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William Cook & Ronald Herzman – St. Augustine’s Confessions
St. Augustine’s Confessions
Analyze one of the foundational texts of both Christianity and Western philosophy in this course that covers St. Augustine’s most impactful work.
LECTURE
01:Augustine and the Confessions
Lecture 1 introduces the course plan: a close reading of Augustine’s Confessions in the contexts of his time and ours. Why are we still reading the Confessions in the 21st century, and how should we read the text in translation? The professors explain what translation they are using for this course, and why….
32 min
02:Augustine and the World of Classical Antiquity
Knowing the political, social, and cultural contexts of the Late Roman Empire is important because Augustine assumes his readers have this knowledge. It is also important to know that during Augustine’s time, the relationship of Christianity to the state was undergoing extraordinary changes.
30 min
03:The Corpus of Augustine’s Writings
To place the Confessions in context, we need to become acquainted with Augustine’s other works. In addition to the major works On Christian Teaching (Christian doctrine) and The City of God, we will survey the scope of his writings, which total 48 volumes….
30 min
04:Form and Genre
The Confessions is a rich narrative, one that is not easy to characterize. One unusual element is that the entire work is a prayer to God. In addition, the first nine books are a narrative of Augustine’s life, but the last four are not. This lecture examines these elements to show we are not dealing with autobiography in the modern sense….
31 min
05:Book I-Sin and Confession
The first book of the Confessions begins with a general introduction and then turns to Augustine’s infancy and childhood. We can see how Augustine will “Christianize†elements of classical thought. He also describes the restlessness of the human spirit, and he ponders the stability of the moral order….
30 min
06:Book I-Augustine’s Childhood
Augustine condemns himself as a sinner even as a 1-day-old baby. His portrayal of himself as a pupil in a “pagan†school, and with his family, is not of a bright kid-how we would probably view him-but of one who was selfish and miseducated. For Augustine, his youth is not a matter of outgrowing habits but of habituation to sin.
30 min
07:Book II-Augustine Grows Up
In Book II, Augustine explains how his parents dealt with him growing into a man. Combining the first part of Book II with what Augustine tells us about his schooling in Book I, we can conclude that teenage Augustine’s sinfulness has actually been furthered by his teachers and parents because they are determined that he become rich and famous.
30 min
08:Book II-Stealing Pears: So What?
The longest narration of an event from Augustine’s youth is of a minor incident when he was 16. With friends, he stole some pears from a neighbor’s tree. To Augustine, this incident shows him to be another Adam-unwilling to obey laws and trying to declare a kind of freedom from society and from God.
30 min
09:Book III-The Journey Begins
In Book III, Augustine comes to Carthage “where the din of scandalous love affairs raged cauldronlike around me.†But balanced against his lustful impulses is the beginning of his search for truth. At 18, a book by Cicero begins to turn Augustine’s attention to the highest endeavors.
30 min
10:Book IV-The Problem of Friendship
While Augustine was engaged in studies and a carefree life, a dear friend died. Augustine became severely depressed. By the time he writes the Confessions, he realizes he was mourning not for his friend but for his own loss. Augustine realizes both the goodness of friendship and how it can become another manifestation of selfishness….
30 min
11:Book V-From Carthage to Rome
Augustine moves from North Africa to Italy, first Rome and then Milan. Two powerful encounters define Augustine’s journey. He finds the Manichee bishop Faustus to be superficial. But in Milan, Augustine finds the Christian bishop, Ambrose, to be a brilliant and substantive speaker. This leads Augustine to give Christianity another look.
30 min
12:Book VI-A New Look at Christianity
While taking a fresh look at the Bible and Christianity, Augustine changes his mind about faith: it is necessary, he decides, because no one has sufficient knowledge. Augustine also “interrupts†the narrative to mention a new friend, Alypius, who has gone astray with a love of gladiatorial violence while in Rome.
30 min
13:Book VII-Neo-Platonism and Truth
Augustine becomes convinced of Christianity’s truth through an amazing paradox: by reading pagan philosophers. Because he makes the case for the necessity of pagan learning, this book is an important chapter in the history of Christianity and in Western intellectual history.
30 min
14:Book VII-Faith and Reason
Augustine’s reading of the Platonist philosophers brings him to conclusions about the nature of evil and the goodness of creation. The end of the book is a powerful meditation on the limits of reason, the necessity for faith, and the relationship between faith and reason.
30 min
15:Book VIII-Converging Conversions
Book VIII presents one of the most important moments in the Confessions: Augustine’s conversion. By focusing on the conversion stories in this book, from Paul to Antony of the Desert to Victorinus, this lecture shows how Augustine prepares the reader to understand his conversion and, to a great extent, the Christianization of the Roman Empire….
30 min
16:Book VIII-“Pick It Up and Readâ€
This lecture begins with a close look at Augustine’s description of his addiction to sex: as chains of lust that bind his will. We then examine Augustine’s dramatic description of his conversion. This scene has an important post-Augustinian afterlife, as a model for subsequent Christian conversions, and for such writers as Dante.
30 min
17:Book IX-The New Man
Augustine’s baptism marks the end of his conversion story, and the end of the biographical part of the Confessions. But he must decide what to do with his life now that he is a Christian. We discuss his new “career choiceâ€-a life of leisure and contemplation-both in itself and in terms of his later life as a bishop. We also follow Augustine’s accounts of the deaths of several friends, an…
30 min
18:Book IX-The Death of Monica
This lecture focuses on one of the most famous sections in the Confessions. To prepare the scene of his mother’s death, Augustine tells the story of her life. His description sheds light on late antiquity, especially in terms of domestic life. Augustine’s meditation with his mother before her death is widely considered one of the great examples of Christian mysticism….
30 min
19:Book X-Augustine the Bishop
In Book X, Augustine leaves the past to reflect on his present. He tells us his flock should know who its bishop is. He presents himself as one who is still struggling, still subject to temptations. Thus this book provides a powerful interpretation of conversion as a continual struggle.
30 min
20:Book X-Augustine on Memory
Having just finished an account of his past in the first nine books, Augustine’s discussion of memory is a logical next step. Augustine sees memory as a mystery and explores some of its paradoxes: for example, that we are in some ways able to remember forgetfulness. He uses this discussion as part of a larger quest for God.
30 min
21:Book XI-Augustine on Time
Augustine’s exploration of the nature of time in Book XI is a fascinating exercise. He notes the difficulty of it in this famous line: “What, then, is time? If no one asks me, I know; if I want to explain it to someone, I do not know.†He sees the paradox of talking about time while remaining in time, a paradox similar to using the mind to discuss the mind. Augustine must talk about time…
30 min
22:Book XII-Augustine on Biblical Interpretation
As someone whose conversion depended on learning to read texts correctly, especially the Bible, Augustine ends the Confessions with a demonstration of the fruits of that conversion. He begins an explication of the Book of Genesis, a key text because it deals with the nature of time and the nature of God. Augustine’s approach to Scripture is open to symbolic meanings and multiple interpretations….
30 min
23:Book XIII-Augustine on Creation
In this concluding book, Augustine continues his interpretation of the opening passages of Genesis. Once again, he argues for a sophisticated understanding of Creation. He gives an important explication of the command to “increase and multiply.†We end the lecture by discussing how the text continues to engage us in the 21st century. Augustine has much to say to a culture that is sometim…
30 min
24:The Confessions Through the Ages
Great thinkers have made use of Augustine’s reflection on his life, and we focus on two of the most important: Dante and Martin Luther. In the 21st century, people want a way to reflect on their lives and to find meaning that is often hidden in masses of detail. There is no better guide than the Confessions….
31 min
DETAILS
Overview
This course examines all 13 books, or chapters, of this masterpiece that inspired Dante and Martin Luther and encouraged Christianity to accept the thinking of Plato. It provides the background needed to understand the Confessions as Augustine intended and analyzes his account-told in stories that are as powerful as any in world literature-of the events leading to his Christian conversion.
About
William R. CookÂ
In some ways, being detached from the world allows you also to be united with the world.
Dr. William R. Cook is the Distinguished Teaching Professor of History at the State University of New York at Geneseo, where he has taught since 1970. He earned his bachelor’s degree cum laude from Wabash College and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa there. He was then awarded Woodrow Wilson and Herbert Lehman fellowships to study medieval history at Cornell University, where he earned his Ph.D. Professor Cook teaches courses in ancient and medieval history, the Renaissance and Reformation periods, and the Bible and Christian thought. Since 1983 Professor Cook has directed 11 Seminars for School Teachers for the National Endowment for the Humanities. His books include Images of St. Francis of Assisi and Francis of Assisi: The Way of Poverty and Humility. Dr. Cook contributed to the Cambridge Companion to Giotto and edits and contributes to The Art of the Franciscan Order in Italy. Among his many awards, Professor Cook has received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 1992 the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education named him New York State’s Professor of the Year. In 2003 he received the first-ever CARA Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Medieval Studies from the Medieval Academy of America.
Ronald B. HerzmanÂ
I am astonished and deeply grateful for all the feedback from people for whom the Dante course has made a difference in their lives.
Dr. Ronald B. Herzman is Distinguished Teaching Professor of English at the State University of New York at Geneseo, where he has taught since 1969. He graduated with honors from Manhattan College and earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Delaware. Dr. Herzman’s teaching interests include Dante, Chaucer, Francis of Assisi, Shakespeare, the Bible, and Arthurian literature. He has written many articles and book chapters and is the coauthor of The Apocalyptic Imagination in Medieval Literature and coeditor of Four Romances of England. Professor Herzman received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1976, and in 1991, Manhattan College awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. Professor Herzman and Professor William R. Cook have been collaborating intensively since 1973, when they team-taught a course at SUNY-Geneseo called The Age of Chaucer. Subsequent courses included The Age of Dante and The Age of Francis of Assisi. Both prolific writers in their own right, together they have published The Medieval World View with the Oxford University Press, currently in its second edition. In 2003, Professors Cook and Herzman were presented with the Medieval Academy of America’s first-ever CARA Award for Excellence in Teaching Medieval Studies.
REVIEWS
JPM54
Interesting and Enjoyable
This class is a good introduction to Saint Augustine’s Confessions, albeit not a substitute for the reading of the text. The speakers make it an enjoyable journey which is also easy to assimilate. After this course, I am ready to read the Confessions with confidence that I have the bases for a critical understanding.
