What is the author's style in Confessions by Augustine of Hippo?

Augustine writes these Confessions primarily as a religious text to encourage readers to believe in God and follow the Christian church. Due to his intensive philosophical background, the text has a wide appeal to intellectuals, whether they are Christians are not. The early books of the Confessions engage many readers with their frank descriptions of Augustine's temptations and sins. The work has a great interest due to its unique viewpoint, because many readers would expect someone to be proud of such worldly achievements as those of Augustine. When Augustine is repentant and ashamed of his sexual exploits and worldly achievements, this contradicts sharply with the usual assessments of society. For, Augustine's sins, despite some of the graphic detail, are not really such horrible deeds. Augustine's remorse over sins that are often seen today as small inconveniences has an impact even on a modern audience.

The point of view of this autobiographic account is the first person. This point of view is a personal limited point of view. For the first part of the account, it is a looking back at the actions of the author, Augustine. There is some dialogue, but the work is mainly an essay, or a memoir. Augustine provides the reader with a very personal point of view of his struggles. There is much foreshadowing of events, but Augustine does not know at the time of the events what he will eventually become. The reader knows in advance that Augustine will change and convert to Christianity, but does not know how this will occur. In fact, most of the book is Augustine's internal dialogue with himself and God. Augustine will quote what someone says, sometimes at length, and then write a long passage about his feelings about the statement and his reaction to it.