St. Augustine's Conception Of Sin Essay

Augustine’s conception of the sin in The Confessions is vastly different from today’s version of sin. In the modern world, Christian sin is mainly focused on the seven deadliest whereas Saint Augustine added more onto this list. The book mainly explores St. Augustine’s struggle for celibacy and converting himself to Christianity. Augustine also created a concept he termed as original sin. Original sin states that sin is inherently within all of us, we are all born evil and thus have to fight to be good. St. Augustine altered the blame from Christianity’s original views on the devil causing sin, to one focusing on how humans are born evil. The book begins with St. Augustine praising God and asking God for help in what he should do. Then Augustine

Thus, he understood that his sins were being perceived. Augustine started out the seventh book by showing how he evolved from his previous shameful sins. “I did not think of you, my God, in the shape of a human body, for I had rejected this idea ever since I had first begun to study philosophy, and I was glad to find that our spiritual mother, your Catholic Church, also rejected such beliefs.” (Book VII, Section 1, Page 133) This shows that Augustine is beginning to think more about God and how his sins have been watched throughout his whole life. He is beginning to realize that he has to change his ways in order to reach absolution. In the ninth book, Augustine shows how he was able to finally connect with God through his books and teachings. “I read on: Tremble and sin no more, and this moved me deeply, my God, because now I had learned to tremble from my past, so that in the future I might sin no more.” (Book IX, Section 4, Page 187) This shows that Augustine was finally able to find God through the readings of the Bible. Throughout his entire youth, he was searching for an answer, which is why he continued to sin, and he finally found it through the Christian