Augustine’s Restless Return

Longing

This thread follows Augustine from ambition and divided desire through conversion to a life shaped by grace and the search for God.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Youth of Desire A Youth of Desire from "Longing". A Youth of Desire Searching for satisfaction Augustine pursues education, reputation, and sexual pleasure while feeling dissatisfied with Christian teaching.

A Youth of Desire from "Longing". A Youth of Desire Searching for satisfaction Augustine pursues education, reputation, and sexual pleasure while feeling dissatisfied with Christian teaching.

A Youth of Desire Searching for satisfaction Augustine pursues education, reputation, and sexual pleasure while feeling dissatisfied with Christian teaching. His account of stealing pears later becomes a meditation on wrongdoing for its own sake. The restless heart His early choices reveal a mind searching intensely but not yet at peace.

The Search for Truth The Search for Truth from "Longing". The Search for Truth Philosophy and competing answers Reading Hortensius awakens Augustine’s desire for truth.

The Search for Truth from "Longing". The Search for Truth Philosophy and competing answers Reading Hortensius awakens Augustine’s desire for truth.

The Search for Truth Philosophy and competing answers Reading Hortensius awakens Augustine’s desire for truth. He joins the followers of Mani, whose dualism seems to explain evil and bodily desire. Growing disappointment Questions remain unanswered, and the explanation that once attracted him loses authority.

Ambrose and New Light Ambrose and New Light from "Longing". Ambrose and New Light A change in understanding Augustine hears Ambrose preach and begins to recognize the intellectual depth of Christian Scripture.

Ambrose and New Light from "Longing". Ambrose and New Light A change in understanding Augustine hears Ambrose preach and begins to recognize the intellectual depth of Christian Scripture.

Ambrose and New Light A change in understanding Augustine hears Ambrose preach and begins to recognize the intellectual depth of Christian Scripture. Neoplatonism also encourages him to look inward toward an unchanging source of being. An incomplete discovery He is drawn toward God, yet struggles to understand Christ and relinquish his old life.

The Garden Crisis The Garden Crisis from "Longing". The Garden Crisis A divided will Accounts of desert monks intensify Augustine’s awareness that he wants to serve God but cannot make himself choose.

The Garden Crisis from "Longing". The Garden Crisis A divided will Accounts of desert monks intensify Augustine’s awareness that he wants to serve God but cannot make himself choose.

The Garden Crisis A divided will Accounts of desert monks intensify Augustine’s awareness that he wants to serve God but cannot make himself choose. He withdraws to a garden in distress. A decisive reading A child’s call leads him to Paul’s letter to the Romans, whose words about putting on Christ meet his crisis directly.

A New Life of Service A New Life of Service from "Longing". A New Life of Service From private change to vocation Augustine is baptized with Alypius and returns to North Africa.

A New Life of Service from "Longing". A New Life of Service From private change to vocation Augustine is baptized with Alypius and returns to North Africa.

A New Life of Service From private change to vocation Augustine is baptized with Alypius and returns to North Africa. He first pursues a communal religious life, then becomes a priest and bishop. A continuing search His writings and pastoral work extend his conversion into a lifelong effort to serve the church and understand grace.

Augustine’s youth in North Africa

During his years in Carthage

After Augustine arrives in Milan

In Milan, before Augustine’s baptism

After the conversion and baptism