What Is The Purpose Of St. Augustine's Confessions?

Intentional or otherwise, all writing serves a purpose or has a value to the writer and, or the reader. Known as the first autobiography, the Confessions of St. Augustine is a rather candid commentary. Most times an autobiography aims to provide the reader with information about ones self. For Augustine the intent was far more evocative than the mere task of informing. He uses his own personal experiences and reflection of such to indirectly guide his audience to the truth and ultimately to God.

This personal narrative is still very relatable today; the Confessions of St. Augustine addresses contemporary concerns that are still relevant to a modern audience. The Confessions are a very personal look into the internal transition from inquiry

to the time of his conversion to Catholicism 386 A.D. Born in Thagaste, a part of eastern Algeria which was then part of the Roman Empire. His father Patrick was Pagan and his mother Monica was a devout Christian. Monica catechized him as a child; however his sinful desires for worldly things drew him astray from his mother’s teaching. Life experiences and the desire to know the truth are the leading elements in his return. His search for truth actually leads him away from the truth initially, but it will later prove to have been the beginning of is path to Christianity and

Because his desires were not in the direction of learning he did not enjoy school. He found his learning to be misdirected and his teachers ill informed. He did not agree with the curriculum and felt that reading fiction was a sinful waste of time. He feels that reading about someone else’s sins while remaining ignorant to your own sins is a sin in and of itself. He had no desire for learning because he was seeking companionship, something that would prove troublesome in much of his future. He is particularly hung up on the peach tree incident. He uses this experience to probe the nature of friendships and the influence they have on us. He is especially ashamed of this act because it was based on sheer malice, an ill intention rooted from the desire to do