Please read chapter 2 for Tuesday. The pdf also contains chapter 8, which you will be reading for Thursday.

One minor note… when Augustine talks about “the streets of Babylon” in this chapter, he is referring to passages from the Bible that refer to Babylon as a metaphor for sin and filth.

Questions:

1. Remember that this chapter is primarily about his life just after he leaves his parents house and moves out on his own. According to this chapter, what are some of the issues that he is trying to deal with in his life during this period?

2. Tell me as much as you can about his mother and father from what you read in this chapter… you should be able to say at least a sentence or 2 about each of them, especially regarding how they treat Augustine.

3. Focus closely on Augustine’s story about the pear tree. What are the basic facts of the story? How does Augustine interpret his own actions now that he is reflecting back on them? We will discuss this quite a bit in class.