Which book to start with reading St. Augustine?

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Where should I start with regards to reading st.augustine?
  1. city of God or confessions ? is there a certain volume or translation that is best? thanks
Also is there a guide book/ commentary book on St.Augustines books?
 
Boxerdog said:
Where should I start with regards to reading st.augustine?
  1. city of God or concessions? is there a certain volume or translation that is best? thanks
Also is there a guide book/ commentary book on St.Augustines books?
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I would go with Confessions first. It’s always best to start with the conversion story. 🙂 (Plus, it’s not as long and easier to read).

I’m not sure about which translation is best. Hopefully someone can answer that for you.
 
Joe_5859 said:
I would go with Confessions first. It’s always best to start with the conversion story. 🙂 (Plus, it’s not as long and easier to read).

I’m not sure about which translation is best. Hopefully someone can answer that for you.
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Ditto. I would add that you can read both books online but a newer translation would be easier to read, and as long as its from a Catholic publisher it should be fine.
 
The City of God is HUGE and pretty complicated for the first half. It was so cumbersome (esp in the old English style of translation) that I put it down and forgot to pick it up and finish.

The Confessions is much, much easier to read and only 1/4 the size of CoG. I read the Penguin Classics version and it read pretty nicely and was only like $7.

Most of this stuff is freely available online, but I don’t recommend sitting infront of a screen reading it all. Use the online versions to cut and paste large quotes.
 
I’d start with Confessions. It’s his spiritual journey and autobiography and easily relatable.

I think it’s also useful for exposure to his way of reasoning before tackling the more abstract “City of God”.
 
Confessions took me a couple of weeks of semi-serious reading. City of God was probably a couple of months-but some* very* insightful stuff interspersed with some perhaps not so edifying.
 
Confessions, no question. I work as a college history professor, and I make my students read the Penguin Classics version. The introduction is quite helpful, as it does a good job of setting up the book and explaining the various philosophies and other religions that he investigated and were around in the late Roman empire.
 
Boxerdog said:
Where should I start with regards to reading st.augustine?
  1. city of God or confessions ? is there a certain volume or translation that is best? thanks
Also is there a guide book/ commentary book on St.Augustines books?
Click to expand...
Confessions and then the Development of Doctrine.
 
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