Confessions

The thirteen books of the Confessions are undoubtedly among the most renowned works of Christian literature ever. At the same time, they are a work shrouded in much that is unclear. Why, shortly after his consecration as bishop of Hippo, did Augustine decide to make an account of his path to Christianity and, in particular, of the circumstances of his “conversion”, i.e., the resolution to take up an ascetic life which he had adopted more than ten years earlier in Milan? Why did he add to his autobiography the last three books dealing with time and the creation of the world?

Lenka Karfíková, Grace and the Will according to Augustine, trans. Markéta Janebová, Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 115 (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 89.