Confession 1

Study Guide Questions for Book I, i-x

If you are looking for the beginning of the study for Augustine’s Confessions then you can go HERE for a brief introduction. At the bottom of the introduction you will find the links to each section of the study guide as it becomes available. If you would like to see the growing list of book studies available for free on this site you can go HERE. Enjoy!

Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)

Faith, Providence, Pleasure

Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)

1. According to Augustine, what were human beings made for?

2. According to Augustine, what was the Lord’s gift to him?

3. What is Augustine’s opening question in part iii?

4. Against whom did Augustine pronounce “woe?”

5. What did Augustine say about “the house of [his] soul?”

6. What two sources did Augustine cite as to how he knew what his own behavior was like as an infant?

7. How did Augusint say he behaved when he did not get his way as an infant?

8. What did Augustine say a person should do if he finds God’s “simultaneity beyond his understanding?”

9. According to Augustine, why do people “smilingly tolerate” the jealous and bitter behavior of infants?

10. For what did Augustine “feel no sense of responsibility?”

11. According to Augustine, for what purpose do human beings “endeavor to express the intentions” of their heart?

12. What was set before Augustine as his “moral duty in life” when he was a young boy?

13. What did Augustine remember his earliest prayers being about?

Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)

1. In part iii, what quality of God’s existence is Augustine pondering?

2. Augustine uses what might be called “antithetical sets” in part iv (e.g. “immutable and yet changing all things”) to describe God’s nature and character. Why does he do this and what are we to take away from these things?

3. The principle of uniformity states that, all things being equal, things in the natural world generally behaved the same way in the past as they do in the present. How does the principle of uniformity aid Augustine in drawing conclusions about what he was like in his infancy?

4. What did Augustine mean by saying to God, “In you it is not one thing to be and another to live?”

5. What did Augustine mean by saying of God, “Because ‘your years do not fail,’ your years are one Today?”

6. What is Augustine’s view concerning when sin begins to affect human persons? Cite the text to support your answer.

7. What did Augustine mean by saying “the amusement of adults is called ‘business?’”

Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)

1. Epistemology is the area of philosophy concerned with the concept of knowledge and how it is attained. Augustine explains in this reading various ways in which he came to know things about God and about himself. Offer a definition for the concept of “knowledge” and give at least three means by which we can attempt to acquire knowledge. Finally, what would you say is the purpose of gaining knowledge?

2. Do you agree with Augustine’s claim, “There is never an obligation to be obedient to orders which it would be pernicious to obey?” Why or why not? What are the practical implications for those who agree or disagree with this claim? Explain your answer carefully.

3. Augustine calls God the “Supreme beauty” and says that he gives “distinct form to all things” and that by his law that God imposes “order on everything.” Offer a definition of beauty? What makes something beautiful rather than ugly? Do you think there is any kind of moral obligation to make things in this world beautiful? Why or why not?

4. Augustine describes being beaten when he failed to do what was expected of him in his education. Do you think it is appropriate to use physical discipline (corporal punishment) to train a child to do what they ought? Why or why not? If you think it is appropriate, under what conditions would you say it is allowable and to what extent should it be employed? If you think it is inappropriate, what do you suggest in place of physical discipline and why do you think that is more effective?

Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)

1. Read Luke 2:41-52 and compare and contrast Jesus’ childhood narrative with that which Augustine has given so far. What similarities and dissimilarities can you find between the two narratives? What should we learn from the differences?