Augustine presents to his audience an analysis of his life that not only deals with the events of his life not only on a factual level, as many autobiographies are constructed today, but also on a philosophical and theological level. As if this was not already interesting enough, Augustine's mode of presentation is set as a prayer. In the first book alone, we are confronted by Augustine's inquisitive nature as he asks God what it means to be a Christian and how we are, as humans, to exist with and in relation to God. I am excited to not only study Augustine biographically, but also go through the questions he asks, being those I have my self only tried to comprehend. Perhaps being quite pretentious goal, I hope by reading Augustine's Confessions, to not only have a historical education, but also to further understand Christianity and its history.
These are excellent thoughts, Luke. You are right about Augustine's self-examination in the context of an investigation into the nature of God and how we, as humans, relate to him. His mode of inquiry places us immediately alongside him. We find, as you mention, that his questions are not unlike our own.
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