The Confessions of Augustine of Hippo - Book Report/Review Example

The Confessions of Augustine in Readership

The Confessions of Augustine of Hippo is an autobiographical work comprising of 13 books that were initially written in Latin between 397 and 401 AD. The collection entails Saint Augustine's struggle with faith and his conversion into Christianity. Confessions trace a long narrative of sin, repentance, and redemption. It is believed to the first spiritual memoir to be written and recorded. The collection is deeply personal, and paradoxically engages the universe. More to it is the volume of significance in other contexts. The biographical work plays a vital role in the development of print, readers, and readership regarding the rise of autobiography and self-awareness among readers and the "silent readers."

Today, Confessions of St Augustine is rarely

read, yet it is the most significant landmark in the history of world

literature. For more than 1600 years, the autobiography has enjoyed widespread

praise of massive readership from religious and secular niches. Even though the

work has considerably reduced its audience over time, those who read the work,

especially in Latin, get to have first-hand experience thereby finding the most

profound religious and emotional endeavors (Broeniman, 1993). The reader is

taken on a path of self-awareness by reflecting their life. By reading the Confessions, the lessons learned are

doubtlessly philosophical and not only spiritual. The reader can, therefore, apply

them as the reformation of their personal life. Augustine's transcripts not

only bring encourage individuals for the conversion of oneself but also enable

them to self-examine their deeds even as a non-Christian. Augustine's emphasis

on reflective reading can be viewed as a new strategy into ethical thinking.

More to asking readers to think about their own life philosophically is how he

recommends the need to apply artistic imagination in their life. Before writing

Confessions, Augustine had found

other guides to ethical thinking as misleading. Similarly, he had a

negative attitude on how language could act as guidance into understanding

reality. By the time Augustine started on his autobiography, all this changed.

His books in the Confessions are

particularly rich in artistic inventions derived from previous classical texts.

Reading the collection therefore, is seen as useful in the instruction of

ethical modification in our scholastic society.

Augustine's annotations on St. Ambrose's silent reading are the most remarkable observations. In book 8, the reader is introduced to Ambrose, an esteemed Bishop who was old but whose eloquence was so delightful to those who listened to him and courteously welcomed Augustine to the premises (Broeniman, 1993). Soon, Augustine was so pleased with the bishop's allegorical interpretations of the bible such that the bishop became crucial into his relinquishment of other philosophies. On a closer look into Ambrose's life, Augustine consistently avoided disturbing the bishop's private moments. Some of the private moments were like when he saw Ambrose fully engrossed in reading the scriptures in silence. Augustine was exceptionally surprised by this and could only comprehend that he did so to preserve his voice for the sermon. To a modern reader, this trivia is interestingly a narrative that serves as a theatrical link to Augustine's dialogues. Looking deeper and following Augustine's journey into the eighth book, he relates the scriptures' silent reading after an upsetting encounter with his friend, Alypius. Ambrose's reading patterns become apparent, mostly at this point. At the time, silent reading was an awkwardly unusual way of going through texts. Gradually through modernity, it was adapted as the perfect way for readers to gist their studies. Today, reading a book is seen as a private and solitary affair. Augustine then has become the epitome of silent reading that readers have exemplarily followed through centuries.

For years, Confessions has gained a reputation for

being the first autobiography to be written. However, in recent years, some

scholars have discerned this work as being a philosophical treatise which only

accustoms the use of autobiographic narratives to achieve its protreptic

purposes (Šubrt, 2015). What is very clear

is that Confessions is unique in its own

way. It does not straightforwardly account for Augustine's life events and

readers are left with the curiosity of some details that Augustine diminishes

as essential. For instance, he only mentions his father's death, only when he

passes, and most portions of his life are left out or glossed over. His life

story is selective and entails more of spiritual development. So he focuses on

giving out aspects of his nature. In the Confessions,

he is seen as having an all-rounded personality. It gives readers a candid

feeling of his character. By nature, however, there are specific standards an

autobiography is expected to meet to measure some precise accuracy of the

author's past. It is a form of literature that depicts a fiction narrative that

affects the reader's interpretation. Readers are, therefore, left to wonder how

much of the autobiography is factual. All through the collection of narratives,

readers are confronted with two types of Augustine. One who is young and

struggles with the path to spiritual finding and the old Augustine, who

reflects on how he achieved spiritual fulfilment. In essence, a reader has only

the story that Augustine tells it and can only be judged by its merit. Scholars

who spend time chasing what exactly happened to Augustine often play a game of

conversation on what to take or read. To fully understand, the Confessions, the narrative should be

viewed as both an autobiographic work and literary artwork.

The Confessions provide a perfect example of techniques for the

evolvement of self-awareness in reading. There is a stable connection between

reading, writing of autobiography, and acquiring self-knowledge (Stock, 2001). Augustine's work seems to have been among

the first to raise essential questions regarding ancient practices of

contemplation on self-discovery and self-knowledge. In these ancient times,

scholars and thinkers could not comprehend this connection and the idea that

self-awareness could be configured in literary form: all these were merely topics

of debate. At the time, medieval scholars of studying self-knowledge did not

engage in writing autobiographies. The exceptionality of Augustine's work sheds

light on the connection between self-knowledge and autobiography. It was a

start to providing a guide towards self-improvement. Augustine then initiated a

change from old contemplative practices to a different and new technique that

involved mental exercise. This change inaugurated a new era of reflecting the

self through reading. His influence on the use of literary forms in expressing

and knowing the self has continuously been strengthened by the research of

other scholars such as Pierre Courcelle. Pierre once mentioned that reading Confessions provided a fluent readership

throughout essential periods in history like the Middle Ages. Others, such as

Professor Charles Taylor who brilliantly argues in his book, Sources of the Self, that Augustine's work is bequeathed to the reader to

contemplate self-awareness and post-reformation (Hundert, 1992). Taylor successfully achieves to show the central role

of Augustine's work. He forms modern ways in which the reader can reflect on

self-understanding using ancient Augustine's strategies. Augustine's

articulation in the realm of self-reflection enabled the conception of the journey

towards self-awareness.

In essence, Augustine's

work on the collection of the Confessions

played a significant role in print, readership, and readers through the

development of autobiographies, silent reading, and self-awareness. His work,

though rarely read, opened up the world of literature into applying literary or

artistic forms, particularly in readership. A reader can utilize both the

philosophical and spiritual strategies used by Augustine to think about their

life ethically. Augustine's encounter with Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan,

presents the first development of silent reading to be recorded in classic

history. Earlier it was considered as very awkward but has gradually been

adopted as the best reading method. The exquisite collection of the Confessions also gave rise to

autobiographies. Though some critics might discern this idea, Augustine's life

events seem to depict autobiography's development. As an autobiography, the Confessions reveal Augustine's character

and personality as what an autobiography is expected to do. It may not contain

the element of being historically accurate, but viewing it as an autobiography

and artistic helps open up an understanding. Lastly, the collection of

narratives provide an exemplary connection between reading and self- awareness.

Through Augustine's journey into spiritual fulfilment and redemption, readers

are taken into a contemplative milieu where they can reflect on their lives.

Most scholars have used his work to dig deeper into the context of

self-awareness and the journey to self-discovery. They have applied modern

forms of Augustine's strategies in self-reflection. His work then is an

excellent foundation to the readership, autobiography, and printing.