Confessions 9

Study Guide Questions for Book V, viii-xiv

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

License, Providence, Deception, Justice, Gratitude

Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)

1. What were Augustine’s reasons (not the Lord’s) for moving from Carthage to Rome?

2. What were the Lord’s reasons (not Augustine’s) for Augustine’s moving to Rome?

3. In what way did Augustine dishonor his mother in his move to Rome?

4. What happened to Augustine when he first reached Rome?

5. According to Augustine, how does God make himself a debtor to his creatures?

6. What did Augustine understand to be the position of the “Academics” concerning knowledge?

7. What was Augustine’s faulty conception of God prior to his conversion to the “Catholic faith?”

8. What did the Manicheans claim about “the Scriptures of the New Testament?” 

9. What dishonest practice did many of the students in Rome commit?

10. According to Augustine, what made him like Ambrose to begin with?

11. What decision did Augustine come to while in Milan concerning his involvement with the Manichean religion?

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

1. What did Augustine mean when he said of the Carthaginian students, “They think they are free to act with impunity when by the very blindness of their behavior they are being punished, and inflict on themselves incomparably worse damage than on others?”

2. Why would Augustine deceive his mother rather than just take her with him to Rome?

3. Augustine wrote, speaking of God, “you deign to make yourself a debtor obliged by your promises.” What did he mean by this?

4. Augustine discussed the “Academics” whom he deemed (at that time in his life) to be “shrewder than others.” He said that they “taught that everything is a matter of doubt, and that an understanding of the truth lies beyond human capacity.” What is the fatal flaw, logically speaking, of the claim “everything is a matter of doubt” and “truth lies beyond human capacity?”

5. Augustine said that the number of Manicheans “secretly living in Rome was large.” Why might they have been living there “secretly?”

6. Augustine had formerly operated under the false idea that God was a “physical mass” of infinite size. Further he states that he thought (at the time) evil was also a physical mass of some sort even if “thin and subtle, as is the body of air.” In trying to reconcile God and evil coexisting he “concluded that there are two opposed masses, both infinite, but the evil rather smaller, the good larger.” What logical critique could be made of Augustine’s former view as he stated it here?

7. Why is it significant that, despite the Manichean claim that the New Testament Scriptures had been corrupted, “they were incapable of producing any uncorrupted copies?” Put another way, what is necessary in order to be able to determine that what we have today is not the original wording of a text?

8. What significance should we make of the fact that Augustine’s first impression of Ambrose was his kindness toward him?

9. What did Augustine mean by saying, of Ambrose, “First what he said began to seem defensible, and I did not now think it impudent to assert the Catholic faith, which I had thought defenseless against the Manichee critics?” 

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

1. According to Augustine, “custom” protected the behavior of the students at Carthage who would rudely burst into a class and disrupt things. Why do you think this would have been protected by custom? Are there any similar situations like this in our own day? Should such practices be allowed? Why or why not?

2. Augustine wrote, speaking of his mother, “I cannot speak enough of the love she had for me.” He further had much to say about her prayers and tears for his salvation. To what extent do people play a role in bringing about the salvation of others? Be very precise in your answer and make proper distinctions.

3. Augustine spoke of certain “Academics” who approached inquiry from a position of doubt. When it comes to rational inquiry two different starting points are commonly employed by philosophers of different stripes, doubt and wonder. How might each of these starting points be used to investigate a topic of study? What might be the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches to inquiry? Do you think one is ultimately more effective than the other when it comes to seeking knowledge and understanding? Why or why not?

Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)

1. Augustine discussed the fact that students in Carthage who behaved in extremely disrespectful ways were, nonetheless, protected by “custom.” Read 2 Kings 17:7-23 and answer the following question: What is the danger of excusing sinful behavior under the guise of “custom” or simply doing what everyone else is doing around us?