—1— Question, God and Truth in Augustine’s Confessions David Vopřada Catholic Faculty of Theology, Charles University in Prague e-mail: voprada@ktf.cuni.cz Questioning is an essential part of Christian theology already from its beginnings. This search for truth and the true image of God did not end in any historical moment; the Church Fathers and later other theologians continued to contribute by their investigations about God and religion. Among these, especially in the Western tradition, Augustine of Hippo plays a major role. Search and questioning about truth and God are key themes which occur throughout his work. In this paper, I will focus on his Confessions and the relationship between question- ing, truth, and God in this best known and most studied work. 1 This intimate and revealing apologia pro vita sua, in which he expresses his desire for peace and beatitude, can be described also as a walk through the maze of various beliefs that are incompatible with the true notion of God and create obstacle to finding this inner peace. In fact, his Confessions are a constant strain to “do the truth” (facere veritatem), i.e. to come in line with the truth not only in writing or in thought but also in one’s behaviour and all his stance. First, I am going to make several observations about the relationship between the pagans and monotheists in Late Antiquity, on the questioning about God and religion in the work of the Church Fathers and on Augustine’s view on ‘religion’. Second, I will concentrate on Au- gustine’s Confessions, and I am going to throw some light upon Augustine’s ‘religious’, ‘phil- osophical’ and ‘Christian’ (religious and philosophical) stage of his intellectual and spiritual journey. I would like to show that ongoing and never-ending questioning and critical approach to religion is something deeply engraved in Augustine’s heart and mind. 1 I will omit, as much as possible, Augustine’s critique of the pagan worship contained in his De civitate Dei and already studied e.g. by Bobb 2010.