Essay On St. Augustine's Rejection Of Manichaeism

Throughout the Confessions, St. Augustine’s rejection of Manichaeism causes him to embrace the Catholic faith once again and accept the assessment that all God’s creation is good while still viewing the created world with cautious awareness of sin. Augustine’s encounters with Patrick, the pears, Cicero’s Hortensius, and St. Ambrose bring to light the ever present enticement to sin because they all lack God in some way and leave him spiritually unfulfilled for different reasons. Although Augustine did not have access to the Gothic Church, his focus on looking beyond Scripture to transcend his earthly self is not unlike Abbot Suger’s view of the rich Gothic art of St. Denis, such as the splendor of the reliefs on the gilded doors and the Anagogical window, as an earthly architectural metaphor for heaven. Augustine would, in turn, be more sympathetic to Suger despite his profound knowledge of Scriptural texts because Gothic art encourages and guides the viewer to transcend the earthly self and look to God for spiritual fulfillment. It goes without saying that every parent wants the best for their child, and Patrick is no exception. He wants nothing more for Augustine than to become a skilled rhetorician and take a wife so that he may one day have grandchildren at the expense of his own …show more content…
As Augustine comes to understand the strength that lies in the material, he provides a more coherent view of the created order and is able to look beyond the visible to understand the invisible. It is because of this transcendent understanding that, if given the opportunity to view the splendid Gothic architecture of the Church of St. Denis, Augustine would appreciate the layers of meaning hidden in its beautiful