Notes on Confessions Book VI

Confessions
St. Augustine

Book VI

Ch.1

Augustine's mother, Monica, is portrayed as a devout Christian, unsurprised by God answering her prayers yet still devoted to praying for the final salvation of her son.

Ch. 2

Again Monica is shown to be a devout Christian, giving up a custom that involved her venerating the saints (as she had learned in North Africa). She gave it up because Ambrose had forbidden it, for fear it would lead other, living saints into sin (drunkenness) and that it appeared to close to other pagan traditions.

Ch. 3

Augustine learns that some of his mistrust of Christian theology stemmed from his own misconceptions of what Christian's believed, not the true faith in Christ.

Ch. 4

Ambrose preached the spirit of Christianity, invoking 2 Corinthians 3:6, "The letter kills, but the spirit gives live".

Augustine uses an analogy of a bad and good physician to illuminate the status of his soul at this post-Manichean, pre-Catholic experience: It was as if having been to a bad physician (Manichean teaching) he was afraid of the cure (faith) lest he believe again in error. Thus, having had the experience of the bad physician he was hesitant to place his fate in the hands of a good physician (Christianity) and thus, refusing to accept the cure (faith in Jesus).

 Ch. 5

Augustine gradually accepted the Catholic faith, choosing to listen more to the pious believers who felt assured of things rather than the faithless who asked blasphemous questions for the sake of being blasphemous.

At this point Augustine begins his transformation and changes his view on the Holy Scriptures he once reviled. "Thus, since we are too weak by unaided reason to find out truth, and since, because of this, we need the authority of the Holy Writings, I had now begun to believe that thou wouldst not, under any circumstances, have given such eminent authority to those Scriptures throughout all lands if it had not been that through them thy will may be believed in and that thou mightest be sought"

Ch. 6

Augustine thanks God for not letting anything but God himself grow sweet in Augustine's acquisitions. Thus, he was forced to continue pursuing God.

Augustine relates an experience he had with a beggar. The beggar was happy, probably because he was full and drunk. Augustine at the moment of seeing him was miserable, wracked with struggles. He notes though, if one were to ask him whether he would prefer to be happy or miserable he would choose to be happy. Yet, if one were to ask him whether he would prefer to be himself or the beggar he would choose to be himself. Of course, he notes, that the drunkard would sober up and no longer be happy, but he had attained the momentary happiness by begging and in all of Augustine's struggles he had not achieved happiness. Was all his searching in vain? Was all his searching done from a standpoint of vanity?

Ch. 7

God uses the things we do both wittingly and unwittingly towards his ends.

Ch. 8

This chapter deals with how Alypius, a younger friend/contemporary of Augustine's became obsessed with the Gladiatorial games. It's a good section to look at on how one can slip into sin or even into addiction.

Ch. 9

This chapter deals with how Alypius was falsely accused of theft and how God brought about him being proven innocent with no witnesses.

Ch. 10

Alypius and Nebridius joined Augustine in Milan and all three sought the truth but were miserable because they sought it apart from God. They sought the beauty and truth of the created things not the creator.

Ch. 11

If life perished with the body then God would not have gone to such extremes to save the souls of men.

Ch. 12

Augustine argues with Alypius stating that he doesn't want to be celibate. Even though Alypius was correct, the lust in Augustine was too strong to be denounced and abandoned. He wanted to be married to satisfy his lust and give his lust a presentable veneer.

Ch. 13

Monica agreed that Augustine should be married but she didn't get the same conviction from God about it as she had received regarding her son's eventual conversion. She offered motherly advice but nothing forceful or strong, stating, "For she always said that she could distinguish, by a certain feeling impossible to describe, between thy revelation and the dreams of her own soul.

Ch. 14

Augustine tried to get his buddies up to about a group of ten to form a commune to study and learn the truth. This never made it past the planning stages.

Ch. 15

Augustine loses his mistress and mother of his child to prepare for a marriage. It grieved him and he soon took another mistress to satiate his lust.

Ch. 16

"Woe to the audacious soul which hoped that by forsaking thee it would find some better thing!"