Essay On St. Augustine's Confessions

St. Augustine, like most Christians who eventually come to the faith, persevered through a number of trails. These trials helped shape and develop his soon to be discovered faith along with his character. Similar to most Atheist, the idea of Catholicism was hard for him wrap his head around, due to them taking everything as literal as stated in the Scriptures. Fortunately, St. Augustine’s Confessions, an autobiography by St. Augustine himself, gives the readers a backstory into his coming to the faith. Along with the other philosophies, mistakes, and struggles he encountered on his journey. Book 3 does a great job of showing Augustine’s constant zeal and passion for the truth, he possesses so much zeal that he seeks for it in the wrong directions. He eventually picks up a heresy known as Manichaeism, which is the heresy that has the view of a good and a bad god. Since he grew up with the Catholic viewpoint, it was hard for him to fully accept Manichaeism without some sort of doubt. Two noticeable conflictions between the two beliefs was the notion of evil. If God was and is this all powerful, all knowing, holy, and perfect God, how and why is there evil in the world today? Augustine rightly questioned the supremacy, which some Christians still struggle with today. Asking …show more content…
Firstly, the heresy known as Manichaeism, opened the door to the thought of theology. Secondly, the philosophy known as Neo-Platonism, guided him closer to the truth. Thirdly, he listened in on the bishop of Milan’s (Ambrose’s) sermons, which directly resonated with Augustine. Relatively, a testimony of Victorinus resonated with him, he embraced the fact that intelligent people could also believe in Catholicism. Lastly, the trials and tribulations played a magnificent role in his conversion. Without the encounters that occurred, St Augustine’s Confessions would be less