Paul and reads a passage that convinces him to give up his worldly career and devote himself to God.īook 9: Augustine resigns his position and withdraws from the world.

Hearing a voice say, 'Take and read,' he picks up the Epistles of St.

He meets the Manichee bishop Faustus and is disappointed by Faustus' lack of knowledge Augustine leaves Carthage for Rome and then Milan, where he hears the sermons of Bishop Ambrose, causing him to reject the teachings of the Manichees.īook 6: Augustine learns more about Christianity but still cannot fully accept it Monica arranges his marriage to a Christian girl, forcing him to send his concubine away.īook 7: Augustine reads books of Platonist philosophy, which deepen his understanding of Christianity and the nature of evil he finally accepts the truth of Christianity and repudiates Manichaeism.īook 8: Augustine wavers in making a complete commitment to Christianity after hearing various stories of conversion, he reaches a moment of spiritual crisis. He goes to Carthage to study he reads Cicero's Hortensius, which inspires him with a love of wisdom he encounters Manichaeism and becomes a Manichee.īook 4: Augustine becomes a teacher of rhetoric he takes a concubine his grief at the death of a close friend drives him away from Thagaste.īook 5: Augustine teaches at Carthage. He continues his studies he becomes sexually mature he steals pears with a group of friends.īook 3: Augustine's early adulthood. He falls ill and is almost baptized he is sent to school to study Latin literature.īook 2: Augustine's adolescence. Books 11 through 13 are detailed interpretations of the first chapter of Genesis, which describes the creation of the world.īook 1: Augustine's infancy and early childhood. Books 1 through 9 contain Augustine's life story. The Confessions is divided into 13 books.

The Confessions is a spiritual autobiography, covering the first 35 years of Augustine's life, with particular emphasis on Augustine's spiritual development and how he accepted Christianity.

St augustine of hippo autobiography