Talent Is His Most Lasting Gift

It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.” (https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/saint_augustine.html) Augustine’s admiration was one of the many reasons he was designated a saint. Another, being his kind statement, telling people to be courteous to all, especially those close to you. “Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you.” (https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/saint_augustine.html).

Augustine financial support for his education, he did not care how Augustine’s character would advance through his education. St. Augustine’s dad paid more than a richer man would pay for their son’s education because he wanted to provide Augustine with the proper education. (Confessions, II, 5). Unlike the attitude toward his father, St. Augustine showed a great deal of respect to his mother, Monica, since she was a practicing Christian (II,60). In spite of this, Augustine criticized his mother for holding him back from his sexual desire (II,8). But his father arranged his marriage and encouraged him to have children (II,6). Unlike Confucius’s teachings of remaining reverent to your parent, Augustine openly criticized his family’s wrong doings because God was his heart and only truth (II,5).

Augustine’s Confessions is an autobiography written around 400 A.D which details his spiritual journey, and each of the books address a certain element of Augustine’s steps in his spiritual path. In Book III, he develops his overcoming of lust by introducing the book with the line: “I went to Carthage, where I found myself in the midst of a hissing cauldron of lust.” (III.1, pp55). The theme of non-sexual lust instantly becomes the focal point of the book and Augustine presents the “hissing cauldron” as a low point in his relationship with God, for he wanders away from his creator by loving his own ways; however, he later discovers this was merely lust compared to the true love of God. In this essay, I will argue that Book III of Confessions

St. Augustine is a man with a rational mind. As a philosopher, scholar, and teacher of rhetoric, he is trained in and practices the art of logical thought and coherent reasoning. The pursuits of his life guide him to seek concrete answers to specific questions. Religion, the practice of which relies primarily on faith—occasionally blind faith—presents itself as unable to be penetrated by any sort of scientific study or inquiry. Yet, like a true scientist and philosopher, one of the first questions St. Augustine poses in his Confessions is: “What, then, is the God I worship” (23)? For a long time, Augustine searches for knowledge about God as a physical body, a particular entity—almost as if the Lord

Augustine turned to the church to find the answers to life’s questions after years of trying to find them with various philosophers. St. Augustine sought the truth and after falling in with groups such as the Manicheans, whom were a group of Pagan philosophers. St. Augustine found his way to the Bible, and after reading Scriptures began his process of conversion to Christianity. St. Augustine soon realized that conversion is a lifelong process that he would have to take the time to study and learn the word of God. In addition to understanding the Scriptures, he must also understand the why he felt that he must seek God for his answers.

In addition, Augustine is quite disturbed with his previous susceptibility for worldly pleasures. He conceptualizes that, at times, we fall too in love with God’s creation which are only a mere fraction of God’s beauty and we forget to

It was not until Book VIII that he converted. Augustine heard a voice saying “Pick up and read, pick up and read.” (sec. 29). The first thing he read was “Go, sell all you have...come, follow me.” (sec. 29)

describes Augustine’s thoughts and opinions of how to live responsibly. Augustine believes that God is the reason for everything good that happens to one’s life, which you are to praise him for. Augustine goes through some tough situations, which he uses his life as a standard way of living or an example of what others go through in their lifetime. He plainly states on several occasions that in everything you do needs to be for the glory of God. This essay will outline the main themes referred in the passage of Book X, which are find God later in one’s life, seeking pleasure in worldly things, and understanding where the beauty of the world comes from. Also, the essay will analyze his worldview that you shouldn’t find pleasure in worldly possessions and to praise God, and how it helps others live or have a responsible life.

No saint in the history of the Church has had an impact on spirituality in the same way as Augustine. His personality gives him a relatability that allows all Christians to come to a greater understanding of the faith. He makes heaven seems so much more reachable. His devout mother, sinful youth, and dramatic conversion all come together to produce writing that differs greatly from those of the past saints. The great love of God is a major topic of his writing, especially the joys that come as a result of responding to that love. Augustine’s past sinfulness gave him a measurement by which to judge the happiness received from loving God, and so he came to the conclusion that in all cases loving God is far more wonderful than anything one can experience otherwise.

Augustine of Hippo was a man who had a great hunger for knowledge and a passion is for sharing what he learned. It began with his studies in rhetoric and philosophy as a boy and ended with a passion for scripture and a desire for others to benefit from his experiences and knowledge. His early quests for information and answers left him hollow and longing for more. He states in the first paragraph of his Confessions “…Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in thee.” Augustine felt that God used his sinful past as a call to humility while helping him understand the depth of human corruptibility so he could fully appreciate the amazing power of grace. By putting his old self aside, he

It is obvious from The Confession that Augustine was a man who struggled endlessly to extricate himself from the bondage of sin, but the more he tried, the more he failed and sinks deeper into its abyss. And with every failure, comes a sense of disappointment and despondency, until he had a strange experience. In AD 386, while sitting in his garden, Augustine heard a voice from some children playing not far away urging “him” to pick the book—the Bible, and read. What he read from Apostle Paul’s letter to the Roman Christian in Chapter 13 transformed, not only his understanding of the hopelessness and despair man encounters in trying to solve the problem of sin on his own, but he saw the provision that God has made to remedy the consequences of sin and the grace he has graciously provided to live a life that is acceptable to God. That moment was the turning point in Augustine’s life and how he developed his sotoriological

St. Augustine was a theologian and philosopher born in Africa to St. Monica. Although he is now known as a an incredibly influential Christian writer and thinker, his early years were defined by rebellion and discord that did not, in the least, reflect Christianity or the values that he is now known for supporting. His early years were freckled with mindless disobedience, wretched behavior, and characterized godlessness that makes his conversion to the faith incredibly remarkable and one that is worth defining in Saint Augustine 's Confessions. His incredible turnaround from a faithless man to a devout supporter of Christianity is significant and is freckled with many major milestones that truly demonstrate his spiritual and internal growth into one of the biggest spiritual icons of the fifth century. These major milestones include his realization that his boyhood was defined by pointless rebellious behavior, even though he grew up in a Christian home, his new found appreciation for philosophy as well as God and his incredible mercy during his years as a student at Carthage,

The book expresses three main concerns. One is Augustine’s frank and detailed acknowledgment of his personal sinfulness and the power he came to recognize as God’s provident grace—protective, creative, salvific—in every moment of his life. He also wrote in order to confess his own Christian faith and clearly repudiate any supposed lingering connections on his part with Manichaeism. Finally, The Confessions are a heartfelt paean of praise and thanksgiving in honor of God’s glory.

At this point in his life, Augustine is recognized for doing many things for the Church as a priest, author, and defender of faith. As an author he wrote Confessions, his spiritual autobiography, and City of God, his great work describing the Christian philosophy throughout history. In this magnificent work,

In 383 Augustine left Carthage for Rome where he found refuge with Bishop Ambrose of Milan. A year later he became a teacher of rhetoric. Having visited Bishop Ambrose, the fascination of that saint's kindness induced him to become a regular attendant at his preaching’s. Augustine presently was attracted again to Christianity. At last one day, according to his own account, he seemed to