The Seat of Man's Intellect: What Says Your God?

[Jenny A]

Will your reading of the great works of history eventually include authors such as Augustine, Aquinas and others who were thoroughly Catholic?

If he does, I can make some suggestions for him.  I have read some Augustine.  If he wants a brief introduction to his thought, The Enchiridion on Faith, Hope and Love is probably the best choice.  The Confessions is a popular choice, and one can read in it what a total asshole he was (both before and after he converted; for example, his attitudes toward women are appalling).  One should make sure one gets an unabridged version, as there is an interesting discussion of time in it that is worth reading.  It is theologically motivated, of course, but it is strikingly modern and interesting for his era.  The City of God is probably his most famous book, but it is long.  And that is a vice in a book by Augustine, as he has a tediousness about him that is hard enough to stomach [figure of speech intended] even in a short book.

One can find a list of his works here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_...bliography

Almost no one is going to read all of them.  And for the sane reader, all it will take is reading a couple of them to convince one not to try to read them all.

And once one has read some Augustine, if one wants worse, one can move on to Aquinas.

Thank you that pretty much sums up my feelings about Augustine and Aquinas.  I haven't really read then since college (read thirty or more years ago).  I can remember finding them exciting in that they had well thought out systems of thought to explore.  Now I mostly notice that as freshman and sophomores we could find the holes.  So, historically relevant to philosophical thought, worth pondering, not so much.