1. Reading Augustine's Confessions Lecture 2: Books I and II Dr. Ann T. Orlando

2. Three Part Hermeneutic Approach Historical and philosophical background on each Book –Historical and social context –Intellectual movements –People Key aspects of the Book itself –Truth about human nature Epistemology Language Evil and sin Love and Happiness –Truth about Creation –Truth about God –Connections between Book understudy and other Books Influence of Confessions –Impact in later intellectual history –How does this theological reflection touch us

3. Roman Africa Ancient Roman Province, dating to Roman conquest of Carthage in last Punic Wars, 146 BC –Economically prosperous –Capital city Carthage, rebuilt after the wars By Augustine’s time, it was proudly Roman –One of few areas of Mediterranean where Greek was not much spoken –Greatest Latin orators were said to come from Africa

4. Roman Africa (cont.) http://people.usd.edu/~clehmann/pir/map.gif

5. Roman Family Defined very broadly –Husband, wife, children –Business clients –Servants, slaves –Common practice of adult adoption Ruled by father, paterfamilia –Sons and others governed by father until his death

6. Roman Education Primary school most boys –7 to 12 years old –Teacher: magister taught mixed age class –Reading, writing and arithmetic –Discipline through corporal punishment Secondary School, –Wealthy and precocious boys, 12 – 15 –Teacher: grammaticus –Emphasis on Latin language and some Greek Orator School 15 - 20 –In major cities, for most ambitious and brightest students –Teacher was orator –Emphasis on rhetoric –Preparation for important careers in law courts and administration

7. Virgil and the Aenied

8. Christianity in Fourth Century Africa Earliest Latin theologians come from Africa –Tertullian (d. 212) –St. Cyprian (d. 257) Embroiled in questions of how ‘pure’ should Church be –No one should seriously sin after Baptism –Those who did should not be forgiven and admitted back into Church Majority of Christians were Donatists, who believed in the Church of the Pure –Effectiveness of sacraments was dependent on personal holiness of minister –Bitter, bitter foes of Augustine Baptism as adults (Catholics and Donatists)

9. Structure of Part 1 Book I: From God; birth and relationship of infant with mother –Book II: Bondage of Flesh Book III: Slavery of eyes and mind; problem of evil –Book IV Ambition of World »Book V Encounter with Faustus, Manichaeism, philosophy; moving from Carthage to Rome –Book VI: Recognition of emptiness of world’s ambition Book VII: Freedom of mind; resolution of problem of evil –Book VIII: Liberation from bondage of flesh Book IX: Relation to Monica, her death, return to God

11. Some Things To Look For As you Read Are babies cute and innocent? What might this imply about human nature? How do friends effect our actions? Why doesn’t Augustine like the Old Testament? Where does he think he will find happiness? How is Augustine ‘modern’? Notice that he is always asking questions