Now I've got to do my homework: A rough draft on Saint Augustine for my Comparative Religion class.
I've kept kind of a log on this, so I'll give you that first.
November 5, 2011
Bought and downloaded “Saint Augustine” as written about by Robert Collin and narrated (read) by Charleton Heston (Moses!) for a Great Philosophers series. I started listening while strolling on the treadmill in the morning, and it found it very engaging. I was especially interested in his connection with the Manicheans. I took Saint Augustine to bed with me the way people do with a good book but on my iPod, whispering into my ear as I fell asleep. I got up and looked up the word Manichean.
November 7, 2011
Bought and downloaded Audible.com's Confessions by Saint Augustine himself, though the translation isn’t identified. His passages about his mother are hilarious! His adoring her and avoiding her at the same time (so he can carry on in un-Catholic ways) really presents an interesting conflict.
Went to Green Apple and picked up “Confessions.” They’d put three on hold for me, and I didn’t know which one to choose, so I chose the one with the lowest price. It says “The Modern English Version” and it has a foreword by Warren W. Wiersbe. I looked up Wiersbe, expecting him to be a Catholic priest, and found out that he was trained as a Baptist pastor and has written 50 books in the “Be” series: Be Real, Be Rich, Be Obedient, Be Mature, Be Joyful
Tuesday, Nov. 8—Signed in at St. Cecilia’s Collin Hall to vote. Asked the precinct worker (name-labeled Richard) if he were Catholic, and when he said yes, I asked him if he could identify Saint Augustine for me. I wanted to see how someone growing up with him would sum him up. He said, "He was the doctor of the Catholic Church, and during the Hippie Movement he was often quoted because he said, "Love, and do what you will," which was what the Hippies wanted to do." He then added, "I think he felt that if people really loved one another, they wouldn't want to hurt them."
Wed., Nov. 9 Read Warren W. Wiersbe's forward to Confessions and read over a descriptions of the books his confessions are divided into. I don’t like the way the book is organized because the chapters don’t correspond to the books. Also, it’s hidden that this is an abridged version. Abridged should be printed on the front cover. I wanted a modern translation, but I wanted the whole thing. We had a quiz on Islam, and even though I’d read the chapter, my focus on Augustine caused me to be unsure about shirk and a word that begins with K.
Friday, November 11 Dennis (Hendrickson) mentioned City of God today and said he'd read and loved the whole thing, but I'm not going to be able to read or listen to that, too.
Saturday, November 12: Since Jim, before being in Grease in Chicago and NYC--and even before being in the Peace Corps--had been in Brothers and was still a practicing Catholic or at least a believing one, I sent him the following message:
I’m writing a paper on St. Augustine. The rough draft along with an outline is due on Monday. We’re supposed to have at least two sources outside of our book, e-cheat, and Wikipedia. I’ve actually been listening to St. Augustine’s Confessions (on Audible—no direct line) and about him, also on Audible, as read by Charleton Heston. (Moses on Saint Augustine! Imagine that.) But I’d like to quote YOU. What would you like to say?
Yours in Christ (as you used to write),
Tina
To me, the most interesting idea regarding St. Augustine is the fact that he lived a life of such debauchery and wantonness for most of his youth, and then renounced all that for a life of contemplation and thought. Josef Conrad, on the other hand, led a rough and troubled youth as a merchant seaman in the Pacific, saw all kinds of evil and danger, and then mined that for forty years of writing books about troubled youth and dangerous men and women. I think I would choose the latter method and wonder if St. Augustine missed the excitement of his glory days. His mother, St. Helena, was also a decided problem for a reprobate; she was constantly weeping and rending her garments over his behavior, like some angry Irish mother wailing about the fact that her son didn't become a priest. Maybe it is still too soon to decide whether St. Augustine made the right choice...
Jim
I've also written to Line Fapiano Folaumoaloa, since he's the only Catholic priest I know. Wait! I know Ulysses d'Aquila.
St. Augustine -- well he's so much a part of the everyday thinking of the Church, in every theological curriculum that, almost like St. Paul, you can't imagine Christianity without him. The Confessions is a wonderful book, probably the first real autobiography ever written, the first book in which a person actually analyzed his psychological workings as well as the trajectory of his thinking on God. And St. Monica, his mom, is at the center of the story, praying for her boy like mothers do. It's been too long since I've read City of God to say anything intelligent about it; I do have other works all marked up and underlined from classes at the seminary. Anyway, I think almost any literate reader would want to turn at least to the Confessions; there must be something about a book remaining in print -- in many editions, even paperback, for what?, fifteen centuries. That's got to be some recommendation! Ulysses
Thesis Statement: An overview of Saint Augustine needs to describe his very human youthful days and conflicts, his flirtation with the heretical sect Manicheans, his relationship with his mother Monnica, his return to the Roman Catholic Church, and his influence on the Roman Catholic Church.
Youth
He was born 354 CE in Hippo, now Algeria (though one of my references says "What is now Tunisia").
His father wasn't religious, but his mother made up for that.
He had a love affair with love and his common-law wife, with whom he had a son.
Manicheans
A combination of Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism, Manichean gets its name from the Persian prophet Mani, who lived between. 216–276 CE. The Manichean religion taught that salvation came from gaining knowledge.
It appealed to Augustine because of it's appeal to reason and its belief that we are not sinners; there is something within us--not ourselves-- that sins.
Relationship with mother
His mother was deeply religious and determined that Saint Augustine would be too. He respected her but spent his youth trying to escape her.
Outline to be returned to early tomorrow morning--
Return to the Roman Catholic Church
He returned to the Roman Catholic Church (which he called Catolica) after a revelation came to him in a garden in Milan, where he was reading
Influence on the Roman Catholic Church
How My Paper Will Be Better
I will use fewer exclamation points and cite more clearly. I am keeping a little log on how I’m getting my information, too. It’s not very academic, but it’s interesting.
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