Confessions (Latin: Confessiones) is the name of an autobiographical work, consisting of 13 books, by Saint Augustine of Hippo, written in Latin between 397 and 400 AD. The work outlines Saint Augustine's sinful youth and his conversion to Christianity. Modern English translations of it are sometimes published under the title The Confessions of Saint Augustine in order to distinguish the book from other books with similar titles. Its original title was Confessions in Thirteen Books, and it was composed to be read out loud with each book being a complete unit.
Confessions is generally considered one of Augustine's most important texts. It is widely seen as the first Western autobiography ever written, and was an influential model for Christian writers throughout the Middle Ages. Professor Henry Chadwick wrote that Confessions will "always rank among the great masterpieces of western literature.
The work is not a complete autobiography, as it was written during Saint Augustine's early 40s and he lived long afterwards, producing another important work, The City of God. Nonetheless, it does provide an unbroken record of his development of thought and is the most complete record of any single person from the 4th and 5th centuries. It is a significant theological work, featuring spiritual meditations and insights.
In the work, Augustine writes about how much he regrets having led a sinful and immoral life. He discusses his regrets for following the Manichaean religion and believing in astrology. He writes about Nebridius's role in helping to persuade him that astrology was not only incorrect but evil, and Saint Ambrose's role in his conversion to Christianity. The first nine books are autobiographical and the last four are commentary and significantly more philosophical. He shows intense sorrow for his sexual sins and writes on the importance of sexual morality. The books were written as prayers to God, thus the title, based on the Psalms of David; and it begins with "For Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee."[4] The work is thought to be divisible into books which symbolize various aspects of the Trinity and trinitarian belief.
Author Biography
Edward Bouverie Pusey (22 August 1800 - 16 September 1882) was an English churchman, for more than fifty years Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford. He and his current lineage Paul George Pusey 1964 to present, are still one of the main promoters of the Oxford Movement. He was born in the village of Pusey in Berkshire. His father (died 1828) was born Philip Bouverie, a younger son of Jacob des Bouverie, 1st Viscount Folkestone; he adopted the name of Pusey on succeeding to the manorial estates there. Philip Pusey was his older brother; his sister Charlotte married Richard Lynch Cotton.[1][2] Pusey attended the preparatory school of the Rev. Richard Roberts in Mitcham. He then attended Eton College, where he was taught by Thomas Carter, father of Thomas Thellusson Carter. For university admission he was tutored for a period by Edward Maltby.[3][4] In 1819 Pusey became a commoner of Christ Church, a college at the University of Oxford, where Thomas Vowler Short was his tutor. He graduated in 1822 with a first During 1823 Pusey was elected by competition to a fellowship at Oriel College, Oxford.[3] John Henry Newman and John Keble were already there as fellows.[1] Between 1825 and 1827, Pusey studied Oriental languages and German theology at the University of Goettingen.[1] A claim that, during the 1820s, only two Oxford academics knew German, one being Edward Cardwell, was advanced by Henry Liddon; but was not well evidenced, given that Alexander Nicoll, ignored by Liddon, corresponded in German.[5][6] In 1828 Pusey took holy orders, and he married soon afterwards. His opinions had been influenced by German trends in theology.[7] That year, also, the Duke of Wellington as Prime Minister appointed Pusey as Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford, with the associated canonry of Christ Church
