Images of Conversion in St. Augustine's Confessions [Hardcover]

Robert J. O'Connell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0823215989 | ISBN-13: 978-0823215980 | Edition: 1

In his preceding work, Soundings in Augustine's Imagination, Father O'Connell outlined the three basic images Augustine employs to frame his view of the human condition. In the present study, he applies the same techniques of image-analysis to the three major conversionsrecounted in the Confessions. Those conversions were occasioned, first, by Augustine's youthful reading of Cicero's Hortensius, then by his reading of what he calls the books of the Platonists,and finally, most decisively, by his fateful reading in that Milanese garden of the explosive capitulum, or chapterlet,from St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. Dissection of Augustine's imagery discloses a chain of striking connections between these conversions. Each of them, for instance, features a return to a woman - now a bridal, now a maternal figure, and finally, a mysterious stand-in for Divine Wisdom, both bridal and maternal. Unsurprisingly, conversion-imagery also provokes a fresh estimate of the sexual component in Augustine's religious biography; but the sexual aspect is balanced by Augustine's insistent stress on the vanityof his worldly ambitions. Perhaps most arresting of all is Father O'Connell's analysis showing that the text that Augustine read from Romans consisted of not only two, but four verses: hence the dramatic procession of images which make up the structure of the Confessions, Book VII; hence, too, the presence, subtle but real, of those same image-complexes in the Dialogues Augustine composed soon after his conversion in A.D. 386.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Father O'Connell focuses on three decisive "conversions" from the "Confessions": the youthful reading of Cicero's "Hortensius"; the conversion later sparked by the "platonist books"; and the final capitulation in the Milanese garden. Images Of Conversion In St. Augustine's Confessions concludes with a comparison between the conversion imagery of the "Confessions" and that of the "Dialogues of Cassiciascum shedding new light on the seemngly chronic "two Augustines" question. Father O'Connell has unearthed a mine of challenging insights into Augustine's though and life: on the sexuality pervading each of his conversions; on the crucial importance of "worldly vanity" in his pre-conversion life; on his need to reach some rational "understanding" before he could "believe" in the Christianity of St. Ambrose; and on why the precise concert of elements from Paul's letter to the Romans had so shattering an impact on his final surrender to the bridal-maternal God he pictured as pursuing him, tenderly and relentlessly, all of his days. Images Of Conversion In St. Augustine's Confessions is an essential contribution to Augustinian studies, as is Father O'Connell's previous work Soundings In St. Augustine's Imagination. -- Midwest Book Review

Product Details

• Hardcover: 327 pages
• Publisher: Fordham University Press; 1 edition (January 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823215989
• ISBN-13: 978-0823215980
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,262,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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