Augustine's Conversion: A Guide to the Argument of Confessions I-IX

Richard C. Smith is a professor of Classics at the University of
Alberta.

Augustine’s Conversion is an excellent presentation of the first nine
“books” of Confessions, which cover the first 33 years of the Bishop
of Hippo’s life, and concluding with his conversion to Christianity
and the death of his mother. These books are more autobiographical (in
the modern sense) than the remaining ones (X–XIII), in which the saint
presents his inner life 10 years after his conversion, as well as his
knowledge of the spiritual interpretation of the Bible. However, Starnes
spends little time on the historical period of 354 to 387 or on
Augustine as a human being, focusing instead on Augustine’s argument
that each stage of his life led logically to the final result, his
conversion.

In Augustine’s thought, the ultimate influence on his life was God,
firmly defined as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This conception not only
structures all of Confessions, so that books I-IX are dedicated to the
Father, but also within each division, so that books I-VII cover the
years from infancy to maturity. These latter books also show how
Augustine came to an intellectually correct understanding of God in
terms of Neo-Platonic thought. Likewise, book VIII presents his relation
to God the Son, as he describes his conversion; book IX presents the
guidance of God the Spirit, leading to his baptism and concluding with
his mother’s death, after mother and son had a special vision of God
at Ostia.

Although Starnes does not try to fully explain the thought of such
groups as the Manichees, Stoics, Sceptics, and Neo-Platonists—whose
thought dominated the pagan philosophic world of Augustine’s day—his
notes give excellent references for further study. He does, however, add
interesting reminders, such as that, for the Romans, adolescence lasted
until age 30, and young adulthood lasted until 40 or even 45.

The book concludes with an appendix on the question of the historicity
of Confessions in light of modern scholarship. Starnes takes a moderate
position between the “modern Protestant” and “Catholic”
interpretations since he feels neither does justice to the true
Augustine.