City of God (Penguin Classics)

Rating:
Summary: Read this and be changed forever.
Review: This is quite possibly my favorite book of all time. It is a priceless resource in my search to better understand - and live - my Catholic faith. If I could, I would rename it "Christian Mechanics" because Augustine explains the Bible in terms so explicit that he seems to transmit a mathmatical understanding of God's plan.
The Modern Library edition has Thomas Merton's beautiful introdution, which I found to be an extremely helpful guide in walking through Augustine's epic. Read this and be changed forever.

Rating:
Summary: Ouch
Review: What can I say about this book? That as a Pagan, I consider it the ultimate insult to all human beings? After all, it was written at a time when the Christians were starting on a major campaign to slaughter Pagans and bring us into the Dark Ages.

I could say that Diogenes searched far and wide for an honest man. And that I too have searched far and wide. For a stupid man. And that now I've finally found one in gus, the author of this book.

I could tell about how the author felt that if torture were appropriate for those who broke the laws of men, it was even more appropriate for those who broke the laws of god. I could say that gus had no sympathy for Roman virgins who were raped by the Goths (he said they asked for it). I could say that I am totally outraged by and fed up with folks like gus who tyrannically tell the rest of us how to worship.

But I think I'll stop here.