Linden, N.S.
As I write this, I can look out on the Straight of Northumberland. I have the summer away from my job as a Teacher Assistant. I could feel the hot sands of the beach on my feet, I could be traveling and seeing the world, I could be volunteering at a library or fire department, or working a summer job to save up some money. Instead, I'm sitting at home after checking out a library book. The book... City of God by St. Augustine.
This book has haunted my interactions with a certain individual who I hope is reading this. Said book being only marginally less repulsive than "Poor Dad Rich Dad". Even now I'm avoiding reading by writing this.
Pain. This is an exercise in pain. But I suppose it is also a book review. The book, which the library had to request a delivery for, is "City of God - Saint Augustine. Abridged For Modern Readers, With a Foreword by Vernon J, Bourke. Introduction by Etienne Gibson. With 545 pages it still appears smaller than the Unabridged copy I found tucked away in the literature section of a Used book store. Perhaps if I'm enjoying myself too much, I'll buy that version.
As far as first impressions go City of God already has a reputation for me. that of being an ancient text pertaining to problems which have no bearing on myself today what-so-ever. I've avoided looking into Christian philosophers in general due to the same reason, even as St. Augustine became an in-joke between some friends. Horrifyingly the name just kept coming up when doing some research for myself. Modern Philosophy, Literary Analysis, History, it seemed like after first learning his name, this ancient Bishop wormed his way into relevance for every topic I wanted to look into. To exorcise this annoyance, I bit the bullet. I'll read St. Augustine. Ill learn all there is to know. Ill inundate my mind with theory and trivia in order to out maneuver St. Oggy. I'll always be one step ahead of Gus. I'll be able to anticipate his relevance and make those tangential reads for additional context irrelevant.
So I'm reading this book, and I'll write my thoughts in this format whatever it ends up becoming. I have no idea what, exactly, I'll get out of this exercise but I'll keep updating whenever I find something.