{"id":20166,"date":"2023-05-18T02:14:30","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T02:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/questions\/what-are-the-major-themes-of-augustines-confessions-what-is-the-purpose-of-the-work\/"},"modified":"2023-05-18T02:14:30","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T02:14:30","slug":"what-are-the-major-themes-of-augustines-confessions-what-is-the-purpose-of-the-work","status":"publish","type":"questions","link":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/questions\/what-are-the-major-themes-of-augustines-confessions-what-is-the-purpose-of-the-work\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the major themes of Augustine\u2019s Confessions. What is the purpose of the work?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Please have, at minimum<\/b>, the following sources in your bibliography. (More are welcome.) The 3000 word count is inclusive of footnotes (which are required.)
<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ancient Sources<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

(*)       <\/span>Augustine Confessions<\/i> [Use the translation by Henry Chadwick, which is                                        <\/span>recommended
\nfor this unit, as it contains an excellent concordance to passages      <\/span>            <\/span>from
\nPlotinus and other authors]<\/span><\/p>\n

Plotinus Enneads<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Modern Scholarship<\/b><\/p>\n

            <\/span>Blumenthal,
\nH.J. and Markus, R. (eds) Neoplatonism
\nand Early Christian Thought:                   <\/span>Essays
\nin Honour of A.H. Armstrong<\/i> (London 1981). [See Chapters 11, 12,                  <\/span>13, and 14]<\/p>\n

            <\/span>Brown, P. Augustine of Hippo: a biography<\/i> (London
\n1967). <\/p>\n

(*)       <\/span>Catapano, G.
\n\u2018Augustine\u2019, in Gerson, L.P. (ed.) The
\nCambridge History of Philosophy                  <\/span>in
\nLate Antiquity, Volume 1 <\/i>(Cambridge 2010), 552-581. <\/p>\n

Cooper, S.A. \u2018Marius Victorinus\u2019,
\nin Gerson, L.P. (ed.) The Cambridge
\nHistory of                         <\/span>Philosophy
\nin Late Antiquity, Volume 1<\/i> (Cambridge 2010), 538-551. <\/p>\n

(*)       <\/span>Lane-Fox, R. Augustine: Conversions and Confessions<\/i>
\n(London 2015). [Chapter 17             <\/span>Plato Reborn]<\/b><\/p>\n

Meconi, D.V. (ed) The
\nCambridge Companion to Augustine<\/i> (Cambridge 2014).      <\/span><\/p>\n

Nock, A.D. Conversion<\/i> (Oxford 1933). [Chapter 14]<\/p>\n

Toom, T. (ed) The Cambridge
\nCompanion to Augustine\u2019s Confessions<\/i> (Cambridge                    <\/span>2020). <\/p>\n

Wallace, R.T. Neoplatonism<\/i> (London 1972). <\/p>\n

Please see the following as an example for purposes of the work. (As for themes, I presume it’s about Augustine’s entwining of Neoplatonism ideals and Christian theology, e.g. his reading of Plotinus.) I have also attached a style guide.<\/p>\n

Augustine
\nwas a prolific writer with the Confessions considered one of his most important
\ntexts, serving as an influential model for Christian writers throughout the
\nMiddle Ages. It can certainly be read not only as a personal reflection and
\naddress to God but can also be viewed as a way to encourage conversion, with
\nguidelines on how to convert for even those who had lived sinful lives as he
\nhad. Another interpretation of the purpose of the work was provided by Henry
\nChadwick, describing the poignant work as an apologetical \u2013 a way to convince
\nthe ecclesiastical culture of Africa that Augustine\u2019s conversion to the faith
\nwas sincere. Before Augustine had converted, he had, after all, spent a decade
\nas a Manichaean, and Augustine\u2019s works were often rebuttals to upend the
\nManichaean cult. Additionally, Augustine was working to end the Donatist schism
\n[6] <\/sup>within Christianity, so the idea does hold merit. Finally, the third
\npractical purpose suggested is that Augustine\u2019s Confessions were written as an
\naddress to a colleague \u2013 St. Paulinus of Nola, whom Augustine had met through
\nSt. Alypius \u2013 and their interest in a written account of his conversion.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Please have, at minimum, the following sources in your bibliography. (More are welcome.) The 3000 word count is inclusive of footnotes (which are required.) Ancient Sources (*)       Augustine Confessions [Use the translation by Henry Chadwick, which is                                        recommended for this unit, as it contains an excellent concordance to passages                  from Plotinus and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"disciplines":[706],"paper_types":[],"tagged":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions\/20166"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/questions"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions\/20166\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"disciplines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disciplines?post=20166"},{"taxonomy":"paper_types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper_types?post=20166"},{"taxonomy":"tagged","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodacademic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tagged?post=20166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}