For a millennium Augustine’s portrait of himself served as a model for self-cultivation in Christian civilization. The imitation of Christ was the ideal, but those falling short could turn to Confessions for help getting there. It was during the Renaissance that this conception of the self came under serious challenge, most powerfully in Montaigne’s “Essays,” which mocked the idea of sin and preached self-acceptance. To Augustine’s anxious admission that he was a problem to himself, Montaigne simply responded, So what’s the problem? Don’t worry, be happy. As modern people we have chosen
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