"The Books that Changed My Way of Feeling"

What’s in the image?

This image portrays St. Augustine writingon a scroll and surrounded by books. The artist’s inclusion of "A.D. 397" at the bottom of the scroll allows the viewer to infer that Augustine is writing Confessions. The books of Plato and Cicero lie at his feet and a book by Ambrose sits on the shelf, for these three sources greatly influenced Augustine’s life. The burning heart with two arrows through it above Augustine’s head is an image commonly used to symbolize his ardent love of God.

What's in Confessions?

In other pages of this website, we discuss the importance of Cicero’s Hortensius, Bishop Ambrose, and the image of burning heart. As this window indicates, Augustine studied “the books of the Platonists” (7.9.13). The Platonic philosophical premise encouraged Augustine to doubt his earlier beliefs and to reason systematically through questions. The major dilemma that prevented Augustine from embracing a life of faith was the problem of evil. He had difficulty understanding why a good God would allow evil to exist in the world. Through his analysis of the subject of evil after reading the books of the Platonists, Augustine resolves this quandary. He determines that evil “cannot be a substance” (7.12.18). He concludes that there is a scale of goodness; while God has “made all good things,” he has “not made all things equal” (7.12.18). The new understanding of evil as loving things that are less good over things that are more good is consistent with the view that God does not create wickedness. This realization allows Augustine to continue on his journey to becoming a devout Christian.

What's in it for us?

College students, and virtually all others seeking to learn and change, can imitate Augustine, who reached his understanding about a topic that first confused him by learning from others. He adopted the method of thinking from the Platonists to form his own conclusion about issues such as evil. One must learn to appreciate new or different ideas because individuals with diverse experiences often offer a valuable perspective on questions or problems.