St. Augustine’s Confessions

Course Overview

Course No. 6627

Analyze one of the foundational texts of both Christianity and Western philosophy in this course that covers St. Augustine’s most impactful work.

In these 24 lectures, Professors Cook and Herzman lead you on a chapter-by-chapter analysis of one of history’s most significant literary works. Written in the 4th century C.E., the Confessions explores timeless questions:

• How should parents raise children?
• Why are we drawn to forbidden things?
• What is time, memory, and evil?
• How do we interpret Scripture?
• What defines true friendship?

Augustine addresses these issues in a way few thinkers have matched. This course helps you understand the Confessions as Augustine intended—covering all 13 books, from his life story to profound meditations on time, memory, and faith.

A book as relevant today as it was 1,500 years ago, the Confessions offers personal enrichment and insight into life’s deepest questions.

Video Lectures

Section 1: Introduction & Context

1. Augustine and the Confessions (32 min)

• Why read the Confessions today? Understanding translation choices.

1. Augustine and the World of Classical Antiquity (30 min)

• Late Roman Empire’s political, social, and Christian-state dynamics.

1. The Corpus of Augustine’s Writings (30 min)

• Overview of Augustine’s works (On Christian Teaching, The City of God).

1. Form and Genre (31 min)

• Why the Confessions isn’t a traditional autobiography but a prayerful narrative.

Section 2: Early Life & Sin

5. Book I: Sin and Confession (30 min)

• Augustine’s infancy, childhood, and the “restlessness” of the human spirit.

5. Book I: Augustine’s Childhood (30 min)

• Self-portrait as a selfish, miseducated youth—habituation to sin.

5. Book II: Augustine Grows Up (30 min)

• Parental influence and societal pressures toward fame/wealth.

5. Book II: Stealing Pears—So What? (30 min)

• The symbolic fall: rebellion against God and society.

Section 3: Quest for Truth

9. Book III: The Journey Begins (30 min)

• Carthage, lust, and Cicero’s spark for truth.

9. Book IV: The Problem of Friendship (30 min)

• Mourning a friend’s death—selfish grief vs. true friendship.

9. Book V: From Carthage to Rome (30 min)

• Disillusionment with Manicheism; Ambrose’s influence in Milan.

9. Book VI: A New Look at Christianity (30 min)

• Re-evaluating faith, Scripture, and Alypius’s moral struggles.

Section 4: Conversion & Revelation

13. Book VII: Neo-Platonism and Truth (30 min)

• Pagan philosophy leading to Christian conviction.

13. Book VII: Faith and Reason (30 min)

• The nature of evil, creation’s goodness, and reason’s limits.

13. Book VIII: Converging Conversions (30 min)

• Paul, Antony of the Desert, and Victorinus as conversion models.

13. Book VIII: “Pick It Up and Read” (30 min)

• Breaking chains of lust—Augustine’s dramatic conversion.

Section 5: New Life & Reflection

17. Book IX: The New Man (30 min)

• Baptism, contemplation, and career choices post-conversion.

17. Book IX: The Death of Monica (30 min)

• Monica’s life, mysticism, and Augustine’s meditation on loss.

17. Book X: Augustine the Bishop (30 min)

• Ongoing temptations—conversion as a lifelong struggle.

17. Book X: Augustine on Memory (30 min)

• Memory’s paradoxes and the quest for God.

Section 6: Philosophy & Scripture

21. Book XI: Augustine on Time (30 min)

• “What is time?”—Exploring its elusive nature.

21. Book XII: Augustine on Biblical Interpretation (30 min)

• Genesis, symbolic meaning, and multiple interpretations.

21. Book XIII: Augustine on Creation (30 min)

• Genesis revisited—the command to “increase and multiply.”

21. The Confessions Through the Ages (31 min)

• Influence on Dante, Luther, and modern seekers of meaning.