Tuesday, March 24, 2015
The Differences Between The Rule of Saint Benedict and Confessions
While reading the prologue to The Rule of Saint Benedict, I noticed a few differences between this book and the book we just read, Confessions. The first difference is between good and evil. In Confessions, Augustine is trying to find the origin of evil and he is frantically searching for the answer. He ends up deciding that "all that [God] created is good" and that for God "evil does not exist" (Augustine 148). However, in The Rule of Saint Benedict, Saint Benedict is talking about God and he says "In his goodness, he has already counted us as his sons, and therefore we should never grieve him by our evil actions" (Saint Benedict 3). Saint Benedict believes our actions can be evil. While both Augustine and Saint Benedict agree on God's goodness, they disagree on evil. Another difference I noticed is when Saint Benedict is talking about believing in God "With his good gifts which are in us, we must obey him at all times that he may never become the angry father who disinherits his sons, nor the dread lord, enraged by our sins, who punishes us forever as worthless servants for refusing to follow him to glory" (Saint Benedict 3). Saint Benedict is saying that if we do not obey and believe in God, then God will punish us. All throughout Confessions, Augustine is writing about how he has defied God throughout his lifetime and does not believe in him and yet, God still loves him and is leading Augustine to him. Both of these outlooks on God are very different. Which one do you believe to be true?
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I don't know which outlook I believe to be true, since they are such different literary forms. Confessions is much more of an autobiography, while The Rule of Saint Benedict is written more like a manual of how to live. I guess in that way, Augustine is teaching by using his mistakes as an example and Saint Benedict is basically laying out all the rules. Both are different, but I feel like they are ultimately meant to bring people closer to God and closer to living a holy life.
ReplyDeleteAnother difference that I noticed between these two books was the focus of Christianity. While Confessions seemed to be focused on the contemplation and thought that is necessary to reach God, The Rule of St. Benedict was more concerned with the actions and behaviors that would help one to be a good person. Confessions was worried less with actions, and more with beliefs, and vice versa was true for St. Benedict. As Sarah said, both of these books take different approaches to bring people closer to God and to living a holy life
ReplyDeleteAnother difference that I noticed between these two books was the focus of Christianity. While Confessions seemed to be focused on the contemplation and thought that is necessary to reach God, The Rule of St. Benedict was more concerned with the actions and behaviors that would help one to be a good person. Confessions was worried less with actions, and more with beliefs, and vice versa was true for St. Benedict. As Sarah said, both of these books take different approaches to bring people closer to God and to living a holy life
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