Description

In this episode of Hot Takes on the Classics, Emily Maeda and Tim McIntosh explore one of the most influential works in Western thought—St. Augustine’s Confessions. Through Augustine’s prayerful reflections, they trace the restless search of a soul divided between desire and grace, and how divine love—caritas—gathers a disintegrated self into unity. Emily and Tim discuss Augustine’s literary innovation, his relationship with his mother Monica, his encounter with Ambrose, and the pivotal conversion in the garden that forever shaped the Christian imagination. Along the way, they uncover why Confessions remains possibly not only the first memoir but also the greatest story of a heart transformed by love.

Episode Outline

• Opening reading from Confessions, Book X: “Late have I loved you, beauty ever ancient, ever new…”
• Defining memoir vs. autobiography—why Confessions resists both labels
• The revolutionary nature of self-reflection in Augustine’s writing
• The influence of Confessions on Western thinkers and writers: Dante, Kierkegaard, and Wittgenstein
• Augustine’s relationship with his mother Monica as an image of caritas
• Monica’s perseverance and the bishop’s prophecy: “The son of so many tears will not perish.”
• Augustine’s flirtation with Manichaeism and the intellectual restlessness it revealed
• Encounter with Ambrose in Milan and the power of typological reading
• The conversion in the garden: “Tolle lege, tolle lege”—“Take and read”
• Reading Romans 13 and the surrender of the divided will
• Augustine’s vision of divine love gathering a fragmented soul into unity
• The final scene with Monica: shared contemplation of eternal wisdom
• Augustine’s later reflections on memory, time, and creation—feeling ideas rather than merely thinking them
• The enduring image of Confessions as a prayer, not merely a story

Key Topics & Takeaways

• The Birth of the Modern Self: Augustine’s Confessions created a new literary form—introspective, honest, and spiritually reflective—laying the groundwork for later memoirs and psychological writing.
• Love as Caritas: For Augustine, divine love (caritas) is self-giving, faithful, and redemptive. It unites a fragmented soul and orders all human loves under the love of God.
• The Role of Monica: Augustine’s mother models steadfast, intercessory love—a living embodiment of patient, redemptive grace that mirrors divine charity.
• From Disintegration to Unity: Augustine’s conversion is not merely moral but ontological—the healing of a divided self through the gathering power of divine love.
• The Nature of Conversion: Augustine’s moment in the garden reveals that faith is both intellectual assent and surrender of the will—love that transforms desire itself.
• Influence Across Centuries: From Kierkegaard to Tolstoy, Confessions shaped how the West understands interiority, repentance, and the restless search for meaning.

Questions & Discussion

• What makes The Confessions more than a memoir?
  Consider how Augustine’s prayerful address to God transforms the genre. In what ways is it less about recounting facts and more about revealing divine truth?
• How does Monica’s love exemplify caritas?
  Reflect on her perseverance and faith. How might Monica’s love serve as a model for parental or spiritual intercession today?
• Why is Augustine’s conversion scene set in a garden?
  Discuss the symbolism of the garden—from the theft of pears to the moment of surrender. What might Augustine be saying about the restoration of Eden?
• What does it mean that Augustine “felt ideas”?
  Explore how Augustine’s intellect and emotion intertwine. How does his way of “feeling ideas” invite readers into a deeper, more embodied understanding of truth?
• How does divine love unify the divided self?
  Consider Augustine’s confession: “You gathered me from the disintegration in which I had been lost.” How does love heal fragmentation in our modern experience of selfhood?
• What legacy did Confessions leave on Western thought?
  Identify how Augustine influenced later thinkers such as Dante, Kierkegaard, Wittgenstein, and Charles Taylor. How does his vision of selfhood still shape our modern world?

Suggested Reading

• Confessions by St. Augustine translated by Sarah Ruden
• City of Godby St. Augustine translated by Henry Bettenson
• A Confession by Leo Tolstoy translated by Alastair Hannay
• Philosophical Fragments and Fear and Trembling by Søren Kierkegaard
• Philosophical Investigationsby Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Sources of the Self by Charles Taylor
• Chronicles of Wasted Time by Malcolm Muggeridge
• Romans 13
• The Gospel of John