Author Topic: Should Confessions be read before City of God? (Read 4140 times)

AnthonyPadua · « **on:** December 27, 2023, 09:26:18 PM »

I received City of God as a Christmas gift, and while reading the introduction the writer said they recommend reading Confessions first in-order to get an understanding of Augustine and his views on society. I do not own Confessions but I do not know how *necessary* reading it first would be. Anyone here who can chime in? Perhaps there are those on the forum who have read both or one or the other.

EWPJ · « **Reply #1 on:** December 27, 2023, 10:31:02 PM »

I would opine yes. I've read neither (I should) but have a general idea of what both are about. I think reading Confessions would give you a better grasp of City of God plus you would see all of his detractions and corrections he made of himself and go in to CoG with a better overall understanding of where he's coming from. Just my 2 cents.

SimpleMan · « **Reply #2 on:** December 28, 2023, 12:34:19 AM »

That'd be a judgment call. It's up to you.

AnthonyPadua · « **Reply #3 on:** December 28, 2023, 02:05:33 AM »

Alright looking online to buy Confessions soon enough, however there are so many different variations of the book I am not sure which one is the best and most reliable, and faithful to the original. Any ideas?

I am worried about getting one that is cheaply scanned from a PDF and poorly translated, or even translated by non-Catholics or modern Catholics, destroying the sense of the work.

Hank Igitur · « **Reply #4 on:** December 28, 2023, 04:38:29 AM »

I remember when I wanted to read St. Augustine's "Confessions" for the very first time and came across the same problem of which version to read. After carefully reading and comparing many English versions, I found that the best English translation by far is the John K. Ryan translation from the 1950s from image classics. It's a Traditional Catholic translation so fear not. I'll post a link to it here for purchase and, yes, I strongly recommend that Confessions be read before City of God. Hope this helps:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385029551/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0385029551&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20

CathInfo.com

Author Topic: Should Confessions be read before City of God? (Read 4140 times)

AnthonyPadua

Should Confessions be read before City of God?

EWPJ

Re: Should Confessions be read before City of God?

SimpleMan

Re: Should Confessions be read before City of God?

AnthonyPadua

Augstine Confessions - which publisher?

Hank Igitur

Re: Should Confessions be read before City of God?