The Confessions of St. Augustine
Failed to add items
Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.
Add to basket failed.
Please try again later
Add to wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Remove from wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Adding to library failed
Please try again
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
The Confessions of St. Augustine
Narrated by:
Mark Meadows
Buy Now for £23.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
-
Narrated by:
-
Mark Meadows
About this listen
A story of spiritual awakening, The Confessions of St. Augustine is a fascinating look at the life of an eminent Christian thinker. Widely seen as one of the first Western autobiographies ever written, it chronicles the life and religious struggles of Augustine of Hippo, from his days as a self-confessed sinner to his acceptance of Christianity as an older adult. Along the way he unveils his theological questioning of human existence and the essence and nature of God while providing influential philosophical arguments on creation and time. Augustine's sincere and inquisitive attitude will inspire any listener, regardless of faith. Translated by R. S. Pine-Coffin.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
Public Domain (P)2017 Naxos AudioBooksListeners also enjoyed...
Wonderful literature from church father
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An intimidating classic, made approachable
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Engaging
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Surprising.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The content follows the life of Augustine from his birth to his conversion - it is pretty interesting to hear what life was like in the fourth century and he travels from Africa to Italy - Milan and Rome - and it shows clearly that Christainity was in no way "anti-rational" - educated Christians read and respected the classics the same as all other educated people. After his conversion the narrative stops and Augustine then spends the rest of the book - which is perhaps a fifth or a quarter of the whole - contemplating philosophical and theological issues such as what is time and how did the world come into being.
I did not find these philosophical reflections particularly enlightening but it does show after his conversion he continued to ask intellectual questions and reflect on philosophical topics.
The religion of Augustine however is another matter. This is not the religion of Jesus and not even the religion of Paul although Paul's influence is the greater. Augustine is and remains a gnostic, hating the world, seeing only temptation and evil everywhere, he sees all humans full of sin and deceit and longs to escape this world and live in heaven.
He hates his body with its desires that he struggles to control - even in eating he constantly worries if he has eaten too much or not enough, either being of course for him a sin. He sends the mother of his child back from Italy to Africa - never to see her only child again and so upset she tells Augustine she will never go with another man - yet of all the sins he confesses this - perhaps the most shocking - never appears to have troubled his conscience at all.
Augustine presents a horrifying picture of the spiritual life, and has been responsible for a sick and in many ways wicked spirituality whose pollution is responsible for countless wrecked lives. He has hidden the beauty and love of God and replaced it with a spiteful, mean and cruel God whose anger has to constantly be placated with acts of self-mortification.
This might be worth listening to to educated yourself on how the love of Christianity was replaced by the sickness of Gnosticism but it doesn't tell you anything about the true message of Jesus.
Better than I expected but Augustine is a awful
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.