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Book 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Confessions, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Faith and Conversion
Sin and Salvation
Interpreting the Bible
God, Goodness, and Being
Time, Eternity, and the Mind
Summary
Analysis
Augustine opens this book with prayer that God will accept his confession, and he offers praises for God’s mercies. God is always found by those who confess their sins and throw themselves on his mercy. God was right before Augustine’s eyes at this time in his life, but Augustine had deserted both himself and God. When he was 29, a charming, well-respected Manichean bishop named Faustus had come to Carthage. By this time, Augustine had read many scientific books and was beginning to find their theories more plausible than “the tedious tales of the Manichees.” He remarks on the pride that keeps the scientists, who say many true things, from seeking the source of truth. But their writings still made more sense and could be demonstrated by evidence, in contrast to the incoherent teachings of Manes.
Here, Augustine refers to Faustus of Mileve, a Manichean bishop (the Manichean church hierarchy based itself on and rivaled the Christians’ in size and social pull at this time) from what’s now Algeria. Faustus was highly regarded among North African Manichees, especially for his criticisms of the Old Testament for teaching the practice of animal sacrifice and for the moral failings of some of the biblical patriarchs. Notably, even before he met Faustus, Augustine was beginning to doubt that Manichean teachings were as sophisticated as its proponents claimed they were.
Themes
[5] Augustine notes that although Manes wrote at great length on matters of science, he neglected his greater duty of confessing his sins to God. Not only that, but he also claimed to be divine in the process. [6] At the time, however, Augustine still wasn’t sure about Manes’s teachings and looked forward to hearing from Faustus on the matter. He found Faustus to be charming and eloquent, but that didn’t satisfy him. When he finally got a chance to speak with Faustus personally, he was disappointed to learn that Faustus wasn’t a scholar or even well-read.
Looking back, Augustine sees the greatest failing of Manicheism’s founder Manes as his failure to submit to God as human beings are called to do; since he failed to honor God in his rightful place, it’s no wonder Manes had nothing coherent to say about the world. Though Augustine doesn’t specify what convinced him that Faustus wasn’t a true scholar, it’s clear that in his late 20s, Augustine is less easily swayed by personality and outward style than he was in his youth.
Themes
[7] Augustine lost hope that Faustus could answer his questions about the claims of the Manichees versus those of scientific writings. Though he appreciated the man’s modesty, his interest in Manichean doctrines declined from this time forward. Though he didn’t give up on the Manichees entirely, this was, by God's providence, a turning point toward Augustine finding God.
Themes
[8] Augustine decided to move from Carthage to Rome to continue teaching. Though the pay was better, he claims his main motivation was that the students in Rome were said to be better behaved. Looking back, Augustine believes God used the unpleasant environment at Carthage to drive Augustine to the place where his soul would be saved, though neither he nor his heartbroken mother knew that at the time.
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[9] In Rome, Augustine immediately fell ill and nearly died. If he had died unbaptized, he knows that his mother’s heart could not have withstood the grief, but God heard her fervent prayers for his soul. [10] Even after his recovery, Augustine continued to associate with the Manichees and to believe that he was not guilty for his sins, but that some mysterious nature within him was responsible for sinning. At the same time, he was beginning to be drawn to the Academics, who held that nothing could be known for certain. He had no hope of joining the Church, because the Manichees had turned him away from the belief that God could have a human body; he thought that human flesh would necessarily defile God.
Themes
[11] Though Augustine would have liked to hear the perspective of someone knowledgeable about the Christian Scriptures, he was stuck in the Manichean belief that good and evil were two big, material masses, and he couldn’t conceive of anything different.
Themes
[12] Augustine began to teach literature and public speaking out of his home. He quickly discovered that, while Roman students weren’t violent like those in Carthage, they were unscrupulous and tried to cheat their teachers out of their fees. [13] Augustine then applied and was hired for a position teaching literature and public speaking in Milan. There he met the bishop Ambrose, whose warmth Augustine found inviting. He listened eagerly to Ambrose’s sermons, though at the time, his motivation was simply to judge Ambrose’s speaking ability, and he paid attention only to style, not substance.
Themes
[14] Gradually, however, Augustine found that he couldn’t pay attention to Ambrose’s style without listening to his meaning also. He began to think that, contrary to the Manichees’ claims, it was possible to defend the scriptures, especially after hearing Ambrose’s figurative interpretation of the Old Testament. While Augustine didn’t rush to become Catholic simply because the Church contained learned teachers, he decided to leave the Manichees. For the time being, he chose to remain a catechumen in the Church, “until I could clearly see a light to guide my steps.”
Themes
