Help me choose which spiritual classics I should read next

[LadyCalvinist]

I just finished Watson's book on Repentance and I cannot figure what I should read next. The candidates are"

Holiness by J.C. Ryle
The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study classes by G.I. Williamson
The Great Gain of Godliness by Thomas Watson
Precious Remedies against Satan's Devices by Thomas Brooks
The City of God by Augustine

Suggestions?

 

[RamistThomist]

While in terms of import Augustine has no equal, it is a big commitment. The early chapters are quite engaging, though.

 

[Theoretical]

City of God, by far. If the books were exercises, it's the difference between cardio and weight training. If it was a course, it's as different as a music course and a course on history. It's going to be the most different and expand your mind the most relative to the three individual works. The WCF study guide is kind of itself in a different category.

The Image Classics City of God in my opinion is how you should do an abridgement if you're going to do one. The abridgement, done back in the 1950 by a Catholic philosopher and professor, takes an all-or-nothing approach to each of Augustine's chapters. Chapters that are excluded are instead briefly summarized as to their basic arguments.

For example, Chapters 20 and 31 (under the section Christian Worship Contrasted with Platonic Theology") are fully included and this is between them for Chapters 21-30:

"After further comparison of the power of demons with that of holy men, Augustine addresses Porphyry directly and accuses him of failing to assent to the truth which he knew about the One God. He was intellectually dishonest in teaching theurgy. This apostrophe is not to convince the dead Porphyry but to convert his living followers. Augustine almost begs the Neoplatonists to accept Christ."

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You didn't list it, but something that's large in scope, though not as big as the final form, would be Calvin's 1541 Institutes, translated by Robert White and published by Banner of Truth, which is translated from his French-language Institutes. The prose is genuinely superlative and clear, with a great typesetting, and the content is well worth the read

 

[bookslover]

If you decide to read Augustine's Concerning the City of God Against the Pagans (to give it its full title), your best bet is to get Henry Bettenson's 1972 translation. It's easily available in the Penguin Classics series (paperback) and has a very interesting and informative 49-page introduction by early Church and medieval scholar G. R. Evans. Bettenson himself provides notes along the way to guide the reader. Augustine finished the book in 426, when he was 72 years old.

It's long (the text of the book itself runs from page 6 to page 1,091) but it's one of the major texts in both Christianity and Western civilization as a whole.

Here's Augustine's final paragraph: And now, as I think, I have discharged my debt, with the completion, by God's help, of this huge work. It may be too much for some, too little for others. Of both these groups I ask forgiveness. But, of those for whom it is enough, I make this request: that they do not thank me, but join with me in rendering thanks to God. Amen. Amen.

Also, in my opinion, if you're going to read the book, skip any abridged versions and just read the whole book. You'd be better off in the long run.