Literature

St. Augustines Confessions provides an account of his spiritual and philosophical development. Divided into different sections, the text provides an in-depth account of Augustines internal struggles not only in defining the terms of his faith and his religion but also in determining the relationship of both the soul and the body in determining an individuals relationship with the divine. His importance in medieval literature can be traced to his inclusion of both classical and medieval topics in his text (Hyman  Walsh, 1983 Cooksey, 2006). In the case of Augustines Confessions, the text is notable for the following reasons (1) its discussion of both the will and passions effect in human action and (2) its discussion of both the will and passions relationship to the problem of evil (Augustine, 2009).

The text provides a more expanded and versatile understanding of the problem of evil as opposed to classical texts such as Platos Republic as it assumes that evil is not merely caused by ignorance as Plato argued or darkness residing within ones soul as the Manicheans argued but  is due to an individuals inability to commune with God (Augustine, 2009). He argues that the cause of evil is the wills separation from God (Augustine, 2009). Such is the case since even if one wills to do good, if one refuses to commune with God then it is impossible for an individual to follow his good desires and intentions (Augustine, 2009).

Augustines Confessions thereby manifest the conditions in his time as the inner spiritual conflict that he narrates in his text also mirrors the social and cultural conflict that occurred during the period. It is important to note that Augustine existed during the initial growth of power of the Christian religion. It was thereby a period wherein individuals were forced to shift from a Roman to a Christian worldview (ODonnell, 2001). His internal struggle in his Confessions provides an example of both the internal and external struggles experienced by individuals whose social and cultural conditions shifted from one which glorified the human being to one, which glorified the divine.