Reading Old Books – Augustine's Confessions Book VII

This week we discuss Book VII of Augustine’s Confessions. We will begin our discussion of Book VIII in two weeks on March 26. Please join the discussion by posting a comment to this post.

Book VII begins with Augustine leaving his youthful days behind him and moving into manhood. As he makes this transition, he is able to put two different false philosophies behind him.

First, Augustine makes his final break with the Manicheans. While he left them some time ago, it is his contemplation of the nature of evil that shows the folly of the Manicheans. The Manichean concept of an opposing force to God he found to be illogical. Since God is incorruptible, God would have no reason to fight this force, since they cannot affect him in any way, making the belief of a struggle between God and the opposing forces wrong. The only alternative was to assume that the opposing force might inflict harm on God, which was not possible since God is incorruptible. Thus the Manichean philosophy falls.

Second, Augustine realized the folly of astrology. He tells the account of two men, one of noble birth and one born a slave, who are born at the same moment. According to their horoscopes, everything should have been the same, but clearly their lives were completely different. In fact, the biblical account of Esau and Jacob, where the brothers were born at almost the same moment (certainly astrologically the same) again shows this to be false. Thus Augustine recognized the folly of astrology.

Augustine also discusses his discovery of Platonic philosophy. In this he sees a philosophy that makes sense. There is a good and incorruptible God who is the creator and source of all life. In many ways he finds the book of Genesis in this Platonic philosophy. But he does not find Christ, the Word made flesh. And he also does not find humility in the philosophers.

But Augustine is held back from God by his “carnal habits”. His inability to overcome his desires leaves him far from God. He sought the way to enjoy God, but could not find the strength for it.

In some ways this is the most frustrating part of the book to date. Augustine seems to have come so far, rejecting the Manicheans, understanding who God is and having a desire for Him. But he is still so far away. I’ve known people throughout my life who seemed to “get it”, but who would fall away, falling back into sin. It seems from Augustine’s life that the difference between those people and the people who don’t fall away is Christ.

Posted by David Fenton on Mar 13, 12:04 AM