Stellenbosch Theological Journal 2025, Vol 11, No 1, 1–18
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17570/stj.2025.v11n1.2
Online ISSN 2413-9467 | Print ISSN 2413-9459
2025 © The Author(s)
The theological implications of confession as lamentation to God in Augustine’s Confessions
gtbaleng@gmail.com
Abstract
In Confessions (2.3.5), Augustine distinguished between two natures of confession. He admits the nature of his confession as a narrative to God and the whole human race, and more importantly, as a lamentation to God. He casts his confession in the form of a rhetorical question when he asks, God! But I am narrating this story in your presence to my kind, to the whole human race, whatever the tiny fraction of it which happens to come across these writings of mine.’ He continues to ask, ‘And why is this? Obviously so that I, and whoever reads this, may ponder the depths from which we must cry out to you.’ What is closer to your ears than a heart that makes its confession to you and a faithful life? Therefore, the purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to examine the nature of confession as cathartic grief, a cry out for divine reconciliation; and (2) to examine the hermeneutical praxis of Augustine’s introspective rhetoric in his Confessions. This study will adopt a historical-critical method to interpret both the nature and purpose of confession.
Keywords
Augustine, confession, creeds, lamentation, Nicaean Council
In studying Augustine’s Confessions, it is important to consider the theological implications of the Nicaean orthodoxy in understanding Augustine’s praxis, where he goes beyond several literary genres in writing his dialogues with God through his concept of interior homos. This conceptual framework of interior homos profoundly influenced how Augustine structured his epistemology and confessions to God. Throughout the pages of his Confessions, Augustine not only spoke about God with conviction, but his anguished heart can be felt throughout every page, written in tears as he crucified his very soul seeking God. Central to his conviction were the omniscient qualities of God and the authority of the Catholic Church granted by God himself.
When Augustine published his Confessions in 400 A.D., it was on these grounds of extraordinary monotheistic and Catholic authority. The authority of the Empire would prove instrumental in defending the Church against both the Pelagians and Donatists heresies later in his life. Throughout Augustine’s life, such heresies arose, dominated, and eventually got debunked by the authority of the Church. During the Councils of 416 A.D and 418 A.D., Augustine invoked the authority of the Church and State to finally excommunicate Pelagius and Celestius.
Through several Councils, the Church was able to reaffirm her authority and prove Augustine’s previous assertion in around 397 A.D., where he famously declared that he would not believe the Gospel unless the authority of the Catholic Church moved him (Against the Epistle of Manichaeus Called Fundamental 5.6). In medieval times, the authority of the Church was established through several Creeds written as a response to the various controversies of the time.
Emperor Constantine had, in A.D. 325 summoned a Council of Nicaea in response to the Arian controversy, which centred around the relationship between the Persons in the Holy Trinity. Bishops, priests, and deacons attended the Council alike, totalling around one thousand five hundred to two thousand delegates. The Nicaean Council significantly shaped Christian theology, particularly in response to Arianism. According to Ayres (2009), the Nicaean “canons concern many organisational issues far beyond the crisis over Arius.” (p.87)
Moreover, Arianism, according to Williams (2005), is often regarded as the archetypal Christian deviation, something aimed at the very heart of Christian confession (p.1). The Catholic understanding of the co-essentiality of the Son with the Father was established against such a heresy, and such a doctrine resonates throughout Augustine’s Confessions, influencing his understanding of God and humanity in relation to divine grace (Randolph et al., 1962).
As a result, Augustine, throughout his Confessions, demonstrates how a confession is both a personal acknowledgement and a communal act that strengthens the body of Christ. The act of confession, in Augustine’s thought, transcends a simple admission of wrongdoing as it arises from a sense of urgency for a transformative and sacramental theology. Moreover, Augustine’s exploration of confession intersects with classical Trinitarian and Christological thoughts, influencing later understandings of grace and redemption. His Christological understanding is thus linked to the Nicaean Trinitarian theology that influenced him over time.
Concerning Augustine’s Trinitarian thought, Barnes (2024) in the introductory section of Augustine and Nicene Theology argues that some passages of Augustine’s De Trinitate are a “Nicene” response. He goes on to say that Augustine’s writings On the Trinity were composed to varying degrees in response to the teachings of Christians who opposed Nicene orthodoxy (p. xvii). Thus, Augustine’s motive for writing De Trinitate was to offer a comprehensive discourse of counter reading of the Scripture passages that anti-Nicene were preaching (p. xxi).
Therefore, it could be argued that Augustine’s journey toward divine grace in his De Trinitate is intricately linked to his personal confession that catalyses spiritual awakening and our relationship with the divine head. According to the Advisory Council on Discipleship and Worship, PC, USA (2001), Confessions have three reference points: God, the church itself, and the world. These three reference points are regarded as a solemn response to God’s self-revelation and express a sense of responsibility to be faithful and obedient to God (p. 88). The purpose of this article was, therefore, to argue the theological implications of these three reference points in Augustine’s Confessions as a continuity of thought of the Nicaean orthodoxy, which aimed to define and unify Christian dogma in the face of the heretical challenge of the Arians.
According to Fiedrowicz (2005), in his general introduction of The works of Saint Augustine: A translation for the 21st Century,
In [Augustine’s] view, the Church’s creed contains the biblical message in a compressed form. The theologian of Hippo knew how to relate the creed, or symbol, to all the problems that exercised him and his age. His intellectual efforts to plumb the contents of the creed, his speculative elucidation of its individual articles, and his demonstration of the coherent character of the whole kept it from becoming a mere liturgical “formula.” (p. 10)
According to Kinzig and Vinzent (1999), in the second decade of this century, several scholars employed later formulae to explain the emergence and evolution of the creeds, tracing them from the baptismal command in Matt. 28:19 through a proposed confession made up of nine components, all the way to the Roman Creed. Around the same time, however, J. HauBleiter and W. Peitz put forward two distinct sources for the creed: one being Trinitarian and the other Christological (pp. 536-537). Moreover, it is widely acknowledged that the creeds consist of a Christological summary and a Trinitarian formula that were originally separate from one another (p.537).
Young (1991) insists that creeds did not originate as ‘tests of orthodoxy’, but rather as traditional summaries of faith taught to new Christians, which in detail varied from place to place (p.3). Furthermore, Young posits that from all the major religions, Christianity is the only religion to have developed creeds, statements of standard belief to which the orthodox are supposed to adhere. Some religions have scriptures and different other characteristic ways of liturgy, but they have no ‘orthodoxy’, a sense of right belief which is doctrinally sound and from which deviation means heresy. Thus, in the process, Christianity became a credal religion (p.1).
But what is a creed? According to Maclear (1895), a creed is a summary of revealed Truth, a form of words, setting forth with authority certain articles of belief, which are regarded as necessary to salvation. Moreover, creeds do not precede faith, but rather they presuppose it (p.3), and they may be divided into two classes: (1) Baptismal and (2) Declaratory (p.11). The latter was prior to the fourth century, according to scholars such as H. von Campenhausen and A. M. Ritt, had no formal Declaratory Creeds, and that these Creeds arose through synods employing the regulae fidei (Kinzig & Vinzent 1999:538).
Moreover, the Declaratory Creeds can be categorised into three forms: (1) the Apostle Creed, (2) the Nicene Creed, and (3) the Creed of S. Athanasius. Accordingly, the Apostle Creed was the first to be established and became the most popular of the three (Maclear 1895:18). Maclear further argues that the writings of Irenaeus and Tertullian that have already been provided indicate that a significant part of the content of the Apostle Creed was in circulation before the end of the second century (p.19-20). In the same vein, the Nicene Creed, as quoted in the Lima document, states that:
The Nicene Creed … is the one common creed which is most universally accepted, as formation of the apostolic faith by churches in all parts of the world, where it primarily serves as the confession of faith in the eucharistic liturgy.” In this way, the Nicene Creed serves as both a formation and affirmation of the apostolic faith, emphasizing a communal confession – “we believe” – in contrast to the Apostles’ Creed, which begins with the personal statement “I believe” Knoetze (2004:313).
Moreover, Knoetze (2024) concludes that the Nicene Creed is foundational to the missio Dei, as it confesses God as a sending God, from whom both the Son and the Spirit proceed (p.323). Concerning the Apostles’ Creed, Penner (2013) asserts that during the second century, the Apostles’ Creed was clear and concise concerning the essential doctrines of Christianity. It was only after heresies arose that there was a need for exact and rigorous Trinitarian distinctions. Bernard (1993) emphasises this point as he asserts that during the second and third centuries, most Christians affirmed the complete oneness of God and the full divinity of Christ without conceptualising it into trinitarian language. A concept we can refer to as modalism (p.9)
Regarding Augustine, his approach to faith and Creeds in both De Fide et Symbolo and Sermo ad Catechumenos was his insistence on the primacy of Scripture. In De Fide et Symbolo (9.16), he quotes Deuteronomy 6:4 that says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God. He goes on to quote another verse in Romans 11:36 that says, For of Him, and in Him, and through Him, are all things. In both these verses, Augustine’s reflections reinforce the necessity of a Trinitarian understanding of God as personal and relational, enriching the confessional experience.
In De Fide et Symbolo, Augustine interprets the Apostle Creed as a guide to faith. This epistemological approach is ultimately linked to his Christological view by inventing his concept of interior homos/ inner teacher, where Christ is the one true teacher. Consequently, Augustine not only redefined Trinitarian distinctions but, in his De Fide et Symbolo, he redefined confession on three reference points: God, Church, and the world. On the latter, he writes:
For, destined as we are to reign hereafter in everlasting righteousness, we certainly cannot secure our salvation from the present evil world, unless at the same time, while labouring for the salvation of our neighbours, we likewise with the mouth make our own profession of the faith which we carry in our heart. (De Fide et Symbolo 1.1)
Moreover, Augustine describes Creeds as a summary, expressed in a few words, of those matters of necessary belief which were subsequently to be explained to new beginners in faith. Thus, he regarded Creeds not as exhaustive statements but rather as the rule of faith. And according to Fiedrowicz (2005):
Augustine’s thinking was not limited simply to proving that the act of faith is reasonable. It was also a constant concern of his to gain a deeper understanding of the content of the faith (intellectus fidei). The creed provided a summary of the basic truths of faith, and it was due to Augustine’s theological reflection that this very ancient formula of faith acquired new vitality. (p.10)
Kinzig & Vinzent (1999), quoting Ritter in his seminal article Glaubensbekenntnisse, argue that:
The rule of faith was developed in the second century during the struggle with Christian heresies. […] The verbally fixed confession of faith did not come into existence before the fourth century. ‘Just as primitive Christianity, the Church of the first two centuries was content with a fundamental unity of confession without a confessional formula, without a doctrinal confession or creed normative in detail or as a whole. (p.539)
The rule of faith was essential in establishing a boundary of Orthodox belief, within which rationality could be exercised to support and deepen true faith, which is to be found in the Creeds. Maclear (1895) notes that, in his Sermons directed at Catechumens before their baptism, Augustine refers to the Creed several times in outline form. Although it is never presented in its entirety, it can be easily extracted from the surrounding context. One instance of this appears in A.D. 393 in his treatise De Fide et Symbolo, while the second appears in his Sermo ad Catechumenos (p.21). In the first paragraph of the latter, he opens with the following statement:
Receive, my children, the Rule of Faith, which is called the Symbol (or Creed). And when you have received it, write it in your heart, and be daily saying it to yourselves; before ye sleep, before ye go forth, arm you with your Creed.
In De Fide et Symbolo (1.1), he quotes Romans 10:10, “With the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Thus, Augustine’s reflections on faith and creeds offer a pedagogical framework for studying not only Christology but also an introspective confession, especially of the new beginners in faith. In the last chapter (10:25), he ends his treaties with the following statement:
This is the faith which, in a few words, is given in the Creed to Christian novices, to be held by them. And these few words are known to the faithful, to the end that in believing they may be made subject to God; that being made subject, they may rightly live; that in rightly living, they may make the heart pure; that with the heart made pure, they may understand that which they believe.
The Christological aspect of his theology is directly linked to his interpretation of the divine participation of each Person of the Trinity. Ayres (2004) explains that when discussing the position of the Son (the Spirit tends to receive less attention at the outset), some prefer terminology that emphasises the equality of the Father and the Son, while others focus on the diversity between the two (p.410). According to Barnes (2023):
Most accounts of patristic Trinitarian doctrine divide this theology into two fundamental categories: Greek and Latin. By this account, Greek theology begins with the reality of the distinct persons, while Latin theology begins with the reality of the unity of the divine nature. (p.2)
Conversely, having been influenced by Platonism, Augustine had the habit of categorising each Form (for it to be functional) into its proper place[1]. In the On Order (2.26), Augustine writes:
In point of time, authority is first; in the order of reality, reason comes first. What takes precedence in action is one thing; what is more highly prized as an object of desire is something else. Consequently, although the authority of upright men seems to be the safer guide for the uninstructed masses, reason is better suited for the educated. Furthermore, since no one becomes learned except by ceasing to be unlearned, and since no unlearned person knows in what quality he ought to present himself to instructors or by what manner of life he may become docile, it can happen that authority alone opens the door for those who seek to learn great and hidden truths
In Against the Academics (3.43), he declares that he is resolved in nothing to depart from the authority of Christ, as there is nothing superior. But as to that which is sought out by subtle reasoning … he is certain to find it with the Platonists. This quotation hints that, for Augustine, authority is twofold[2], and each form must moreover be interpreted within its fold. As such, the historical context surrounding Augustine’s narrative illuminates the profound theological implications of confession as a sinner’s lament to God as it becomes a hymn of hope. Young (1991), reminds us that the activity of narration is not purely an individualistic matter. It belongs to a community as a social construct, and it is, in most cases, related to the formation of identity. (p. xiv)
In Augustine’s Confessions, lament serves not merely as an emotional expression but as divine language- a profound form of confession intertwined with repentance and conversion of the entire community. Moreover, Augustine’s narrative captures the essence of human fragility and the need for divine grace, presenting lamentation as a cathartic process that propels the individual towards spiritual awakening. In this way, he structured his Confessions as a sacrament of healing.
According to the Advisory Council on Discipleship and Worship, the Presbyterian Church of the USA (2001):
Both inside and outside the church, confession is ordinarily associated with admission of wrongdoing and guilt … In Christian tradition, however, confession has an earlier, positive sense. To confess means openly to affirm, declare, acknowledge, or take a stand for what one believes to be true. The truth that is confessed may include the admission of sin and guilt, but it is more than that. (p. 87)
Moreover, ‘A distinction must be made between confession as an act of Christian faith and a confession as a document of Christian faith’ (Advisory Council on Discipleship and Worship, Presbyterian Church of USA 2001:87). But in his Confessions, how did Augustine structure his confessions to meet the credal criteria? In his earlier philosophical dialogues, long before he wrote his Confessions, Augustine developed the concept of interior homo that became central to his Trinitarian theology. A point Barnes (2024) highlights in his interpretation of Latin Trinitarian Theology. He posits that:
Latin Trinitarian theology follows a fourfold logic: fist, the most fundamental account of the unity of the Trinity is based upon the one power common to the three; second, distinctions among the three are explained in terms of inner-Trinitarian causal relationships; third, each of the three is himself and not the other Two; and fourth, what is three in God we call “person” (persona)… The argument from inner-Trinitarian causal relations means that the status of the Father as cause and the status of the Son (and Holy Spirit) as caused are eternal relations within the Trinity (p. xvii).
In the Soliloquies, for example, Baleng (2025) posits that Augustine’s systematic thought is a constant prayer to know God and himself. He sees God as the ultimate truth and wisdom, the source of all that is true, and the answer to our everyday questions (p.4). Therefore, as a continuity of thought from his Soliloquies, in the Confessions likewise, Augustine uses inner dialogue to confess both personal and communal truth.
Moreover, in both Confessions and Soliloquies, Augustine’s cathartic grief is not only a solitary cry but a prayerful dialogue that addresses God directly. At Soliloquies (2.1.1), he cries out to God, ‘Oh unchanging God, let me know myself; let me know you’. Thus, the nature of confession for Augustine is self-reflective before it opens a path for divine response. Therefore, at a personal level, confession is threefold. Firstly, Augustine confesses his praise and trust in God. Secondly, he confesses his sins through an introspection of himself as a sinner in conversation with God. Thirdly, the act of confession is dramatic for the purpose of communal mimesis.
Through his introspective approach, Augustine draws his readers in to mimic him in crying out to God for repentance. By focusing on the act of inquiry itself, Augustine offers a hermeneutical lens through which we can study his Confessions, where he articulates a sense of collective identity, encouraging his audience to mimic him in their own relational dynamics with God, themselves, and their communities. According to Maurer (2018):
The concepts outlined by St. Augustine show how confessional writing leads to breaking the bonds that trap people in negativity, self-doubt, hurt, depression, grief, despair, and shame. His writing journeys through breaking the barriers pride placed on him while working to show how those barriers came into place. (p. i)
Thus, through engaging with his personal struggles and shortcomings, Augustine invoked God in prayer as a recurring theme in his theology. Whenever Augustine was intellectually challenged, he would cry out to God for an answer. In the first paragraph of Book 1, he highlights the importance of invoking God in prayer so that God may be known and be praised. In so doing, Augustine laments not only the presence of God but also his inability to know God.
In Confessions (1.1.1), Augustine confesses his praise to God as he writes, “Those who seek the Lord will praise him: those who search, find him; and when they have found him, they will praise him. So let me seek you, Lord, while I invoke you in prayer; and let me invoke you while I believe in you.” Maurer (2018:1) posits that Augustine’s revelations in his Confessions do more than bridge the gap between saint and sinner as they speak to the capacity of humility to define the individual in honest and practical ways.
Moreover, his rhetorical question “Who am I telling this? Certainly not you, my God!” (Confessions 2.3.5), embraces humility and vulnerability in his situation. Forced to take a gap year from his studies because of a lack of funding, Augustine laments his situation in the presence of God. He asks God, “What is closer to your ears than a heart that makes its confession to you and a life that is faithful?” With this question, he realised he was helpless and had no control over his very future unless he surrendered to God. For Augustine, the heart symbolises the depth and purity of one’s true act of repentance.
Therefore, for Augustine, a confession is not venting out to God anything new, but rather to confront one’s own brokenness. Thus, Maurer (2018) posits that Augustine came to understand humility through the act of confession, both in writing and in the sacrament. Moreover, he learned that humility is the right estimation of self, one that leaves room for modesty without grovelling, confidence without pride (pp.2–3). Clewis (2001:67) emphasises this point in the following statement:
The Confessions begins with Augustine praying to God for guidance as he searches for Him. Book I opens with a recitation of Psalm 145:3: “Can any praise be worthy of the Lord’s majesty?” (1.1). It is the nature of the creature to seek and praise his Creator: “Man is one of your creatures, Lord, and his instinct is to praise you.” (1.1)
For Augustine, a confession serves as a fundamental step toward understanding the paradox of human depravity and God’s redemptive love. This may be deduced from how Augustine used the metaphor of the heart to emphasise his spiritual longing. At the beginning of his Confessions (1.1.1), he points out to God, ‘You inspire us to take delight in praising you, for you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you’. Formulated as a lamentation to God, Augustine’s Confessions exemplifies his restlessness of mind and his desire for change as he reflects on his own iniquities and the strong influence of societal desires upon his actions.
In Confessions (2.3.5), Augustine continues his introspective journey by posing a rhetorical question to himself, where he confesses to narrating his story not only to God, but to whoever happens to come across his writings. He writes, ‘Let my reader ponder the depths from which we must cry out to you.’ Thus, in the process, he sets his confessions as a mimetic act, modelling desires on others. According to Hammond (ed. and translated) (2014: xiv), Augustine’s Confessions can be categorised as essentially dramatic because of its prayerful dialogue where Augustine’s guilt meets God’s grace.
Throughout his Confessions, Augustine portrays his life as a series of mimetic acts, where he models his desires on those around him[3] and vice versa. Furthermore, the narratological structure of Confessions provided Augustine with a framework for self-reflection. In turn, these moments of self-reflection became redemptive spiritual confessions like that of Job and the Psalmist. Arguably, Augustine’s frequent use of Psalms helped him to feel closer to God. In Confessions (9.4.8), he says to God, ‘Your Psalms are the songs of faith, the music of devotion, the echoes of love.’
Liturgically, Augustine’s Confessions function as a catechetical text, which mirrors the Church’s communal instruction. Thus, through mimetic acts, his confessions were meant as a communal act inseparable from the community’s witness. By embedding rhetoric in his dialogue, Augustine’s Confessions can be studied hermeneutically in understanding the nature and theological implications of confession in Augustine’s view.
In Confessions (10.3.3), Augustine similarly posits that “no one knows what motivates another person, except for the spirit of that person within themselves”. Augustine advocates for purity as the only form of true knowledge. According to him, nothing is true unless it is pure, as posited in Q1 in his treatise Eighty-Three Different Questions. From this premise, one can begin to read and deduce Augustine’s thinking on the paradox of divine dialogue as posed by Clewis (2001).[4]
In contemporary academic discourse, the idea of mimetic desire is rooted in René Girard’s anthropological theory that both Plato and Augustine prefigured in their respective works. Girard’s corpus offers an array of connecting points to Augustine’s anthropological views in his Confessions. And according to Girard (2014), in his own words, in an interview with Michel Treguer, “Three quarters of what I [he] say is in Saint Augustine” (p.133). From an anthropological perspective, Girard’s mimetic theory illustrates that humans inherently possess the ability and inclination to imitate and acquire what others have.
As stated by Baleng (2024), Augustine’s Confessions presents mimetic desire in the human awareness and consciences of a Perfect Being, namely God, and the ideal forms (using Platonic terminology), which humans can comprehend and imitate. The most important thing to note in this regard is that Augustine, in his Confessions, calls us to a life of imitation, which is a pre-modern exploration of concepts that Girard would later systematise in his corpus.
In studying Rene Girard’s work, Baleng (2024) further summarises that Girard’s theory of mimesis studies ontology, anthropology, and the structure of human desires in developing both human behaviour and cultures. Thus, mimetic desire forms the anthropological foundation of Girard’s entire theory. Similarly, Augustine’s theory in his Confession can be studied through a mimetic interpretation of Christ as an ideal model to be emulated (p.2).
Thus, in the act of his confessions, Augustine considered confession as a kenotic movement towards the inner dialogue with God. Henceforth, grace, according to the textual analysis of Confessions, flows more abundantly where humility exists. A point Maurer (2018) makes when she posits that ‘Augustine’s Confessions establishes the essential healing power of humility and clarifies how embracing failure gives a person the strength to avoid and grow from failure’ (p.3).
From the same premise, humility is not regret but a deep recognition of one’s vulnerability in encountering God’s love and mercy. Subsequently, the level of human greatness depends completely on humility, as Maurer (2018) observes from McInerney’s (2016) In the Greatness of Humility: St. Augustine on Moral Excellence. McInerney posits that greatness can only be achieved by starting with humility. A notion Maurer expands further by adding that greatness can only happen with growth, and growth only happens with humility (pp.5-6).
This interpretation of humility means that only the truly humbled individual can be lifted to a higher ontological level beyond the material. Thus, confession becomes meaningful not necessarily based on the spoken words but on the true intent of the confessor. In this way, humility becomes something intelligible as far as ontology is concerned. Moreover, as a hermeneutical praxis, humility can be mimicked by the Christian community at large in its spiritual development. Baleng (2024:7) considers mimesis in Augustine’s theology as an ostensive method of learning that contrasts between the sensible and intelligible. According to Cary (2011):
… the distinction between sensible and intelligible is crucial to keep in mind. The thoughts of our souls are not perceptible to the bodily senses, so in our fallen state, where intellectual vision is insufficient for one mind to understand another, we need words as sensible intermediaries between soul and soul. (p.194)
In his Confessions, Augustine is primarily concerned with epistemology and the acquisition of knowledge. As a result, confession ostensively exemplifies the ability of language to transfer information from one realm to another. Explaining his hermeneutics, Augustine, according to Cary (2011), wants to understand (intellectus) to be something higher and prior and more inward than language (p.196).
In Confessions (3.1.1), Augustine bemoans the illicit passions and the soullessness of Carthage as he was on the search for something beyond. He writes, “Within myself I was hungry from the lack of inner food: you yourself, my God; but that hunger did not make me want to feast-rather, I had no desire at all for the incorruptible food.”
Cary (2011) substantiates this view and posits that, ‘The inner is higher, better, more intelligible, and closer to God than are external, sensible, and bodily things, including the sounding words of human language’ (p.193). Stock (2010) further explores this Augustinian theme succinctly in his work titled Augustine’s Inner Dialogue. The Philosophical Soliloquy in Late Antiquity.
As a form of language, Augustine considered confession as intelligible divine dialogue. In hindsight, though, confession is not infallible nor absolute according to the Advisory Council on Discipleship and Worship, PC, USA (2001:93). However, Augustine, in developing practical hermeneutics for his non-linguistic expressions, emphasised faith and the interior homo concept. According to Atkins and Dodaro (2004):
… because Christ in Augustine’s view was both divine and sinlessly human, we cannot simply imitate him. In the first place, we can never possess the virtues as fully as he does. Secondly, we can do so at all only by a process of conversion and continuous acknowledgement of our failures and dependence upon his justifying grace. Augustine, therefore, uses the apostles and martyrs as role models for the Christian. (p. xvi)
By distinguishing between Christ and the martyrs as possible role models, Augustine establishes a pragmatic model that can be imitated. He viewed the martyrs as significant instruments of the Holy Spirit, writing in his City of God (11.3): “The same Spirit who was present in the prophets when they spoke these things was also present in the [biblical] writers when they wrote them.” This divine authorship, for Augustine, meant that the martyrs were the right models next to Christ.
Moreover, Augustine always believed that faith precedes every kind of understanding and that human beings cannot live without faith. Such a conviction can be heard in the tone of his confessions as an affirmation of a sinner’s personal act of repentance. Clewis (2001) describes Augustine’s Confessions as a therapeutic process- a “spiritual” exercise through which Augustine is healed and forgiven for his sins by crying out to God (p.66). His confession mimics the biblical tradition of lament, where crying to God becomes a prayerful dialogue. Thus, lament becomes a transcended dialogue through confessing his unresolved struggles to God. In Confessions (8.12.28), Augustine writes:
Somehow or other, I cast myself upon the ground beneath a fig tree, and I gave free rein to my tears, and they flowed in torrents from my eyes, an acceptable sacrifice to you. I spoke to you at length, not in these actual words, but along these lines, “As for you, how long, Lord? Lord, how long will you be angry, forever? Do not remember our former sins anymore.” For I felt that I was in their grip. I sobbed out my pitiful cries, “How long? How long must it be ‘tomorrow’ and ‘tomorrow’? Why not ‘now’? Why not an end to my degradation from this very moment?”
The dramatic structure of Augustine’s Confessions is not only intentional for communal mimesis, but more importantly, it resembles that of Job in his dialogue with God. Augustine’s mimetic praxis highlights the continuity of cultural formations in spiritual practices. Moreover, a mimetic modelling of Augustine’s Confessions encourages the Christian community at large to imitate humility and lament, fostering empathy and unity.
4. Lament as divine dialogue
For Augustine, lamentation mirrors the biblical tradition of divine dialogue, where lament is not a solitary cry but a divine dialogue. By mimicking Job and Jeremiah before him, Augustine embraces vulnerability as the gateway to transformation. He understood lament as a non-linguistic spiritual expression. Throughout his Confessions, Augustine documents his journey from sin to salvation through prayerful dialogue in the form of lament. In Confessions (10.2.2), for instance, Augustine recognised the power of a confession when he says, “After all, Lord, what is there of myself that could stay hidden before you … even if I did not want to confess to you? I could hide you from myself, but I cannot hide myself from you.”
In Confessions (10.3.3), he questions how people come to knowledge and concludes that love believes in all things. However, according to Clewis (2001), the Confessions, like Augustine, has become a problem unto itself. Clewis gives reference to Confessions (10.33) and questions the possibility of dialoguing with God. He asks, ‘How is dialogue with God even possible?’ My answer to this question lies in Augustine’s belief in divine grace through the life-giving Spirit and his non-linguistic spiritual meditations like silence, lament, and sound (music). The latter, according to England (2017), is a foundational grammar of being human, even more so than language and more so than art, as it sounds being (p.18).
Similarly, lament as a form of reaching out to God can be posited as spiritual meditation. According to Kenney (2013), Augustine, in his Confessions, claimed that he achieved unmediated knowledge of God through practising contemplation (p.2). In Confessions (7.11.17), Augustine not only contemplates how God created all things but also how good it is for him to abide in God. He writes, “… it is good for me to cleave to God, because if I do not abide in him, I cannot abide in myself. Abiding in himself, however, he makes all things new; and you are my God, for you need no goods of mine.”
Kenny (2013) goes on to ask, “… did [Augustine’s] his soul come directly into the presence of God through an act of immediate cognition exceeding the limited observations that constitute knowledge of the spatio-temporal universe?” (p. 2). Moreover, did Augustine propose that in his Confessions, the act of lamenting opens a pathway for divine response? The modern reader will do well to remember that the ancients believed that everything we strive for is to bring us closer to God/ Ideal Forms, which are not found in mutable things. A point Augustine makes in his City of God (8.6).
Similarly, Aristotle in book 10 of the Nichomachean Ethics asserts that contemplation is the activity of the gods, and only the gods have reached Eudaimonia. In chapter 7 of the same book, he states that the happiness achieved in practical (political) life is purely human; the happiness of contemplative activity moves to a higher level, which is divine in comparison with human life. Likewise, Plato in Symposium (204a) reminds us that the gods already have wisdom, unlike a man who must seek wisdom through philosophising (i.e., contemplation). Henceforth, through the inward contemplation, man can open the eye of the mind, temporarily mimic the gods, and become one with esoteric knowledge as perfect peace.
Claes (2016), however, asks, ‘whether the (pedagogical) practice of mental exercise (exercitatiomentis) has a function in Augustine’s mystagogical practice on Christian community life.’ In his paper, he considers (1) the role of dialogue and ecclesiastical authority, (2) the function of exercises in the daily practice of virtuous life, and (3) Augustine’s hermeneutical pedagogy and its insignificance in creating a community. (p.533)
Ayres (1998) describes exercitation mentis as ‘a training in modes of thinking increasingly interior, and increasingly free from images, a gradual intellectual movement from the material to the immaterial, fundamentally Neoplatonic in character’ (p.114). According to Randolph (1962), God and the human soul were the one intellectual passion that served as a focal point of Augustine’s thinking (pp.6-7). His varied interests sprang from this single, central concern. The premise of this concern was that God is a personal being. In Confessions (10.1.1), Augustine pleads to God in the following words:
You know me: let me know you, let me know even as I am known. You are the strength of my soul; enter it and shape it to your will, so that you keep and possess it without blemish or wrinkle. This is my hope: so, I declare it and rejoice in that hope, because I am rejoicing in a way that does me good.
In Confessions (3.6.11), he narrates how God was closer to him than he was to himself, ‘You were more inward to me than my most inward part.’ Such intrinsic merits are the result of the inward dialogue we continue with ourselves. Thus, in his Confessions, Boyle (1987:130) posits that, “Augustine is not discoursing about himself and about scripture, about his evils and about his goods, but from these topics about the good and just God. It is God who is the theme of the discourse, the object of its praise.” (p.130)
Conclusion
This paper examined the theological implications of Creeds on Augustine’s structure of confessions, considering the First Council of Nicaea. This ecumenical council not only addressed the Arian Controversy but also provided Augustine with the framework to study the nature of Trinitarian theology, complementing his earlier conceptualisation of the inner teacher as the one true teacher and interlocutor in his Confessions. Moreover, Augustine’s Confessions reveal that God’s relational nature was profoundly shaped through the mimetic model. On a hermeneutical premise, this paper argued that lamentation in Confessions is a form of divine dialogue in the process of healing. In summary, it presents humility as a necessary attribute in the act of confession, where God’s word can be heard and structured into a mimetic praxis for the benefit of a Christian community.
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[1]This could also be argued from an Aristotelian perspective since Augustine admitted that he had read Aristotle’s Categories.
[2] At On Order (2.27), he categorises authority as both human and divine.
[3]For an in-depth reading, see Baleng, G.T., 2024, Mimetic desire in Augustine’s Confessions as a model for natural theology and virtue ethics. In die Skriflig 58(1):a3030. https://doi.org/10.4102/ids. v58i1.3030
[4]See page 15 of this article.