Catch the Augustine sale this month
For whatever marketing reasons, Logos and Verbum are sold separately, with their own sales and specials. But the libraries we own are shared between both, so it is good to look at the other site for sales at times. And this month, all Logos users should be aware of the specials on some volumes of the recent New City Press translation of Augustine.
I know it is certainly easy to ignore the “Church Fathers” like Augustine within Protestantism. But it would be a shame to ignore Augustine. Almost certainly your theology and world view has been influenced by either Augustine or people who have read Augustine. It is hard to image the thought of Luther, Calvin or Wesley without Augustine. It is also hard to imagine Sigmund Freud either.
While we have been influenced in so many ways by his thought, it is also not always the easiest to understand, simply because Augustine was a Roman from Northern Africa near the end of the Roman Empire, and wrote in Latin, referencing the authors of antiquity, using all his skills he had developed as a teacher of classical rhetoric. And so having a good annotated edition is quite helpful, and this edition of Augustine from New City Press has been lauded by just about all the experts.
So when the Verbum Free Book of the Month is from this series, it is self-recommending. The work itself may not be as famous as Confessions or City of God, but it is still an important theological reading of John’s Gospel. And the biggest problem with this edition is that it is incomplete – NCP has another volume to finish it, but it isn’t in Logos yet. So DO pick it up.
The next work I strongly recommend is Teaching Christianity. In it, Augustine spends a great deal of time talking about how to read and study the bible, and then a good bit about how to communicate this from the pulpit. Of course, this treatment is “dated”, but it is still the work of a brilliant mind using all his abilities to communicate God’s Word.
If you start reading other works of Augustine, it is good to have a copy of Revisions. Augustine wrote a LOT. And one of the problems with interpreting an author who wrote a lot is that sometimes the same topic comes up repeatedly, but with different treatments. But late in his life, Augustine went through what he had written and tells us when it was written and for what purpose – and gives his understanding of its value, and what he missed when writing the work. And so it gives important context for just about everything he wrote.
The book On Genesis has not one, but rather three different commentaries on the opening of Genesis, written at different points in his life, with slightly different concerns. While there are better commentaries out there for looking at the text in detail, Augustine is still quite good at bringing out the Christian meaning of the text.
The other volumes in this sale are various sermons that Augustine preached to his flock. All can be read for profit. But all are volumes of larger collections, and the quality varies. I would seriously consider getting the volume on Psalms 51-72. It is obvious that Augustine has prayed the Psalms quite often and his treatment shows how “head” and “heart” can – and probably should – work together.
So thank you Faithlife and New City Press for offering these all at good discounts. And even if you are not the type who often digs deep into patristic writers, I urge you to consider taking advantage of this sale.
The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann
L8 Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox Silver, Reformed Starter, Academic Essentials
L7 Lutheran Gold, Anglican Bronze
Comments
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Hi Ken:
I appreciate your post.
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This is the first time I had everything in the Verbum free and plus items for the month.
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that was super helpful. thanks. [Y][Y]
I believe in a Win-Win-Win God.
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I have much from Augustine but, none from New City Press. Thanks for your coverage and pointing to the freebie and important additions.
Meanwhile, Jesus kept on growing wiser and more mature, and in favor with God and his fellow man.
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Ken McGuire said:
The book On Genesis has not one, but rather three different commentaries on the opening of Genesis, written at different points in his life, with slightly different concerns. While there are better commentaries out there for looking at the text in detail, Augustine is still quite good at bringing out the Christian meaning of the text.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but at least some of the works in Genesis here are not included in the Schaff Church Fathers set, right? Specifically I don't think it has On the Literal Interpretation, which I have been looking for...
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Sean said:
Schaff Church Fathers set, right?
You didn't know this might trigger a tirade about Schaff editing for length and not noting the omissions, so I'll save everyone from the tirade but simply indicate that you can trust these volumes to be complete -- they cover all of what they claim to contain. [It's the Schaff's Augustine on the Psalms that is my personal sore point.]
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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The OP is a model of what a really good post can be - informative, product-focused, practical, useful, positive. I commend him for taking the time to share it with us. The man deserves a voucher from Faithlife - He's probably boosted Logos/Verbum cross-platform sales by thousands in one day.
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Sean said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but at least some of the works in Genesis here are not included in the Schaff Church Fathers set, right? Specifically I don't think it has On the Literal Interpretation, which I have been looking for...
From what I understand, none of them are in Schaff. De Genesi ad litteram is in two volumes of ACW, And De Genesi contra Manichaeos and De Genesi ad litteram imperfectus liber are collected in a volume of Fathers of the Church. Since I have them already from Library builder collections, I have not yet personally pulled the plug on this NCP volume yet.
The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann
L8 Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox Silver, Reformed Starter, Academic Essentials
L7 Lutheran Gold, Anglican Bronze
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Ken McGuire said:
From what I understand, none of them are in Schaff. De Genesi ad litteram is in two volumes of ACW, And De Genesi contra Manichaeos and De Genesi ad litteram imperfectus liber are collected in a volume of Fathers of the Church. Since I have them already from Library builder collections, I have not yet personally pulled the plug on this NCP volume yet.
Thank you for confirming that.
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MJ. Smith said:Sean said:
Schaff Church Fathers set, right?
You didn't know this might trigger a tirade about Schaff
I did indeed know those words might trigger, and that they might trigger you! But the Logos "freebies" this month are legion, and the pandemic book budget is limited, so I had to ask. [:P]
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Sean said:
Did you know they'd trigger me? [;)]
Here's a succinct summary of my opinion of the Schaff collection: If you only have it in Schaff, you don't really have it.
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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Since we are sharing our Schaff ECF triggers, mine is those who assume that it includes ALL the writings of the Fathers, or that if someone has it, there is no reason for any other translations and editions...
The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann
L8 Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox Silver, Reformed Starter, Academic Essentials
L7 Lutheran Gold, Anglican Bronze
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Sam Henderson said:
The OP is a model of what a really good post can be - informative, product-focused, practical, useful, positive. I commend him for taking the time to share it with us. The man deserves a voucher from Faithlife - He's probably boosted Logos/Verbum cross-platform sales by thousands in one day.
The only thing the OP is missing is a link: https://verbum.com/monthly-sale#free
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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SineNomine said:
Did you know they'd trigger me?
Here's a succinct summary of my opinion of the Schaff collection: If you only have it in Schaff, you don't really have it.
Oh I'd love to have a better set; the problem is simply a matter of cost. At least the occasional Verbum sale like this lets me pick up a few of them here and there.
But a tip to other protestant users of Logos: always check out the Verbum freebie of the month and monthly sales. You can pick up some amazing stuff. Always pick up the FBotM from both sites, even if you don't think you might want it, for the simple reason that it might help with dynamic pricing of future base packages etc.
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Sean said:
But a tip to other protestant users of Logos: always check out the Verbum freebie of the month and monthly sales. You can pick up some amazing stuff. Always pick up the FBotM from both sites, even if you don't think you might want it, for the simple reason that it might help with dynamic pricing of future base packages etc.
Great advice!
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I've found by accident that it is of some value to have the Schaff Protestant version of the Early Christian Fathers because some works that cite the ECF specifically cite the page number of the Protestant version, and Logos will link specifically to that resource, not other versions of the Patristic writings.
On a separate discussion:
Sean said:Oh I'd love to have a better set; the problem is simply a matter of cost. At least the occasional Verbum sale like this lets me pick up a few of them here and there.
I've been there too. I started by snagging the BOTM of the Catholic University editions. Then as I accumulated enough of them, I would acquire subsets or get some from L8 tiers of volumes I didn't have. Probably not as cost-effective as buying them as a whole, but that's how I did it.
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David Wanat said:
I've found by accident that it is of some value to have the Schaff Protestant version of the Early Christian Fathers because some works that cite the ECF specifically cite the page number of the Protestant version, and Logos will link specifically to that resource, not other versions of the Patristic writings.
Yes, this is true. Follow the link to Schaff... and then use Parallel Resources to switch to something else, if possible.
Sean said:Oh I'd love to have a better set; the problem is simply a matter of cost. At least the occasional Verbum sale like this lets me pick up a few of them here and there.
Yes. I make use of base package sales as well.
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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SineNomine said:David Wanat said:
I've found by accident that it is of some value to have the Schaff Protestant version of the Early Christian Fathers because some works that cite the ECF specifically cite the page number of the Protestant version, and Logos will link specifically to that resource, not other versions of the Patristic writings.
Yes, this is true. Follow the link to Schaff... and then use Parallel Resources to switch to something else, if possible.
I never thought of using Parallel Resources in that way before. Thanks for the tip. 👍
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David Wanat said:
I never thought of using Parallel Resources in that way before. Thanks for the tip. 👍
Beware, though, of the many patristic parallel resources that... aren't. Especially with St. Augustine. Play with it a bit and you'll see what I mean.
EDIT: Of course, the converse is also true. For example, the Schaff and Great Books editions of On Christian Doctrine neither given nor are given by the NCP edition of the same in Parallel Resources, even though they scroll together just fine as linked resources.
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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SineNomine said:
Beware, though, of the many patristic parallel resources that... aren't.
I have Popular Patristics as one of my favorite sets - but for better or worse, they include both the original language as well as an English translation for many works. And for a while Logos seemed to think I wanted to default to the Greek instead of English, so I learned to use the parallel resource tool...
Well, there are different numbering systems for the letters of many of the fathers, and the tagging in logos works is not exactly always consistent in using the same numbering system as the author of the book referencing a letter is using. And in Augustine, there are more than a few works that have similar names, but are indeed separate works. I do remember reporting a LOT of these as typos when I read through Pannenberg's Systematic Theology a few years ago.
And that is not getting into how there are multiple "standards" for sub units of many fathers, namely Chapters and Paragraph numbers, with each used separately at times, or together too. In general patristic references are complicated enough that it would not want to imagine trying to come up with a computer algorithm to automatically link them, even when I do complain about bad links.
The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann
L8 Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox Silver, Reformed Starter, Academic Essentials
L7 Lutheran Gold, Anglican Bronze
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Ken McGuire said:
And for a while Logos seemed to think I wanted to default to the Greek instead of English, so I learned to use the parallel resource tool...
That can also be fixed using Prioritization and custom series, fwiw.
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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Yeah. When I was told I could create a custom series, it was easy to fix.
The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann
L8 Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox Silver, Reformed Starter, Academic Essentials
L7 Lutheran Gold, Anglican Bronze
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Ken McGuire, Thank you for your helpful post. I would have missed some valuable Augustine material without it.
"In all cases, the Church is to be judged by the Scripture, not the Scripture by the Church," John Wesley0 -
And a year later Verbum is offering another collection of NCP's Augustine series.
Grabbing the freebie is, again, an obvious choice. Augustine was a teacher of rhetoric, and so knew how to communicate. Free sermons from one of the most important Christian theologians? Yes please!!! After looking through it a bit, you can decide if you want more of his sermons as well. I would recommend the offering on the Psalms if you do not have it from a Verbum base package.
The next one I would strongly recommend is "On Christian Belief", if for no other reason than the Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love. It is a pre-digested summary of Augustine's mature thought written for the somewhat educated christian. It is still good reading today - and vital for understanding what Roman Catholics mean with much of the terminology they use.
And The Trinity is one of the most important Christian writings on the subject. This work is both the most significant way the results of the Eastern Trinitarian debates have reached the Western church - including us Protestants - as well as a contribution that led to the official split between East and West.
What I wrote about Teaching Christianity I think is still valid - although I do believe it was cheaper last year.
I have not dug deeply into Augustine's Letters, but for 2 bucks, it is hard to go wrong.
So, thanks again to Faithlife and New City Press for offering even more of this series at a good discount.
The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann
L8 Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox Silver, Reformed Starter, Academic Essentials
L7 Lutheran Gold, Anglican Bronze
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Another year, another Augustine Sale on Verbum.
Over at verbum.com/monthly-sale there are more volumes of the New City Press edition of Augustine. It goes without saying that you want to pick up the free volume on Psalms 120-150 if you don't already have it. And for 5.99 their edition of Confessions is also self recommending, as would be the 1.99 audio book version of it if you are into audio books at all. Yes, even if you have an edition of Confessions in Logos, it is worth it to get this edition because both the notes and translation itself are that good.
And they are offering some meatier works this year. The City of God is so many things. Political Theory? Check. Apologia for Christianity? Check. One of the most important theological texts in the Christian Tradition? Check. It is also a bit expensive, but this is one of the most import texts of "The West" that has influenced just about all of us, whether we know it or not.
Then there are the opening round of both Augustine's debate with Manicheans and Pelagians, debates that in my opinion, are still with us.
In my opinion none of the works I speak of above - heck, none of the ones in this sale that I didn't highlight - would be a waste of money. They are not just for Roman Catholics. They are for all of us.
The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann
L8 Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox Silver, Reformed Starter, Academic Essentials
L7 Lutheran Gold, Anglican Bronze
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Very happy to spend too much money this month picking up all these great discounted books. Some months I forget to check the Verbum sale site so I wish there was a way to sign up for an email or other reminder for both sites. Faithlife, are you listening! Help me spend more money on your site by not making me have to hunt down sales each month
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Thank you. I missed the previous notices but have added the Psalm 121-150 resource to my library. I'm up to verse 5 in my slow reading schedule. [:)]
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou [art] God. (Ps 90:2)
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danwdoo said:
Some months I forget to check the Verbum sale site so I wish there was a way to sign up for an email or other reminder for both sites. Faithlife, are you listening! Help me spend more money on your site by not making me have to hunt down sales each month
.There is. Go into your email preferences and sign up for Verbum emails.
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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SineNomine said:
There is. Go into your email preferences and sign up for Verbum emails.
Thanks! I hadn't ever found that page before.
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I already own City of God. (I have all three volumes, I just posted the link to one below) What is the difference between what I already own and the volume on sale this month?
https://verbum.com/product/46627/saint-augustine-the-city-of-god-books-i-vii
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There is a volume on sale that discuss Augustine's response to Pelagianism. This is a topic that interests me. Is the volume on sale a good place to start or should I begin elsewhere?
Thanks.
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Ronald Quick said:
I already own City of God. (I have all three volumes, I just posted the link to one below) What is the difference between what I already own and the volume on sale this month?
Different translation - more than half a century in between.
Have joy in the Lord!
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Thanks - very helpful. [:)]
Something else tempting me to spend more money. [:(]
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Ronald Quick said:
There is a volume on sale that discuss Augustine's response to Pelagianism. This is a topic that interests me. Is the volume on sale a good place to start or should I begin elsewhere?
This is also something that interests me, but I am not an "expert" on this. For this question I would defer to the late Father William Harmless, who left us an excellent annotated bibliography currently hosted at https://dspace2.creighton.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10504/84473/Patristics7.pdf?sequence=1 . You would probably be served a bit better for a first resource by a collection that has writings from all sides (not all "Pelagians" agreed on everything) but the sale volume is one of the best resources out there to understand Augustine's side in the first phase of the controversy.
The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann
L8 Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox Silver, Reformed Starter, Academic Essentials
L7 Lutheran Gold, Anglican Bronze
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Mike Childs said:
Ken McGuire, Thank you for your helpful post. I would have missed some valuable Augustine material without it.
Agreed
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