I Confess!

1. In 2004, pop singer Usher released "Confessions," which sold nearly 1.1 million copies in its first week. What was the central theme of the record?

A late-modern re-reading of St. Augustine’s Confessions in the context of the dancefloor.

His argument that the parallels between Augustine’s and Rousseau’s Confessions were not strategically planned by Rousseau but were purely accidental.

His breakup with TLC’s Chili.

All of the above

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2. In Book VIII of St. Augustine's autobiographical Confessions, he tells the story of his conversion. He was sitting in a garden when he heard a child's voice saying, "take up and read." Augustine reaches for a Bible and reads the passage that it opens to. What is that passage?

“I can do all things in him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13, RSV)

None of the above.

3. In Petrarch's Ascent of Mont Ventoux, the poet recounts the progress of his climb. As he stood at the top, he pulled St. Augustine's Confessions from his pocket and read the first passage that it opened to. What is that passage?

“You have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in You.”

None of the above.

4. In Book VIII of Rousseau's autobiographical Confessions, he tells the story of his "conversion." As he walked from Paris to Vincennes to visit Diderot, he read an essay which was to be published in the Mercure de France. He read a question which, he said, caused him to "become another man." What was that question?

“Has the progress of the sciences and arts done more to corrupt morals or improve them?”

“What is the general will of Man?”

“What is the origin of inequality?”

None of the above.