Bekenntnisse

«O êxito, o valor e a sedução das Confissões estão sobretudo no facto de nelas Santo Agostinho confessar com sinceridade, humanismo e flagrância os problemas da sua vida de homem religioso e atormentado, que são afinal os problemas de todos nós. As suas dúvidas, interrogações e repostas, sendo ecos da vida humana, reflectem também ecos da nossa vida e por isso permanecem vivas e actuais.»
Lúcio Craveiro da Silva, S.J.
«Talvez que a mais profunda actualidade de Agostinho resida, justamente, no seu fantástico e sublime anacronismo. Queremos dizer, na sua incompatibilidade profunda - ao menos na aparência - com a pulsão cultural que domina hoje não apenas o Ocidente mas o mundo inteiro.»
Eduardo Lourenço

JBB-6

JBB-6

Logistics: I mainly listened to the free podcast audiobook, and made highlights in the free kindle copy. The kindle version is in much older English and doesn't have chapter divisions, only book divisions, so it'll be a little harder to gather the ideas later, but that's fine.

Overview: this goes back and forth between technical and experiential, but always worshipful, which was nice. He was a very normal guy! Struggling with secular education, lust, ethics in his job, personal guilt, theatrical entertainment, semi-Christians, and big questions. There was also a lot of extreme confession, convicted of delighting in any of the senses instead of delighting in God. If you read nothing else, read book 8. It was awesome, and that's where his personal salvation testimony is. ( )

In a sense, he is quite ordinary, struggling with lust, assurance of salvation, temptations to find comfort apart from Christ. In other ways, he is exceptional, and has much to offer our generation, warning us to avoid theatrical amusements, as well as "contain yourselves from the ungoverned wildness of pride, the sluggish voluptuousness of luxury, and the false name of knowledge...the delight of lust, and the poison of curiosity..." What! Is curiosity a sin? He says it's a disease, calls it the "lust of the eyes," and says it's even worse than the lust of the flesh, because at least the lust of the flesh confines itself to pleasant things, whereas curiosity will indulge in anything just to try something new:

"But by this may more evidently be discerned, wherein pleasure and wherein curiosity is the object of the senses; for pleasure seeketh objects beautiful, melodious, fragrant, savoury, soft; but curiosity, for trial's sake, the contrary as well, not for the sake of suffering annoyance, but out of the lust of making trial and knowing them. For what pleasure hath it, to see in a mangled carcase what will make you shudder? and yet if it be lying near, they flock thither, to be made sad, and to turn pale. Even in sleep they are afraid to see it. As if when awake, any one forced them to see it, or any report of its beauty drew them thither! Thus also in the other senses, which it were long to go through. From this disease of curiosity are all those strange sights exhibited in the theatre. Hence men go on to search out the hidden powers of nature (which is besides our end), which to know profits not, and wherein men desire nothing but to know. Hence also, if with that same end of perverted knowledge magical arts be enquired by. Hence also in religion itself, is God tempted, when signs and wonders are demanded of Him, not desired for any good end, but merely to make trial of." ( )