Life’s Paradox

In my History of Christian Thought I class, our professor — one Dr. Michael Lodahl — asks us every week to write some reflections on our reading. Here are some of my amateur thoughts on the final book of Saint Augustine’s Confessions. Those who know I tend to value synchronic readings over diachronic readings will not be surprised.

A general comment about the final book (XIII) of the Confessions: I have read in some places that some scholars think that this final book is an “afterthought” or, at least, probably “added later,” as the usual historical-critical inclination is wont to say regarding making sense of texts that do not seem to have an obvious reason for existing in a certain place within its larger context. This last book is about the days of creation, so some have expressed a thought that goes along the lines, “Now that Augustine has confessed and turned to God, he added an exegetical chapter on Genesis at the end of his main biographical text.” With these leanings, I will have to disagree. I see no disjunct. On contrary, this last book seems to tie precisely into the way in which Augustine began the text: “our hearts find no peace until they rest in you” (p. 21). The movement of Book XIII is such that Augustine moves amongst the days of creation so that he really does end on the seventh and final day, which is the Sabbath, or day of rest. Augustine’s “confession” comes full circle, not only confessing what he has done in his life, but quite beautifully in the end, confessing exactly what God has done: created us out of an abundance of love and delight such that in God’s rest we will find our own rest; our own autobiographies are ultimately about God and God’s own story.

~ by Eric Lee on October 25, 2007.