Thursday, October 27, 2011

Books read in 2011: No. 50 - The Confessions of Saint Augustine

by St. Augustine
translated by Edward Bouverie Pusey

Started: October 27
Finished: November 23

Notes: This is another digital freebie I picked up somewhere online a while back. My recent readings have gotten me in a somewhat speculative mood concerning philosophy and religion, so I now turn to St. Augustine for reading material.

Mini review: Not the most exciting reading, but interesting from a philosophical and historical viewpoint. The first half of this little book is exactly as the title describes, Augustine's confessions to various sins committed during the first 40 or so years of his life; I found this part sometimes whimsical. The next fourth of this book is mostly Augustine talking about the death of his mother; this, to me, was the most boring part of the book because the man kept going on and on, though I can understand how the death of a parent can be traumatizing. The final fourth of this book is a mixture of philosophy and religion, with a touch of what today we would call science; this section I found the most interesting, and it gave me a few new ways to look upon the notion of God.

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