While we're commending good reads....

I alluded in an earlier post re. Ted Haggard to St Augustine.  I confess to being a big fan.

'Tis true that three years ago I received a threatening letter from someone warning me that `there are many people in Virginia who are very distressed that you are spreading Romanism and popery at WTS thorugh the writings of St Augustine'  but, thankfully, I have yet to be visited by the Virginian Mujahideen and continue on my merry way, commending Augustine to any who will listen.  Mind you, I do check under my car with a mirror on a pole before I leave WTS each night.

Why? (That is, why is Augustine so great?, not why do I check under my car? ). At least three reasons: first, no-one can really understand Western theology in general or Protestantism in particular until they have truly wrestled with the writings of Augustine, the reception of those writings in the Middle Ages, and then the way in which Reformation Protestantism and Catholicism both, in their different ways, develop and repudiate key insights of his in their own theological discussion.

Second, the Confessions stands as a monumental, unique work of Christian psychology.  It should be read by all thoughtful believers at least once a year.  If the mark of a worthwhile read is that you understand yourself and the world better when you finish it, then the Confessions is extremely worthwhile.

Third, the range of his thought, from psychology to politics to grace makes him a unique source for Christian thinking.  A Marxist friend once commented to me that The City of God was the only book in Christianity that could function as Das Kapital does in Marxism -- a touchstone tome for the development of critical thinking about the whole of life (note to reader -- it was my Marxist friend who said this, not me; no need to cancel your non-existent subscription to Ref21 on the grounds that it harbours the Red Menace; I'm more of a sort of bitter orange).   Written as Rome, the eternal city, burned at the hands of the Goths, The City of God is in places a superb reflection on the relationship between earthly and heavenly kingdoms, a must read for any who have national flags in church.   If Christians really want to develop a critical theory that allows for engagement with contemporary culture, they would do better reading Augustine than Derrida.