One aspect of Augustine's Confessions that reminds me of C. S. Lewis's Surprised by Joy is that both men recount how, while yet unconverted, they were drawn towards Christianity by non-Christian literature. In Lewis's case, it was George Macdonald's Phantastes, a work that Lewis first encountered as a teenager. In middle age, Lewis looked back on this work as the one that "baptized" his imagination, gave him a taste for innocence and holiness, and sparked the flame that led to his conversion, which was almost two decades later. The unconverted Augustine, likewise, had his affections drawn towards Christ by a non-Christian work. In Augustine's case, it was Cicero's Hortensius. As I read The Confessions this morning, I came across this passage, speaking of Cicero's book.

The book changed my feelings. It altered my prayers, Lord, to be towards you yourself. It gave me different values and priorities. Suddenly every vain hope became empty to me, and I longed for the immortality of wisdom with an incredible ardour in my heart. I began to rise up to return to you. For I did not read the book for a sharpening of my style. . . . I was impressed not by the book's refining effect on my style and literary expression but by the content.