Many of the themes present in Augustine’s Confessions are relatable to modern culture. Specifically, Augustine’s experiences with education, family life and sexuality provide parallels to modern cultural beliefs. Augustine largely describes his failures in these areas by examining how adopted the popular cultural practices of his time. Confessions is relatable to society today because the content of modern culture is similar to the culture that surrounded Augustine. Additionally, the influence of culture today is just as strong as the culture of Augustine’s time. If we can learn from Augustine’s failures, we can prevent ourselves from falling into similar cultural traps.
Augustine describes how his teachers emphasized “succeed[ing] in this world, and…excel[ling] in the arts of using [the] tongue” (Augustine, 11). He adopted his teachers’ philosophy, which came to serve as the sole motivation for his studies. Augustine’s view of self-worth became contingent on his academic achievement, since he desired worldly success more than anything else. Similarly, many students in today’s culture find their self-worth in achievements.…show more content… His father Patricius encouraged him to seek worldly pleasures and success, but disregarded his spiritual development. Augustine describes, “but this same father did not care what character before you I was developing, or how chaste I was so long as I possessed a cultured tongue” (Augustine, 26). Monica, unlike Patricius, hoped that her son would develop a relationship with God. Through prayer, she “commit[ed] to the waves of clay out of which [he] would later be shaped” (Augustine, 14). In relating Augustine’s upbringing to today’s culture, I feel that parents tend to side more towards Patricius than Monica. Many parents hope for their children to succeed, which is in and of itself a good thing, but at the same time spiritual development is oftentimes
