Augustine has his moments...

Found my way to the second floor of Hale. I finally finished Augustine's Confessions! It took forever because of the last four 'books'. The first nine were fine comparatively, being autobiographical in nature.

It's really difficult for me, however, to read 42 pages about Augustine's thoughts on 'Memory' and how it works, or even 25 pages on what he thinks about 'Time and Eternity'.

Then he goes into the book, 'Platonic and Christian Creation' and goes through five possible interpretations of what "heaven and earth" could mean and then concludes, "After hearing and considering all these interpretations, I do not wish to 'quarrel about words, for that is good for nothing but the subversion of the hearers' (2 Tim 2:14)." Thanks, Augustine. That could have saved me an ninety minutes of my time.

Of the last four books, 'Finding the Church in Genesis I' was the most easily read. Here's an excerpt...

As the earth produces her fruit, so at your command, the command of its Lord God, our soul yields works of mercy 'according to its kind' (Gen. 1:12), loving our neighbour in the relief of physical necessities, 'having in itself seed according to its likeness'. Aware of our own infirmity we are moved to compassion to help the indigent, assisting them in the same way as we would wish to be helped if we were in the same distress - and not only in easy ways, like 'the grass bearing seed', but with the protection and aid given with a resolute determination like 'the tree bearing fruit' (Gen 1:11). This means such kindness as rescuing a person suffering injustice from the hand of the powerful and providing the shelter of protection by the mighty force of just judgment.

In less weighty news, I heard a table of girls watching the Kittens video. Brilliant.