Augustine - Major Writings

Augustine – Major Writings (1995) by Benedict J. Groeschel (St Paul), ISBN: 9780854395163 — Condition: As New — as sold by Crappy Old Books

Saint Augustine: the man who gave us Confessions, City of God, and more quotable lines about sin, grace, and human frailty than a dozen philosophy departments could footnote in a semester. In Augustine – Major Writings, Benedict J. Groeschel gathers together some of the Bishop of Hippo’s greatest hits, carefully introduced and explained so you don’t need to be a Latinist with a spare decade to get what’s going on.

This edition, published in 1995 by St Paul, is the sort of book that makes you feel smarter just by picking it up. It’s got the wisdom of a saint, the voice of a theologian, and the occasional firecracker of a polemic—Augustine was never shy about telling heretics what’s what. Groeschel, a respected spiritual writer himself, helps guide modern readers through Augustine’s passionate, deeply human, and sometimes delightfully cranky thought.

Now for the kicker: this copy is in As New condition. Yes, you read that right—As New. Which means that, against all odds, no one has ever tried to underline Augustine’s musings on original sin with a highlighter, or dog-ear the page where he talks about stealing pears as a youth. The cover is pristine, the spine uncracked, the pages smooth—like it’s just descended straight from the scriptorium without passing through the hands of a single seminarian.

And all this is brought to you by Crappy Old Books, the shop whose name is humbly misleading. Sure, some of our stock has “character” (creased spines, coffee rings, a suspicious whiff of pipe tobacco), but this one? This one is positively angelic in its freshness. So fresh, in fact, that if Augustine himself dropped by, he’d probably want to sign it—though he’d definitely insist on adding a warning against pride while doing so.

A volume of eternal wisdom in near-eternal condition. Not bad for something listed under “Crappy.”

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