| Original Message |
Jesse Watson (no login)
Posted Mar 15, 2005 9:02 PM
sorry they are late
STUDY QUESTIONS for Confessions
Bk. 6
1. chs. 1-2 what influence did Ambrose have on Monica? What two reasons did Ambrose have for forbidding the practice of bringing gifts to the shrines of the saints? Was Monica guilty of either of these problems?
Monica loved Ambrose as an angel of God. Ambrose forbid the practice of bringing gifts to the shrines of the saints because many just did it for personnel gratification. Monica did not suffer from these problems.
2. ch. 5 How did A. overcome his demand that everything be proved?
He realized that Christianity was a faith, so it required faith in what could not be proved.
3. ch. 15 What was A.'s relationship to his mistress and what happened to them?
Augustine loved his mistress and she him. She left him and returned to her hometown when she heard he was to marry another. She vowed never to be with another man.
4. ch. 16 What kept A from following Epicureanism?
Augaustine chose not follow this teaching because they did not belive the soul was immortal.
Bk. 7
5. ch. 20 What did A. learn from the Platonists?
Augustine learned to seek truth as an incorporeal thing, not through man.
6. ch. 20 Why is he glad he read the Platonists before studying the Scriptures?
Because the works of the Platonists helped to prepare him to seek for the “real” truth.
7. ch. 20-21 What do the Scriptures contain that the Platonists do not?
The Platonists do not supply men with a path to salvation. The bible does.
Bk. 8
8. chs. 5 and 7 How did the stories of the conversions of Victorinus and Antony affect A.?
Augustine was so inspired by the conversions of these to men, that he wanted what they had, and to imitate their examples.
10. ch. 12 How was A. finally pushed over the edge and converted? What was the effect on his mother when she heard?
Augustine was in the depths of despair when hear heard a little Child say, “take up and read.” So A. read the scriptures and was converted. Monica was overcome with joy.
Bk. 9
11. ch. 2 What did A. do with his career?
He retired from his practices to live in peace, and serve God.
12. ch. 9 What influence did Monica have on her husband and his mother?
She helped them both to become Christians through her example.
13. ch. 11 What was Monica's last request of A.?
That he remember her “at the alter of the lord.”
14. ch. 13 How was that request granted?
Augustine remembers her and all she did for him and his family. And she is given recognition in other ways.
Summary
This week we finished up the readings on Confessions. I really enjoyed this reading. I found Augustine’s frank confessions (no pun intended) to be refreshing. He really seemed to have a deep understanding of the truth. I loved his point that you cannot prove a faith that is why it is faith. And I am in support of Mr. C’s hypothesis about Augustine and his mistress. I can’t wait to read The City of God.
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