12 h 28 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 306 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 306 pagesAbout this book
What if the hardest person to understand is the one you have been all your life?
In The Confessions of St. Augustine, Saint Augustine of Hippo looks back at childhood, schooling, ambition and desire. He tells his life directly to God, leaving readers to listen in. From the temptations of Carthage to his encounters with Ambrose in Milan, he examines what draws him toward truth and what holds him back.
For Augustine, confession means admitting faults, praising God and declaring belief. His account traces his turn to Christianity, then moves beyond life story into questions about memory, time and Genesis. He asks how a divided will can change, what evil is, and why, in his understanding, the heart seeks rest in God.
What you’ll discover
- A restless inner life Follow Augustine as pleasure, pride and ambition pull against his growing hunger for truth.
- Beliefs put to question Watch him test Manichean teachings against astronomy and natural philosophy, rather than silence his doubts.
- A different way to read Meet Ambrose, whose speaking draws Augustine in and opens another approach to scripture.
- The struggle to choose Explore the painful gap between wanting to change and finding the will to act.
- Memory, time and beginnings Enter the final reflections, where personal confession gives way to philosophy and the opening of Genesis.
Who will love it
For readers who love honest self-examination, the history of ideas and the roots of Western Christianity. It also rewards anyone curious about the ancient world and the inner life.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The restless heart is the book's question
- Childhood shows the roots of sin
- Carthage stirs desire and a hunger for truth
- Doubts break the hold of the Manichees
- Ambrose teaches him to read differently
- Evil is not a thing but a lack
- A divided will and a voice in the garden
- Monica, baptism and a vision at Ostia
- Memory, time and scripture complete the search
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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The Confessions of St. Augustine
by Saint Augustine of Hippo · 400
Augustine addresses God as he examines the pleasure, pride and hunger for truth that shape his restless heart.
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In short
What is the heart really looking for? He is bishop of Hippo in North Africa, writing around the year 400, in his forties.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The restless heart is the book's question
Augustine opens by praising God and sets out the idea that shapes all thirteen books. Human beings were made for God, he says, and their hearts stay restless until they find rest there. Everything that follows tests that claim against his own life.
The book is a prayer, and that choice matters. He speaks to God, who already knows every detail, so there is no point in hiding or polishing. The reader overhears a man who has decided to be truthful.
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What is The Confessions by St. Augustine about?
It is Augustine's account of his life addressed to God. It covers his childhood, his years as a teacher, his search for truth and his turn to Christianity. The last books move to questions about memory, time and Genesis.
Is The Confessions a true story and when was it written?
Yes, it is a memoir of Augustine's real life, written around the year 400. Scholars note that he shaped events to show his faith, but the main facts of his life are well attested.
Why is it called Confessions?
Augustine uses confession in three ways. It means admitting his sins, praising God and stating his faith. The whole book is written as a prayer, so all three meanings run together.
The author
Saint Augustine of Hippo
354–430 · Early Christian theologian and philosopher
Augustine of Hippo was born in 354 in Thagaste, North Africa. He lived in Carthage, Rome, Milan, and Hippo, where he became bishop in 395. He wrote Confessions around 397–400 and The City of God between 413 and 426. He died in Hippo in 430.
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