Notes on Augustine's Confessions

Book 6:  The Catholic Alternative

 

Contents of Book 5:

The Example of Monica  (6.1 -6.2)

Summary 

Although Augustine managed to ditch his mother back in North Africa when he initially left for Italy, it doesn't take long for her to catch up with him in Milan.  While the contemporary reader is apt to think of Monica simply as Augustine's annoying mother, in the Confessions Augustine clearly views her as the embodiment of Christian piety and virtue.

She is confident that, despite his own hesitation to embrace the Catholic faith, that God will save her son [6.1].  When she is told by Ambrose to stop her practice of leaving food offerings at the shrines of saints--a practice that was perfectly acceptable in Africa--she immediately complies [6.2].  Augustine is intentionally contrasting his own skepticism, arrogance and pride with his mother's rock-solid faith, simple piety, and obedience to the Church.   Although she is certainly not as intelligent as he is, Monica is far wiser than her son, because she understands her own limitations and recognizes her need for assistance from the Church.  He, on the other hand, foolishly believes that he can do it all on his own.

LINK:  More on St. Monica

Read Confession 6.1 - 6.3

Re-examining Catholic Doctrine  (6.3 - 6.5)

Summary  

Augustine may not be completely sold on Catholicism, but he is willing to give the religion of his childhood one more shot.  Although he doesn't have the opportunity to ask Ambrose specific questions about the Catholic faith, he is learning quite a bit just by listening to Ambrose's sermons on Sunday.  Specifically, he is now on the path to developing a truly spiritual understanding of God and the soul (as opposed to his prior crude Manichean materialism) [6.3].  He also begins to realize that those teachings from Scripture which used to be absurd to him now make perfect sense when interpreted in allegorical rather than a literal manner [6.4].

Now that Augustine's objections to the Catholic faith have all been eliminated, he claims that he is beginning to see that Catholicism is far preferable to all the other approaches (secular philosophy and Manicheanism in particular)  that he had previously toyed with.  What impresses him the most about the Catholicism that he encounters in Milan is that it demands belief in a higher truth that cannot be rationally demonstrated.  The Manicheans, on the other hand, claim that they can rationally demonstrate the tenets of their religion, but--as we have seen--are actually incapable of doing so.  Also, whereas Manicheanism and secular philosophy are fit only for an intellectual elite, the truths of the Catholic faith are accessible both to the simplest believer as well as to the most profound thinker [6.5].

Read Confession 6.3 - 6.5

The Beggar Analogy  (6.6)

Summary 

Keep in mind that Augustine's primary concern in the Confessions is on the questions of happiness.  This is what he is looking for throughout his early life, only to be thwarted again and again.  In Confessions 6.6 he  makes an analogy between himself and a poor drunken beggar that is meant to illustrate for the reader the futility of Augustine's own quest for the happy life.  The beggar deludes himself into thinking that his drunken revelries make him happy; Augustine deludes himself into thinking that his own quest for fame will make him happy.  Both are equally foolish, but at least the beggar gets a few moments reprieve from his cares--a heck of a lot more than Augustine gets.

The two actually suffer from the same "disease"--disordered love or lust.  The beggar's lust is for booze, Augustine's for fame and glory.  Both crave some limited good in an absolute way, and are enslaved by their disordered longing.  Neither, therefore, is able to find the happiness he seeks.

 

Read Confession 6.6

The Story of Alypius  (6.7 - 6.10)

Summary 

It is at this point in the Confessions that Augustine seems to digress from his own story to talk about a few incidents in the life of his friend, Alypius.  Actually Augustine uses this story (and later those of Victorinus, the friends of Ponticianus and Monica) as a means of illustrating the mysterious working of Providence in the lives of those around him.  The same patter of conversion that we will see in all these stories, we will also see in Augustine's own conversion story in 8.12.  

It has been observed by Frederick Van Fleteren  (65-67) that there are no fewer than twelve different conversion stories in the Confessions, all of which share the same pattern:  (1) someone is involved in a habitual pattern of behavior and is incapable of stopping this behavior through the exercise of his or her own will; (2) a mundane comment is made or banal situation occurs that is understood in a higher light; (3) the individual is inflamed with a desire to follow God's law and as a result becomes a model of Christian piety; (4) Augustine attributes the salvation of the individual to a divine calling operating through the person or thing that is the catalyst for conversion.  

The end result of each of these accounts is also the same:  the individual involved is inflamed with such a delight in God that all of his previous love interests seem pale in comparison.  The expressions "to be set on fire" (inflammare) and "to be borne away" (rapere) occur repeatedly in these accounts, indicating a tone of passivity that bespeaks divine rather than human activity at work.  The immediacy of the conversion of each individual after a long period of personal struggle with habitual behavior likewise points to the effects of Providence rather than those of man.

Let's look at the story of Alypius to see how this all works.  Actually the transition from the previous chapter (6.6) to this one (6.7) is not quite as abrupt as I had made it appear to be.  Augustine has just finished explaining that he cannot attain happiness because--like a drunken beggar--he is incapable of breaking free from his own disordered love for "for honors, for money, for marriage."  Having demonstrated his own impotence to effect a change in his life, Augustine then proceeds to show how Alypius is saved from his habitual behavior, not by his own efforts, but through an act of grace.

Augustine describes how his friend Alypius at an earlier age was "sucked in the whirlpool of Carthaginian bad habits," eventually developing a strong fondness for the circus that bordered on addiction.  One day, while Augustine was teaching rhetoric, Alypius happened to wander into his class.  Augustine inadvertently uses an example from the circus, expressing his contempt for those who participate in such spectacles.  Although, he certainly was not directing his comments towards Alypius, his friend takes his admonition to heart, vowing never to attend the circus again  [6.7].

Augustine is convinced that Alypius' "conversion" came through God using himself as a vehicle for his friend's reformation.  This is born out in the next chapter [6.8], where Alypius gets a bit cocky, thinking he can go to the gladiator games in Rome without getting sucked in again.  Relying on himself, rather than God, he falls big-time.   On our own, Augustine is convinced, all we can do is sin.  But if we rely on God, we will ultimately be saved.

 

Read Confession 6.7 -6.10

The Attempt at Moral Conversion  (6.11 - 6.16)

Summary 

Augustine has now reached the age of 30, and although he recognizes the truth of the Catholic faith, he still is incapable of taking those steps necessary to reform his life.  Although he knows that he should give up his vain ambitions (for career, status, wealth, marriage), he finds that he lacks the resolve to carry out his good intentions.  He finds himself still tempted by the need for sexual intimacy, and believes that he lacks the power to ever reform himself.  His mistake (his real sin, if you will), however, is precisely to believe that he has to do all this on his own.  All he really needs to do is to ask God for help and he will be cured, but he lacks the humility to do this  [6.11].

He still is contemplating the prospects of an "honorable marriage,"  but actually wants to get married for the wrong reason (i.e., simply to provide an outlet for his sexual longing).  His mother, to keep him on the right path, arranges a marriage between him and a younger woman from a respectable family.  Because she is under-aged, he has to wait two years until he can marry her [6.12-13] These plans for marriage interfere with Augustine's attempt to found a lay religious community with his friends in Milan, because they couldn't figure out what to do with their wives  [6.14].

While Augustine is engaged to be married, he realizes that he must separate from his common-law wife (although mistresses were tolerated among pagans, they were certainly frowned upon in Christian circles).  She is sent back to Africa, and his pain at their separation is evidence that he loved her deeply.  He is such a slave to his passions, however, that he finds another sexual partner to satisfy his lust  [6.15].

Naturally, his moral weakness makes him wretched, and he despairs ever being able to attain the happiness for which he longs.  Fortunately, his conversion is not far off.  

 

Read Confession 6.7 -6.10
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