I have to give credit to a man who can take a look at his life and see where he went wrong, admit to his failures, and find answers to his life’s questions. That being said, I cannot say I respect Augustine any more than I did before reading his confessions.li
Augustine’s look on life and what he considers to be “sin” is exactly why Christianity has rarely appealed to me. Though Augustine has a very drastic view of the religion, it is very similar to my perception of sin and punishment. He goes as far as to say that literary fiction is going away from God, especially tragedy. Augustine defends himself by saying that tragedy makes its audience focus on false drama instead of letting them look inwardly at their own tragedy of being detached from God. It’s not that I don’t understand penitence or the idea of indulging in earthly pleasures being a sin, but I love literature. Metaphor, character development, and alliteration are some of my favorite words. I can’t conceive the thought that theatre could lead my soul astray. I have had more intense, emotional experiences on Broadway than in any church pew. Though, like Augustine, perhaps when I look back on life I will regret seeing that production of Hairspray.
The part of Confessions that resonated with me the deepest was when Augustine’s friend dies and he starts to question the importance of life and the value of things that, unlike the all encompassing God, are finite and temporary. Depressed and torn by the death he starts to move closer to God, but while reading his transformation it seemed disheartening. While it comes as a sort of epiphany, I can’t help but think that it’s for the wrong reasons. The justification is that God must be the only concern and that temporary things like friends and life are not ...