The central claim of this book is that Confessions 7.9.13–7.21.27, which tells the story of Augustine's intellectual conversion to Christianity, is a description of Augustine's intellectual development from 386 to c. 395. In other words, I contend that Augustine was not intellectually converted to Christianity until c. 395. In part i I supported this claim by arguing that the Photinian Christology of Confessions 7.19.25 is to be identified with the Christology of ‘the way of authority’ that is elaborated in Augustine's early writings (386–91) and is not substantially modified until c. 395. In part ii I will support this claim through an examination of Augustine's ‘Platonic ascents’, as described at Confessions 7.10.16 and especially 7.17.23. In particular, I will argue that 7.17.23 is a summary of a type of ascent of the soul that Augustine describes in the period from 387/8 to c. 391, and which formed the basis for his ambitious educational programme in the liberal disciplines. Augustine envisioned this method of ascent as providing a path to salvation through reason, independent of authority, but rejected this approach c. 395. Augustine's new attitude, as we will see, is evidenced by a significantly different treatment of the liberal disciplines in On Christian Doctrine.

THE LIBERAL DISCIPLINES AT CASSICIACUM

The way of authority is a path to salvation for the masses, providing an alternative to the arduous philosophical curriculum that can only be undertaken by an elite few.