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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Augustine change his view of evil?

2. Who leaves Augustine to return to Africa?

3. What is the name of a book Augustine wrote that he later lost?

4. What does Augustine say about people like his mother, Monica?

5. What is one of Augustine's greatest faults as a boy and young man?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Monica feel about Augustine moving and how does he get around her?

2. Basically, what is Confessions about?

3. What did Augustine write about that involved a theft of pears and how did he feel about it?

4. What does Augustine foreshadow about philosophy and himself?

5. What happens with Augustine and the Manicheans and why?

6. What are Augustine's reflections on life and death?

7. What type of job does Augustine do and where does he get his money?

8. What does Augustine decide about reading Scripture and interpreting it?

9. What intensifies as Augustine grows into a young man and of what type of behavior does he indulge?

10. What kind of pressure does Augustine feel as a young person and what does he do about it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Augustine urges the church faithful to be righteous and to do good deeds, but not as a substitute for their faith. Their faith must be shown by their good deeds, and at the same time these good deeds must reflect their faith. This statement is a paradox.

1. Why do you think this statement could be classified as a paradox?

2. What do you think Augustine means by the statement above?

Essay Topic 2

Augustine recalls that he was under a lot of peer pressure to seek sexual pleasure and to applaud those who seek it from his peers that he knew from his town and from school. Augustine remembers even inventing sexual exploits to tell his peers, just to impress them.

1. Do you think Augustine's feelings of pressure from his peers was valid? Why or why not?

2. Do you think young men today feel the same peer pressure Augustine felt? Why or why not?

3. Discuss your beliefs about how young people are subjected to peer pressure and what a young person can do about it.

Essay Topic 3

In Book III, Monica, Augustine's mother, tries to get Augustine to stop his wrong religious beliefs and life, but can't get him to change. Discuss the following ideas:

1. What are the pitfalls of one person trying to persuade another to believe the way the person believes?

2. Why do you think Monica is so desperate to have Augustine convert to her religion?

3. Obviously, parents behave in a similar fashion then as now, i.e., not "allowing" their adult children to go their own way. Do you think Monica is wrong in this?

(see the answer keys)

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