CASE STUDY

Introduction

Augustine (c. 354–430 C.E.) was a lot like Apuleius. He also grew up in North Africa and was of mixed descent—his mother was an indigenous North African (Berber). Like Apuleius, he moved to a regional center and received an education meant to train him as an orator. But that’s where things changed. Augustine, following the lead of his devoutly Christian mother, converted to Christianity after a pagan childhood and teenage years spent as a kind-of-like-Christian but really-not-Christian-at-all Manichaean. After converting, he gained increasingly prominent positions, leading toward his long career as bishop of Hippo (a city in North Africa, no relation to the adorable animal). He wrote prolifically, clarifying Christian doctrine at a time when there was still a lot of disagreement about what should be the “standard” Christian theology.

Augustine’s spiritual biography is the subject of one of his most famous works, the Confessions. Like the section of Apuleius you just read, it chronicles a religious conversion. But it is startlingly earnest, no doubt about it. It is both an autobiography of Augustine’s youth and a quest to try to get to know God. As such, it mixes together biography with robust reference and quotation of the Bible. It is at once a philosophical work about the nature of God and a narration of his early life.

The reading is from three sections. First (3.1-14), Augustine talks about his pagan education. It’s a key issue, as Christian leaders were debating just what role the Greek and Roman “classics” (Vergil, Homer, Cicero) should play in a Christian education. Augustine’s reflection on the benefits and pitfalls of his love of ancient literature is telling about how Late Antiquity positioned itself against the Roman past. Next, in Book 8, there are two sections excerpted. First (8.14-15) Augustine narrates how he learned about the monk Antony via the Life of Antony.

That’s a bit of an easter egg, as our next class will focus on the paradigmatic importance of monks and seclusion, of which Antony was the forerunner in the Christian tradition. Next, and most importantly (8.28-30), there is the conversion moment proper. It’s powerful stuff.

Some Orienting Questions:

  • What moments from the conversion passage align with your reading of Apuleius? What are the “ingredients” of a conversion narrative?
  • Augustine is particularly impressed by a dialogue of Cicero. What does he say about it? How does Cicero’s work differ from the Aeneid, another ancient text that Augustine talks about?
  • Why is Augustine so impressed by Antony?