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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. What notion does Augustine attack?

2. What book does Augustine understand that challenges many people?

3. To whom is Augustine married?

4. Where does Monica want Augustine to be?

5. What does Augustine feel when he reads of Zeus engaging in fornication and being powerful?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Augustine's initial conversion to Christianity come about?

2. What is Augustine's primary thoughts of when he arrives in Carthage and what does he do with them?

3. What does Augustine say about his "sins" as a schoolboy and his teachers reaction to them?

4. What gives Augustine an excuse to continue following his baser desires?

5. Augustine says he wrote Confessions for what reason?

6. As a young man how does Augustine feel about love and what doesn't he understand about it?

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

8. What type of religion ensnares Augustine's interest?

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

10. What did Augustine wonder about in relationship to God and the world and what are a couple of the questions he asked?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When Moses wrote down the Holy Scriptures, he had to make them understandable, says Augustine. Moses also needed them to convey a deeper meaning to scholars and truth-seekers. The simple people think of the story of creation in a simple way, which is literal and materialistic.

1. Do you believe scholars are better able to understand religious writings than lay people? Why or why not?

2. Explain a situation in which you have read something you didn't understand.

3. What do you think Augustine means by "literal and materialistic" in the above sentence?

Essay Topic 2

It is mentioned in Book III that the Manicheans believe that when a fig is picked off a fig tree, it cries tears. Later, Augustine sees as ridiculous this idea and many others that the Manicheans believe. Discuss the following ideas:

1. Just because humans cannot measure how a plant experiences life, is that reason to believe that a tree cannot cry when its fruit is picked?

2. Many people (particularly Aboriginal peoples) do not adhere to the Judeo-Christian ideas of human beings as superior to all other of the created earth. When Augustine becomes a Christian, he seems to move from a nature-centered belief system to one that is man-centered. Do you see this as a step forward?

3. The second part to the Manichean beliefs of the fig tree is that they give the fig to their "Elect" people, who by eating it, the Manicheans believe, release angels from the fig. If what thought of this as a metaphor, what do you think the metaphor could represent?

Essay Topic 3

Though Augustine admits that he benefited from his studies of Latin and Greek literature, he resents how he was led astray morally by some of the stories. When he read of Zeus engaging in fornication and being powerful, it also made him want to do these deeds. So, already in boyhood, Augustine sees the struggle to form his moral judgment and not be led astray by popular stories or opinion.

1. Do you agree with Augustine's assertion about the influence the Greek and Latin literature had on his behavior? Why or why not?

2. In today's society there are people who assert that reading books about violent acts cause people to commit violent acts. Do you agree with this idea? Why or why not?

3. How do you think this idea of Augustine's about being led astray has influenced the justice system of the western world?

(see the answer keys)

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