89 Comments

Library and History sub. At $250 annually, I would add this subscription.

1. Orthodoxy - G. K. Chesterton

2. Mere Christianity - C. S. Lewis

3. Summa Theologica - St. Thomas Aquinas

Most of Lewis’s works are fairly short, so I don’t know how feasible it would be to include 2-3 in one volume, or if that would be in line with the Castalia ethic, but it’s an idea to get more material to the subscribers per year.

I’m also with keruru. If Castalia could get the rights to the Space Trilogy, I would buy that in a heartbeat.

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Mere Christianity would be amazing but considering Lewis’ succinct writing within his apologetic works I would think half or more could be bound into one book.

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1. Confessions of St Augustine.

2. The imitation of Christ Thomas a Kempis.

3. 200 years... Alexandr Solzintsyn

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200 Years Together, Russia and the Jews is an excellent choice - the 1st Ed that WAS BANNED in the West and not printed in English!

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Here's a few quotes from 200 Years Together:

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Btw, also add:

On the Consolation of Philosophy - Boethius

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City of God and Summa Theologica are two of the most sought after leather volumes. Pilgrims Progress is printed in leather editions in high volume but is an obvious pick.

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1. A curated collection of creeds & confessions: Apostles Creed, Nicene, etc., Heidelberg confession, Westminster confession, etc.

2. Lives of the Apostles- where did they go, what did they do, when/how did the die (assuming someone has written that); James in Spain for example

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1. Paradise Lost

2. St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel, with any combination of Dark Night of the Soul, Living Flame of Love, Spiritual Canticle (they’re short).

3. Tertullian, especially against heretics and unbelievers.

I’d pay a premium for a limited subscription complete Summa in however many volumes the process takes. A Christian subscription could even include historically significant ancillary works. Someone mentioned Philo. With extended options like a good Pseudo-Dionysius or Origen, or even Plotinus and Proclus, the denominational friction can be avoided in perpetuity.

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I would love the Summa by Aquinas. I once had a complete set of Calvin (lost it in a move, to my regret, but his Institutes are the equal.

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Aquila’s Summa

Early Church Fathers - selected works

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Oct 14·edited Oct 14

I would love to pay for a Christian subscription. However, I'm a Catholic. Pilgrim's Progress, no matter how beautifully illustrated, is a hard pass as an anti-Catholic work. If I'm mostly supporting the reprinting of people who, at very best don't understand my faith, then that's not a good use of money.

I'll watch for what you've got for individual titles as they come out. Pre-Luther works will probably be the most unifying. Dante is of great interest, Chesterton is now in the public domain, is as Hilliare Belloc.

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This is why a Christian Castalia subscription should limit itself to the Church Fathers and other First Millennium writers.

Catholics will oppose Bunyan just as strongly as Protestants will support him.

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In for the Christian book sub at $250/yr.

Ideas:

1. The Crusades: Iron Men and Saints, Harold Lamb

2. 1917 Code of Canon Law

3. A history on the reformation -- I don't know a good one.

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Oct 14·edited Oct 15

The most obvious choice for the Reformation - and I should have put it on my list - was Martin Luther's, The Jews and Their Lies. It's essentially banned on google and finding a copy now is not easy. Think of the irony given America is a Protestant wasteland, a product of Luther's heresies, along with the French Revolution, and yet his book is completely unknown to his flock of jackels. The man who Judified and gutted Christianity with his enslaved-will nonsense, hated the Jews! LOL!

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Oct 14·edited Oct 14

On 3, there's a Catholic version of that history by Hiliare Belloc. I don't know how well it would be received by a general Christian audience. Also I don't know who would want the 1917 Code of Canon Law either, especially as general audience.

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Belloc's is called "How the Reformation Happened". It has an additional feature of potential relevance to contemporary readers insofar as it argues that the Reformation in some cases (notably in England) was a "top down" movement driven in large part by elites who were motivated by power and greed.

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As a catholic mentioned elsewhere, I would not be interested in most protestant works since I am Orthodox. So a subscription may not suit my needs best, but perhaps for others it would.

On Marriage and Family, by St John Chrysostom would be one I'd love to buy for keeps. Additional pre-schism works would be appreciated as well.

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There are so many great works of the pre-schism saints, no need to go beyond for the initial subscription.

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The Apologies of St. Justin Martyr.

Any other early church fathers.

I also think it would be best to stick with authors from before the Reformation and the Great Schism.

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1. War, Progress, and the End of History: Three Conversations, Including a Short Story of the Anti-Christ by Vladimir Soloviev

2. The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton

3. Nihilism: The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age by Fr. Seraphim Rose

4. The Spiritual Combat by Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

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I 2nd The Spiritual Combat. Written by a catholic but was also widely popular in the East, enough so that additions were made by an Orthodox fellow. The version with the Ortho additions would be my pick, also it would have more braod appeal.

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Bede the Venerable’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People

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Oct 14·edited Oct 15

Martin Luther, The Jews and Their Lies.

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I am already working on attractive hardcover collections of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine, so

1) Golden Legend, Jacobus de Voragine

2) Pastoral Rule, St. Gregory the Great

3) Sayings of the Desert Fathers

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Oct 14·edited Oct 14

1) The City of God by Augustine of Hippo

2) Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas (Prima Pars)

3) End of the Timeless God by R.T. Mullins

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1. Yes.

2. Yes.

3. The Consolation of Philosophy, The Letters of Lady Russell, A Gentleman in Prison.

It'd be great to see an ultimate edition of Consolation in Latin, English, French, German, Italian.

Letters might prove to be surprisingly popular.

I know Gentleman is a longshot, but I like it so much I have two physical copies.

Wish people could let their denomomonomania go.

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I'd sub or buy in a heartbeat for Castalia Boethius. Would likely drop my plans to buy a used copy of the old Folio Society Edition of the Consolation.

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