How do you feel about St. Augustine?

I recently purchases his Confessions and heard he was a great influence on Ludwig Wittgenstein and Martin Heidegger.

Because they're Catholics.

really good writer, lots of very aesthetic moments. read confessions. chapter 8 is sublime.

city of god is skippable if you're not hardcore interested in catholic theological history

I find him amazing. Is there anything in particular that you would like to discuss? His ethics perhaps?

I hated the Confessions, couldn't tell why - found it slow, long, philosophically poor (except all these pages on time and memory - but there's nothing more boring than this subject). Like the guy above said, there's nice things in book 8, though.
Oddly enough, I was quite terrified at the idea of reading the Cito of God, but I really, really, really enjoyed it. It's true that many parts are about theological issues, but on the same time it's still understandable and has several simple, interesting ideas.

>heard he was a great influence on Ludwig Wittgenstein

"Philosophical Investigations" starts with a quote of St. Augustine and a five-page criticism of it.

Augustine is one of the greatest thinkers in Western history. We inherit so much from him in the modern world, not the least because it is through him that Christianity fully absorbed Platonic thought.

But he's also a passionate, thoughtful man, a man who clearly struggles with sin and doubt, but who nevertheless remains faithful to God and is rewarded with the touch of the divine. He is an inspiration to everyone who's ever questioned themselves.

Read everything he's written.

I dun know...his unrelentingly god felatio was tiresome. Also don't buy his whole lust is bad mkay argument.

I've liked Confessions and have been wanting to read City of God, but I keep hearing it's advanced stuff. Should I just go for it?

Where should one start with him? I'm converting to Catholicism and always hear this guy referenced in my classes and whatnot.

Convert to Presbyterianism. St Augustine would have been a Calvinist today. Or maybe a high church Anglican.

>Presbyterianism

Catholicism is far more Veeky Forums, though.

Okay. If you aren't interested in following Jesus. Then that's fine. I would recommend Anglo-Catholicism or Lutheranism (high church variant). I mean you'll go to hell if you are a Catholic.

Here we go again.

>I mean you'll go to hell if you are a Catholic.

Because we follow the traditions of Christianity that stem beyond the teachings of the Bible? It's funny how there are literally hundreds of Christian denominations, while there are only a few Catholic ones. Care to elaborate?

i threw it in the garbage after finishing it, that's what i thought of it

Don't pay attention to the memers. Start with Confessions.

>the traditions of Christianity that stem beyond the teachings of the Bible
Such as corruption and child rape.

The Vatican is an Italian centric mob money laundering operation that protects paedophiles. You might have a hard on for the architecture, the art and the literary associations, but don't pretend the Catholic Church exists in the name of Christ, my man. If you fully believe in Christ and aren't just larping on Veeky Forums and you're completely honest, it's hard to deny the Catholic Church as anything but satanic. Eternal truth is meant to be eternal truth, not PR re-vamps, dodgy cover-ups and numerous lucrative opportunities. The Catholic Church is faggotry, cancer and aids.

How the fuck do you find time to be a boring subject?

Definitely pick it up, but remember it's long -- 1000+ pages.

The pagan sex gag was pretty good

The Catholic Church doesn't rape more than any other institution. And people on the church don't claim to be saints, they are sinners like everyone else.

If rape and child rape are your criteria for finding satanic cults, every other institution in the world is as much satanic as the catholic church.

Atheists don't understand that if you want to destroy the church, you have to make people be indifferent to it, not hate it. Hate is a strong emotion and, in the end, empowers the Church because it gives it inflated importance. Christianity thrives if you try to supress it. Intead, you have to make people forget it.

If you take your faith in God seriously, any institution engaged in covering up child rape, enabling the perpetrators and protecting the offenders to preserve its own reputation, is pretty fucking evil, and one who does so in the name of God definitely fits the criteria for satanic, my man.

With the current reforms in place, there's no safer place for a child in the whole world than in a catholic church. And before it was in average safer, just not the most safe.

I'm agnostic m8; I'm just pointing out that the meme you're spouting make the Catholic Church stronger in the end. It is similar to Trump: talking badly so much about him made him look bigger than he really is.

I'm really not interested in your specious psychology - "let's ignore fires out of existence!". I'm sure you think you're being enlightening, but I disagree with you and I don't care to have this discussion on this board. It was necessary to point out that the Catholic Church does not meet the necessary criteria for the eternal truth of God - they're corrupt, their message changes to fit the zeitgeist, they've perpetrated perhaps worse wrongs than many earthly institutions. If you don't disagree, you shouldn't have responded.

I'm disagreeing, just not in the way you expecting. You seem to be way too skewed in the way you expect people to respond to your arguments. I'm point out fact you're ignoring ("There's no safer place for a child in the world than a Catholic Church"). I'm just feeling you're spouting a meme so wrong, so old and so ineffective that you might as well try to get out of this vicious pattern of though.

Also, the worst thing that happened to humanity was either Nazism or Gengis Khan. Catholic Church is a pale thing compared to them.

When you say, the Catholic Church was the worst thing ever, I'm saying "C'mon, they are not specially bad, it doesn't matter the criteria you use, you're goint to find throug out the history things that were worse."

They are not specially anything; that's how you defeat them, by making eveyone undestand that.

My point is the Catholic Church does not fit the criteria for the eternal truth of God. You're retarded. Literally kill yourself.

>You're retarded. Literally kill yourself.

I wish the same to you, my friend. That's how this ends. Sigh.

I was more curious to see whether you could abide by your own advice of ignoring things rather than fanning the flames. You can't. Gg.

I just think the Catholic Church isn't the devil destroying the world simply. I don't accept your allegory of "the fire that must be put out", instead I think the Catholic is more akin to the internet troll in the internet (like me and you); he will continue to spout his nonsense as long as you give attention to him, and he will only stop when no one is listening and cares about what he says. You can't use force against him, because he will push back, make a mess and will continue his trolling ways.

First read the Bible and the Catechism

Lmao shut up I won.

St. Cuckustine.

why does it reject slults for god?

Sure. thanks, m8.

I'm already reading the Bible and the Catechism, pham.

Because lust is a sin, fag.

It may be because I never happened to study or think about it. A little bit through phenomenology, that's all. Perhaps I'd identify interesting issues or ideas if I cared to focus on it, or if I had to.

It's not *so* advanced. The first book is about how christian women should not feel guilty when they get raped, for instance. I remember that in some other book, Augustine tries to determine what demons are made of. That kind of stuff. Some pages on destiny, superstition, sacrifice, on whether it's possible or not to be both mortal and fully happy, etc. It's really not bullshit nor too abstract.