This book has changed my life.Not only has it cemented my reversion to Catholicism, but it's so well written in various ways that it's now in my all time favorite books.Thoughts?
>All the smart people are finding Orthodoxy>Chumps running back to the DiddlersRead Dante or something.
>>25425818Mogged by Miaphysite fathers
>>25425818It is a good book
>>25425823The Orthos have all the problems the Catholics have and then even more, you just don't hear abou them because they're stuffed away east of Italy so you never hear about them.Would you like to talk about how their molestation problem is just as bad?How about how Moscow and Constantinople have been in schism since the Ukraine War and that isn't looking to change any time soon?Or how the Patriarch of Moscow is on the payroll of the Russian state?
>>25425823>the slavophilic shitposters actually convinced him they were smartKEK
>>25425818It's definitely good, but did it really cement your reversion just because it made you feel? I hope it actually convicted you of something. Committing to a religion just because of a man's skill with prose is dumb.
I think it's actually super-cool that, after he's gotten finished inventing the autobiography, making us cry over the memory of his mother, and glorifying God in the grandest way possible, Augustine then hits us with a fascinating theory of time to wrap things up. Confessions is a neat little book, with a lot packed into its brief runtime.
>>25425818He celebrated Divine Liturgy btw
I don't remember most of it, especially the end. I remember that part where he compares his life to a drunk beggar and concludes that he himself is the far more deluded one.
>>25425818Take the Quakerpill
>>25425964
>>25425818It's a nice book, even for non believer, they might get something out of it
>>25425823There's actually no credible cass to be made that child sex abuse is more common among Catholic clergymen. In fact, they're less likely to engage in CSA than the background population. The only reason you think otherwise is because the media repeated it so often that it became a cliché, i.e. you've been successfully brainzogged by mossad.
Tbh, i could not extract Any value from this book. I cant Even remeber much of it. I was Looking for a Book that could convince me finally to put my faith in Christ,beside the Bibel,but i guess this was Not it. But maybe its my fault.
It's my fav book as well, I can't stop reading it.
>>25426085read it as if he wrote it specifically only for you, as if you are his friend and he is pouring his heart out in confession>>25426075jews rape kids
>>25425818Yeah Augustine is extremely underrated in this day and age, there's a reason he's one of the great doctors of the Church. A brilliant writer.
>>25426383>jews rape kidsWhat does that have to do with it
>>25426383>Be a man at 13 and seek a woman, be scorned>Other side complains about lost youth and being sexlessWe can't win with mindsets like yours
>>25426451Augustine is not underrated. He has never been underrated, even if disliked. St. Guinefort is underrated.
>>25425818Now read the Summa Theologica
>>25425823you guys believe Mary is The Mother of God, The Queen of Heaven, sinless, etc though...Jesus is Lord.
>>25426526You want to talk underrated, at least in the West.. read this excerpt from St. John Chrysostom's Paschal sermon:Enjoy ye all the feast of faith: Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shown forth from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior’s death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower regions. It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.Kino
>>25425823I'm too dumb to put it into words eloquently, but I think Orthodoxy historically is kind of shit. Catholicism went through the Reformation+Counter-Reformation, the Enlightenment (really most scientific/technological, philosophical, political/governmental innovations+advancement, idea of separation of church and state) occurred in states where Catholicism/Protestantism were prevalent. Orthodoxy was just "there," doing what? Painting icons, being BASED and TRAD?
>>25426619Dealing with infinite hordes of muslims. Why do you think all of the advancement was in the Western half of Europe? It's a miracle itself that Orthodoxy survived the tyranny of both the Soviet Union and Ottoman Empire when you look at the persecution and death tolls.. not to mention the Armenian genocide, constant persecution in Egypt, and ongoing persecution in Palestine. More martyrs than the Catholic church while being 1/3 or 1/4 of the size.
I got the Loeb for this last week. My goal is to be able to read the original Latin of the whole work comfortably by the end of the year. Prior to getting the Loeb, I read through the first book in the Latin, which wasn't so easy. Wish me luck.>>25425825Do you have any books from "the Miaphysite fathers" to recommend that are similar in genre or content to Augustine's Confessions?
>>25426075>There's actually been no studies on the institutional protection of all the numerously accused nor the psychological reasons why you would find so many sex offenders in such a place>I personally believe they wouldn't Confederate States of America and would trust anyones kids with themt. a pedo priest>>25426619Yes, you are much too stupid to chime in>>25426645>They had to deal with mudslimes!You too. Shut up.
>>25426813Institutional protection of abusers is not the same thing as the rate of abuse. It's not even indicative of it. It's stunning to see so many people on the literature board without functional reading comprehension. Everything just keeps getting worse. I might have to off myself before it gets any worse.
>>25425818>mom told me to break up with my girlfriend and marry a catholic bitch for better optics>i actually hate this bitch though time to be a priest and take a vow of chastityHell no.
>>25426836Learn to read first
>>25426856>no uI don't know why I bothered.
>>25425818>Converts to a religion after reading one booklmao. Try reading a second book. Unfortunately you'll probably just stick to reading Christslop for the rest of your life
>>25426075Enjoy your cryptic solar cult.
>>25425823Being Orthodox doesn't necessarily make you smart.
>>25427568I haven't looked into it too seriously, but there's a handful of people I have come to respect (for their intellect) who have just gravitated towards it for some reason. An ex-Catholic, ex-atheists.
>>25427607>for some reasonIt’s a semi-exotic Catholicism without the Anglophone cultural baggage. Their liturgy is also very nice.
>>25427493>Enjoy your cryptic solar cult.
>>25425823Orthodoxy is just Catholicism with extra russian dark money and less socio-political benefits. There's no reason to be an Orthodox unless you were raised in slavic or greek culture.
>>25426619I mean, yes? Catholicism actually evolved as a religion while Orthodoxy became stagnant and theologically shallow. It's mostly defenseless against the threats of modernity. I think the best thing for Orthodoxy to survive the current times is to end the schism, merge with the Catholic Church to become the One Church again, but to emphasize it's position as a mystical and esoteric alternative to rigid catholic systematic theology, instead of trying to compete with catholicism as a whole. Kinda like Sufism to Islam.
>>25427952>There's no reason to be an Orthodox unless you were raised in slavic or greek culture.If your family is Protestant, converting to orthodoxy will be less likely to make your mom and grandma cry and say you’re going to hell. I’m convinced that’s why most Americans convert.
>>25425818Have you read the King James Bible in it's entirely?
>>25425914>>25427952>Orthodoxy is Russo-Slavo>Putin baaaadYou guys know you've been mindfucked by the NSA? You have. >no no no! you don't have to convert unless you're from there!ANd you don't have to be a stupid Catholic unless you're in Vatican City. kys.
For me, it's this guy.
>>25427979>Catholicism actually evolved
>>25425823>>25425839Most denominations are true, the spiritually weak come to with additional rules for themselves and once isn't to judge them for if as stated in Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8:7
>>25425818I have a friend i Rhode Island who has a friend who is Jewish and anti Catholic, when the abuses came to light he was confused by the reaction he told my friend that rabbis abuse kids
>>25428247wrong post also you guys have hit the crapper after the hacks with captchas
>>25428163>You guys know you've been mindfucked by the NSA? You haveNope, I'm not even american, and my country is sympathetic towards Russia. It's just that it doesn't make sense to prefer a church that is subordinate to a country's whims, as opposed to a church which rules their own nation-state and it is very influential globally, if both churches believe the same thing overall. Why, if I'm not a russian myself, should I be following the authority of a church that is not even authoritative enough to pose itself as a major player worldwide? If I have to choose between listening to The Pope or to a random patriarch (one of many) paid by post-soviet oligarchs, why should I choose the latter?
>>25428263>Sense >Catholick
I've read Confessions multiple times. I read City Of God years ago in undergrad, I need to read it again.What I keep meaning to get into are Augustine's dialogues. He wrote a bunch of them and supposedly they're all great, very much in the Platonic tradition but dealing with Christian ideas. I read On Free Choice Of The Will years ago too, I need to read the rest.
>>25427749if you subtract 1000 years of misguided innovation from the Roman Catholics, you have Orthodoxy. I have a lot of respect for the scholastic tradition in the West, but the reality is that modern Catholics don't even follow it. Someone like Ripperger who has a dignified and reverent approach to Catholic theology, and bases everything in the fathers, is controversial.>>25427952Are you for real?>>25427979The idea that you can 'evolve as a religion' sounds good in premise but is totally false. The 'deposit of the faith' given to the Apostles was the entirety of the faith. Orthodoxy doesn't innovate because the entirety of the faith has already been received, and the 'Church-building' phase of the first millennia was the process of uprooting heresy and defining the boundaries of Christianity's doctrine. So instead of innovating over time, we have defined boundaries of doctrine that keep us from heresy, and within those boundaries, there is room given for nuance. If there was another council, they could take a stance on an issue within the Church, but nothing could be decided that tacks on to the deposit. It must be completely justified through exegesis, and this is the process that was used when defining things like the trinity and the incarnation of Christ.>>25428012Most converts that I've met chose Orthodoxy because it has tangible substance, nuance, and historical grounding compared to any other church they've visited. Most people want to know where that their church existed during the time of the Apostles and the Council of Nicea.
>>25428435>and this is the process that was used when defining things like the trinity and the incarnation of Christ.We would likely not have any agreed upon definitions pertaining to the Trinity or Christology if all of Christendom adhered to modern Orthodox ecclesiology. We barely even had agreed definitions back then, given the prevalence of heresy. Also, the “stop innovating bro we figured it out in the first millennium” rhetoric is a subjective appeal to an arbitrary date.
>>25428469It's a rough date also accounting for later councils and the schism. 7th council if you are talking about basic doctrine and heresy.
>>25428292Great comeback, huh?My point still stands: The Orthodox Church is just the Catholic Church but with way less institutional power and filled with ethnic idiosyncrasies, which makes utterly pointless any attempt by a non-ethnic orthodox to convert into it.
Catholics literally worship and pray to graven images and icons on a daily basis and you just now came to this conclusion?
>>25429540>worshipvenerate**>pray to graven images and iconsto the saints the icons and images are of, to ask them to pray for us**The prayer of a righteous man availeth much, after all.
>>25430904>ItS nOt WoRsHiP iTs "VeNeRaTiOn"There's that age old cope.
>>25430910If God didn't approve He wouldn't make the statues do cool shit like weep blood or secrete sacred oils.
>>25430946>Starts lying HMMMMMM....
>>25430946>fountain leaking shit water
>>25425818Great book, easy to read too. Even if you’re not religious or you’re some idiot who claims to be religious but refuses to read religious books that he doesn’t think are 100% supportive of his politics, it’s still worth reading just for being one of the oldest autobiographies ever written
What do you make of Protestants adopting Augustine? Both John Calvin and Martin Luther cited Augustine as a major influence. Protestants believe they are more faithful to Augustine than Catholics are.
>>25425818>Not only has it cemented my reversion to ̶C̶a̶t̶h̶o̶l̶i̶c̶i̶s̶m̶ the Babylonian solar cult.
>>25428372Again the Sun in this pic.
>>25425818Did you study the liberal arts because you were a worthless good for nothing?
>>25425818>cemented my reversion to CatholicismWhy? It's good but when I was desperately trying to stay faithful I tried reading lots of apologetics books and conversion narratives and they didn't convince me
>>25431394>>25431395The Sun is a forerunner to God Himself in the history of worship. I actually think Augustine writes about this. The Sun is an Appearance, a Shadow, of God, in the Platonic sense.
>>25425818I've only read excerpts so far. I didn't care for them - at least not as much as I might have hoped. Augustine is eloquent, but it oftentimes feels as though he knows his audience a little too well and is writing to tell them what he knows they will respond positively to. I find his later renunciation of free will to be deeply concerning. I think it may well have done lasting harm to the psyches of many Christians throughout history. I don't understand why he felt so qualified to write about the New Testament when, according to many, his Greek was poor. You wouldn't write a commentary on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms if you didn't know how to read 14th century vernacular Chinese.
>>25425916This is all Christianity is
>>25431450It's Christ Crucified and Christ Risen.
