The Confessions, Books V-VII
Study Questions

BOOK V

1. Who is Faustus, and what is Augustine's estimate of him?

2. Why did Augustine depart Carthage for Rome? Relate this episode in his life to Vergil's Aeneid.

3. From chapter x what can you deduce about the Manichean doctrine of human nature?

4. What is important about the figurative interpretation of Scripture passages (V.xiv)?

BOOK VI

1. What is the point of the anecdote of the laughing beggar (VI.vi)?

2. What analogy can you make between Alypius' futile attempt to resist the temptation of the gladiatorial games (VI.vii-viii) and St. Augustine's life? What does this tell us about Augustine's view of temptation and the will?

3. Do you find chapter xv of Book VI troubling? If so, what exactly troubles you about it? What seems to trouble St. Augustine about it? Can you draw some parallels with Aeneas?

Source: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~rdwallin/syl/GreatBooks/202.W99/Augustine/Confessions.Questions.rtf