The American Journal of Biblical Theology Volume 16 (32), August 9, 2015 AUGUSTINE AS AN APOLOGIST: IS CONFESSIONS APOLOGETIC IN NATURE? Scott Ventureyra Dominican University College Ottawa, Canada ABSTRACT This paper explores the apologetic nature of Augustine’s Confessions. It first takes a brief look at Augustine’s intricate view between the relationship of faith and reason, in order to provide a background to his employment of apologetic elements throughout Confessions. Both positive and negative apologetic elements are examined throughout the paper. Some positive apologetic elements include Augustine’s presentation of the implied ontological argument, the cosmological argument, the teleological argument, the argument from the experience of beauty, the demonstration of the coherence of the Christian conception of God (including his explorations with time and creation). His negative apologetic elements include dealing with detractors from the Christian faith such as the Manichees and their objections. Although studies in recent years have focused on the autobiographical and religious experiential dimensions of Confessions, this paper seeks to demonstrate that the apologetic dimension is also foundational to Augustine’s text. It is important to realize that the apologetic nature of Confessions does not detract from its other natures (autobiographical and religious-experiential) since objects, ideas and persons can have more than one nature – as is true with case of Christ and a number line. It is my hope to revive a forgotten aspect of Confessions which is quite pertinent to the Church today.