St. Augustine in these confessions talks about the sins he committed over his life. In book 2 he describes how his heart was, and how he was seeking fleeting pleasures. He describes how he was when he was 16, and consumed by lust. As he was venturing into the world, going through puberty and exploring his body, his Dad just encouraged him to do whatever “ he was as pleased as if I had already made him a grandfather” pg 34. Although Augustine cites this, he does not use it as an excuse as to his sins. He takes full responsibility for his actions, when we could have just blamed his Dad. I find this remarkable, and is a true glimpse of his character. The fact that he knows where he is at and takes full responsibility is astounding. That isn’t something you find often. I love the fact that Augustine is humbly confessing here, giving us a seemingly accurate representation of what’s going on in his life, especially around puberty.
But then he takes an interesting turn. Showing remarkable hindsight and discernment, Augustine goes on to explain that he didn’t sin for a purpose, except that it was sin. He committed crimes for the sake of committing crimes. I believe this is the most accurate description of the main reason we sin. Why do we speed? For the adrenaline rush. Now, I don’t mean when you’re running late and you go 15-20 over to get to your destination, but that 5-7 mph over we always go. We do it simply because we shouldn’t be allowed to but are. Pg 36 of his confessions, when Augustine is talking about stealing fruit “we did so only for the pleasure we had in tasting forbidden fruit”. Augustine shows great wisdom is saying this. He did those things simply because he wasn’t allowed to, for no other reason.
Augustine then goes on to talk about how he is searching for fulfillment, and how it can only be found in Jesus. He shows great insight into sin, and our drives towards sin. I love the way he talks about it. Sin for us is just looking to fill a hole in our hearts. We don’t always sin for a purpose, just for the pleasure to see if it becomes filled. It becomes this inner battle.
Augustine also talks about what happens in his heart after he starts following Jesus. It reminds me of Paul, doing what you do not want to do. This concept is great. I find in my life, oftentimes I look back at decisions i’ve made in confusion, unsure of why I did. Augustine touches on this and i’m glad he does. He presents a clear understanding of our hearts, and shows remarkable self-reflection in his own to do this.
So, I liked Saint Augustine. He presents wisdom, understanding, and insight into what he is saying. He humbly admits his mistakes, and discusses what went on in him.
Hunter, nice post. You had good ideas throughout, but I would have liked to see them be more developed. I thought you stayed at the surface of much of your content when you could have gone much deeper. Depth: 17/20. Even though you made some good points, you neglected to make connections to outside texts to advance your argument. Scholarship: 17/20. You also had several grammatical errors throughout your paper, but nothing that proofreading a few more times wouldn't fix. Polish: 8/10.
ReplyDeleteOverall, good post that just needs to be cleaned up a bit: 42/50
Hunter,
ReplyDeleteGood work. Like Angela, I felt that your content could have been more developed, albeit you addressed some fairly significant topics. Depth: 18/20. I recognize that you made a connection to Paul's writings on sin and the law in Romans. I see that as evidence that you read the text responsively and thought critically about its meaning. Scholarship: 20/20. Unfortunately, the plethora of grammatical errors and awkward clauses was distracting enough to say that the readability of the text had been affected. Polish: 5/10. One or two revisions should do the trick! Overall, good work!
Total: 43/50
Michael Christensen