Augustine's Confessions, Introductory Outline

[On August 1, 2010, my friend Tim Scott began a series teaching through Augustine’s Confessions in our Sunday school class at Kosmosdale Baptist Church. In order to prepare for studying this work, I drew up the following outline based on R.S. Pine-Coffin’s introduction and material in Peter Brown’s biography of Augustine.]

Introduction to the Confessions

I. Influences on Augustine in writing Confessions :

A. Christian biographies; examples:

1. Life of Anthony

2. Martyrdom of Perpetua

B. Pagan religious autobiography

II. Augustine wrote the Confessions because:

A. He needed to explain his complicated conversion

B. He needed to re-evaluate his life at middle-age

C. He needed to grapple with death and disillusionment in his life

III. Outline of the Confessions:

A. Coming to faith and baptism; the death of Monica (Books I-IX)

B. Examination of current ability to deal with temptation (Book X)

C. Exposition of Genesis 1 (Books XI-XIII)

IV. Augustine believed the following were at the root of all sins he confessed:

A. Spiritual pride (self-reliance)

B. Lack of simple faith

V. Manichaeism

A. Augustine was primarily attracted to Manichaeism because it was seemingly able to solve the problem of evil.

B. Mani [Manes] combined Christianity with other religions and his own philosophy.

C. Manichaeism was founded on the idea that in the beginning were two independent principles: Good and Evil [Light and Darkness]

VI. Doubts concerning Manichaeism led Augustine to:

A. Neo-Platonism, which gave Augustine a theory of the dynamics of the soul by which eventually to interpret his experiences in the Confessions

B. The idea “that evil results from man’s misuse of free will” [Pine-Coffin]

C. The sermons of Ambrose

D. The Pauline Epistles

1. The idea of God’s mercy and grace

2. The idea of Christ as Redeemer, not just a gifted teacher

VII. The Confessions and the Scriptures:

A. “[Augustine] had come to believe that the understanding and exposition of the Scriptures was the heart of a bishop’s life.” [Brown]

B. “[Augustine’s] relations with the Scriptures… come to form a constant theme throughout the Confessions.” [Brown]

C. In the Confessions, Augustine diagnoses his conversion to the Manichees as a failure to accept the Bible.

D. In Augustine’s meditations on Genesis, he wants to carry his readers with him in his thoughts concerning the Scriptures.

VIII. The Confessions as prayer:

A. The Confessions are similar, in some respects, to the practices of Neo-Platonic philosophers, who felt they must commit themselves fully to the unknown God

B. Augustine began his first philosophical work, Soliloquia, with a prayer

C. Augustine ended his theological masterpiece, De Trinitate, with a prayer

D. Prayer had never been used in literature to “strike up a lively conversation” with God, continuing for a whole work [Brown]