Language, Memories, and the Origins of Identity (Confessions, Bk 1)

A couple years back, there was a lady in the church I worked at who was hosting my wife and I one afternoon. As we entered, she was just saying good-bye to a mother and her daughter from the church who had also been having tea (apparently it was a fully booked afternoon). As we entered and they were exiting they had been having a conversation well-worn as a conversation starter (or tea time ender), “if you were stranded on an island and could only bring one book, which one would you bring?” So as we walked in, and as their conversation was just coming to a close, naturally my wife and I were invited to contribute. I find these moments stressful. In one book you’re meant to communicate how thoughtful, how fun, how relatable, or accessible, or perhaps how well read and sophisticated you are, all while excluding the countless other books you’d also like to bring into the one, focused “classic” that summarizes who you are as a person.

What cruel constraints to put on an introduction, yet… what other way are we supposed to get to know each other?

My wife, far more well read and fun than I, mentioned her love of Harry Potter. I however choose another route entirely:

“The Confessions,” I said, “by Saint Augustine.”

“Really?” the woman from our church responded, “In all my years of asking that question, I don’t know I’ve ever heard that answer before…”

To be fair, I doubt many would follow my lead, and on their sinking ship, with their library of books available, lunge for The Confessions as your sole reading companion. But that’s probably because you’ve never spent much time in The Confessions before.

My hope is that after this introduction, and these following episodes, you might at least be tempted to consider The Confessions as necessary reading. Perhaps it might even become a guide to you in the formation of your identity, as we consider the profound insights Augustine compiled in the structure and rhetoric of his work. Maybe you might even find in The Confessions the very guide to modern identity, with all of its crises and complexities that each of us wrestle with.

This first episode, we’ll be offering an introduction to the whole. Who is St. Augustine, and why did he write this book? What significance has it had, and why are we still reading it? Even more, we’re going to get into the work, by reading “Book 1” (which in ancient works, is something akin to “chapter 1”).

With each section of The Confessions we’ll explore what theological vision Augustine was offering to his time and ours in response to the crisis of identity he felt (and that we continue to feel today). So whether you choose it or not, settle in on this desert island with a masterpiece that with a little help, could become your new go-to “classic”.