ConfessionsBy: Saint Augustine 'Give me chastity and continence, but not yet' The son of a pagan father and a Christian mother, Saint Augustine spent his early years torn between conflicting world views. The Confessions, written when he was in his forties, recounts how, slowly and painfully, he came to turn away from his youthful ideas and licentious lifestyle to become one of Christianity's most influential thinkers. A remarkably honest spiritual autobiography,