St Augustine's Confessions, Books 6 & 7 - Short

Why should we reflect the young St Augustine’s budding career in Rome, Milan and Carthage as he describes in Books 6 and 7 of his spiritual autobiography, the Confessions?

How did his study of philosophy, and listening to the sermons of St Ambrose, convince the young Augustine of the truth of the Christian faith, causing him to reject the heretical doctrines of the Manichean heresy?

How did the teachings of St Ambrose answer the questions young Augustine had about the truth of the Christian Scriptures?

Why did the young Augustine permit his mother Monica to arrange a politically motivated marriage, compelling him to send away his concubine of fifteen years, mother of their son Adeodatus, meaning gift from God?

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This blog includes footnotes and Amazon book links.

In our main video, we also reflect on:
• How the sermons of St Ambrose answered many questions about biblical interpretation and spiritual allegory, leading to his work, On Christian Doctrine, or On Christian Teaching.
• How St Augustine corresponded with St Jerome, author of the Vulgate.
• How St Augustine answers the question: What is happiness?
• How gladiatorial games and violent movies can be addictive.
• How philosophy, especially NeoPlatonism, helped lead him to Christianity.

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As Socrates teaches us, the examined life is a life worth living. We would be fools if we did not desire to learn from our multitude of friends whose words live in the works of the classics that have survived from past centuries and millennia. The Stoic and moral philosophers of Greece and Rome saw philosophy as an evangelical enterprise, seeking to spread the joy of living a godly life for its own sake.

This is original content based on research by Bruce Strom and his blogs. Images in the Public Domain, many from Wikipedia, some from the National Archives, are selected to provide illustration. When images of the actual topic or event are not available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.

All events are portrayed in historical context and for educational purposes. No images or content are primarily intended to shock and disgust. The ancient world was a warrior culture out of necessity, to learn from the distant past we should not only judge them from our modern perspective but also from their own ancient perspective on their own terms.