The Confessions - Book V

In Book V, Augustine moves from teaching Rhetoric in Carthage (where we left him in Book IV) to teaching it in Rome. However, he is unsatisfied since he finds his students stay in his class till just before it is time to pay, and then they leave for another Rhetoric teacher.

In the meantime, he meets Faustus, one of the great Manichee luminaries. He is initially impressed since Faustus, unlike other Manichee teachers, refuses to theorize about subjects he doesn't know well, especially astronomy, but he is especially impressed with his rhetorical style. However, as time wears on, he is disillusioned since he finds Faustus is mostly flash, with little content to back up his flashy talk.
Augustine then finds a group called "the Academics." They are basically nihilists (they question everything - and eventually find no meaning to life - nihilists.) Augustine eventually is discouraged by their approach, and drifts back to the Manichees, but is so confused by their philosophy, he soon thinks of God as as a "physical mass" or a "luminous body," a bit strange since the Manichees tended to think of anything physical as evil, and thus rejected that Christ had come in the flesh.


Eventually Augustine takes up teaching Rhetoric in Milan, where he eventually meets the bishop Ambrose, who finally explains Christianity and the Bible in a manner that makes sense to Augustine. Under Ambrose, Augustine became a "communicant," one who began to study the cathecisms in order to prepare for baptism. While many parts of the Old Testament started to be opened to him, especially about God creating the physical world (something the Manichees taught against), still he struggled with his concept of God being a physical mass, not yet comprehending a completely spiritual God.
On to Book VI.
Back to Book IV.