Reading Guide: Confessions

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Use this guide for your own reading and contemplation of Augustine’s Confessions.

Turn Us to You: Reading Confessions

Augustine wrote Confessions as a spiritual memoir and as a book length prayer to God with a retelling of his childhood and early adulthood. Confessions also includes meditations on the nature of God, nature of humans, memory, time, creation, and more.

Reading Confessions may prompt the reader to consider his or her own spiritual journey. Encountering Augustine’s story of his dramatic turn to God may be an invitation to prayer and spiritual reflection.

Contextual Background 

Lay the foundations for your Confessions reading experience with the helpful contextual information below, followed by in-depth analysis on each book from Dr. Leland Ryken, Professor Emeritus of English.


Reading Guide

Pair your reading of Confessions with helpful analysis on each book. In the pages below, you will find an abridged version of Dr. Leland Ryken's Christian Guides to the Classics: Augustine's Confessions, replete with thoughts for reflection and discussion.

Enrich your exploration of the Confessions.

For more comprehensive analysis of Confessions, read the full text of Christian Guides to the Classics: Augustine's Confessions by Dr. Leland Ryken, Professor Emeritus of English.