture, and that is precisely what he is lacking [3.5].
Keep in mind that Augustine clearly sees
himself as being a Christian in the most general sense of the term (he
is disappointed, for example, by lack of reference to Christ in the Hortensius).
But he is still far too proud to submit himself to the authority of the
Catholic Church. So he needs to find another Christian approach that
plays into his arrogance and self-reliance.
|
Read
Confession 3.4 - 3.5 |
|
Conversion
#2: Manicheanism (3.6 - 3.10) |
Summary
It is at this point in the story that
Augustine undergoes his second major conversion--this time to Manicheanism.
The Manicheans were a Christian sect, which appealed to Augustine's desire to
stay part of the religion of his childhood. Like Cicero, the Manicheans
preached a form of "heroic humanism" in which one could overcome the
temptations of the body through ascetic practice (i.e., by the efforts of
one's will alone). The idea that he could overcome his sexual addiction
on his own, and without having to submit himself to anyone or anything, also
appealed to Augustine's over-inflated sense of pride [3.6].
At first glance, Manicheanism seems like a
strange religion for someone as intelligent as Augustine to embrace.
Manicheanism is a dualistic religion that intermingled elements of
Christianity, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. The Manicheans believed that
there were two primordial forces in the Universe, Light (God, the spiritual)
and Dark (the Devil, the material). The force of Light is responsible
for the creation of the soul, while the force of Darkness is responsible for
the creation of the body. Since human beings contain both elements of
light and darkness in them, they are the principle battleground between these
two forces.
A good Manichean, seeking to attain salvation,
had only to deny the needs of his body (though a rigid form of asceticism) and
try to live as spiritual (i.e., rational) an existence as possible. If
he succeeded he would eventually be freed of the "prisons" of his
body and the material world and would be able to live a purely spiritual
existence in heaven. If he failed, he was condemned to be reborn into
another body after death.
For Augustine, Manicheanism offered a neat explanation
of the existence of evil in the Universe by attributing it to the work of the
force of Darkness (the Devil). It also helped explain the slavery
to sin that Augustine experienced without necessarily making him responsible
for it (it was his flesh that was dragging his otherwise good soul into sin)
[3.6 -3.9].
|
Read
Confession 3.6 - 3.11 |
|
A
Hint of Things to Come (3.11 - 3.12) |
Summary
Naturally, Augustine's pious mother, Monica,
was not at all happy about his conversion to Manicheanism. It is form of
heresy, after all! Fortunately, she receives a dream (divine
providence at work again?) assuring her of Augustine's ultimate conversion
back to Catholicism [3.11]. Being a rather annoying woman, she also
pesters a local Catholic bishop to set her boy straight. He, however,
assures her that Augustine would eventually return to the Church once he
realized just how dopey Manicheanism actually is [3.12]
So
for those of you who were worried that Augustine would die a damnable
heretic, fear not! God has been working behind the scenes to bring
him back to the faith. Before we get to that point, however, we've got
another ten years of sin and error to get though.
|
Read
Confession 3.11 - 3.12 |
Suggestions
for Further Reading |
|
|
-
Brown, Peter. Augustine
of Hippo. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967
[esp. 46-60 on Manicheanism].
-
Evans, G.R. Augustine
on Evil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993 [esp.
11-16 on Manicheanism]
-
Mallard, William. Language
and Love: Introducing Augustine’s Religious Thought Through the
Confessions Story. University Park PA: Pennsylvania State University
Press, 1994.
-
McNamara, Marie
Aquinas. Friendship in St. Augustine. Fribourg: The
University Press, 1958.
-
Miles, Margaret. Desire
and Delight: A New Reading of Augustine’s Confessions. New York:
Crossroad Publishing, 1991.
-
Monagle, John.
"Friendships in St. Augustine's Biography." Augustinian
Studies 2 (1971): 81-92.
-
O’Meara, John J. The
Young Augustine. London: Longman Publishing, 1954 [esp. 61-79 on
Manicheanism]
-
Starnes, Colin. Augustine’s
Conversion: A Guide to the Argument of Confessions I-IX. Waterloo,
Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press (1990).
-
Schlaback, Gerald W.
Friendship as Adultery: Social Reality and Sexual Metaphor In Augustine's
Doctrine of Original Sin." Augustinian Studies 25 (1994):
179-199.
 |
 |
| Previous
Book |
Next
Book |