The Effect of Literature on Saint Augustine

Chris Smith

Great Books 192.007

Nicole Fluhr

The Effect of Literature on Saint Augustine

I believe that literature saves Saint Augustine from a life of sin and helps him in his slow conversion to Christianity. Because Saint Augustine attributes the result of all things to God, I will say that God leads Augustine to a purer way of life by presenting him with both incorrect texts and ones that speak truth.

Augustine begins his life, unfortunately, with the incorrect texts and must frustratingly refute them and read what is true. Lacking any solid faith, he reads the theories of the Manichees and comes to several false conclusions. He believes in the struggle between darkness and lightness, and that evil is substance. He also scorns the idea of God being infinite. Augustine goes on to read books of astrology that he has a short-lived taste for. He believes in what astrologers say because they do not offer sacrifices or say prayers to aid their divination. He sees them as being able to recognize truth to come without the need for outside support. However, he soon comes to disregard any skills they may have. He realizes that their abilities are based on pure chance.

While Augustine is reading these erroneous works, he is also reading the works of Cicero. From there he develops an interest in philosophy. By reading philosophy, I believe he learns to ask and answer the critical questions that will lead him away from false beliefs. Augustine’s thorough examination of issues such as the nature of evil and the size and structure of God hint at his newly acquired reasoning skills. These naturally lead him to recognize the validity of the word of God.

Augustine had read verses of the Bible previously in his life. He dismisses the Bible though, and sees it as rather unimportant due to its lack of style and elegance. Years later, Augustine rereads the Bible and because of his confusion over whether his current beliefs are accurate, he sees the verses in an entirely new light. He finds convincing answers to the questions that have been nagging him. And where a gigantic question of his seems unanswerable, he finds comfort in the church’s official stance of not knowing the answer. With the aid of his mother, friends, Bishop Ambrose, and the kind guidance of God, St. Augustine finds the Bible and the Catholic Church as the source of the one and only true word—the word of God.

So while Augustine may rightfully so give God all the praise for his conversion from a life of sin to the wonderful world of Christianity, we should not loose sight of where God appeared to him. His education, superior intellect, friends, and mother did not bring Augustine the word of God; the scriptures and the incorrect books he read are what ultimately convinced him of Christianity’s legitimacy. Without these texts, I believe that Augustine would not have been able to differentiate between truth and hearsay. He would not have even been able to ask the questions that proved the beliefs of the Manichees and astrologers incorrect were it not for the books of philosophy he read. Literature was the means which God slowly unveiled his truth to Augustine, and this fact makes literature the single most important reason for Augustine’s conversion.