Augustine's Flaws

The Confessions, written by St. Augustine, have a large part of theology in today’s world because of the great deal of contemplation and conversion that Augustine experiences throughout his lifetime. While these are both true, there are major flaws in Augustine’s understanding of God due to a multitude of reasons. Augustine even makes this claim in his own writings, stating that he continues to have a restless heart even after the book was written. Because he believes that God is greatly superior in which humans cannot begin to understand Him because of our great inferiority, Augustine fails to develop his own personal relationship with God because he sees too much of a distance between himself and God, explaining why he continues to have
In Book I, Augustine uses phrases such as “a wretched boy” (31) and “I earnestly begged” (24) towards his relationship with God. Degrading himself instead of learning through God takes a toll on his total understanding of God, leading to his incomplete understanding of God. Using the verb “beg” instead of ask or another more equal verb shows that Augustine sees no equality between himself and God. While equality between humans and God is not necessary, Romans 8: 39 states “nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Augustine attempts to make a divide, to separate himself from God in that he is not worthy enough for His presence. This is what shows that Augustine does not truly understand how to interact with God. Augustine even goes as far to state “You know how stupid and weak I am” (221) and “Tell me, I beg you, tell your miserable suppliant, O merciful God” (18). He uses adjectives such as stupid, weak, and miserable to describe
The basis of the relationship has been based on Augustine condemning himself and his past actions, emotions, and thoughts in order to please God, praising God incessantly, and his inability to see that God is ubiquitous, and sees Him as solely transcendent above humans. He does not learn from his actions because he expects God to do it for him and therefore, is unable to say that he understands God. He might understand his own faith but it differs from many around the world. His relationship with God is not desirable because he does not understand God in a personal way and only sees him as this great superior that he must praise and grovel under. His restless heart directly forms because of this inability to truly understand