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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
1 The Fount of Knowledge: The Philosophical Chapters, On Heresies and On the Orthodox Faith - St. John Damascene. First Christian Summa written, is pre-Schism, and is one of the works that Aquinas cites in his Summa
2 The Ladder of Divine Ascent - St John Climacus. Pre-Schism, practical teaching on the Christian Life. Also happens to be the first book printed in the Americas in the early 16th century.
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.
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.
1. Confessions of St Augustine.
2. The imitation of Christ Thomas a Kempis.
3. 200 years... Alexandr Solzintsyn
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!
Here's a few quotes from 200 Years Together:
https://files.catbox.moe/pti3tl.jpg
https://files.catbox.moe/khk98o.jpg
Btw, also add:
On the Consolation of Philosophy - Boethius
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Aquila’s Summa
Early Church Fathers - selected works
Martin Luther, The Jews and Their Lies.
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.
There are so many great works of the pre-schism saints, no need to go beyond for the initial subscription.
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.
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
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.
Bede the Venerable’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People
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
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
1) Paradise Lost with Doré engravings
2) City of God
3) The Jews, Hilaire Belloc and On the Jews and their Lies, Martin Luther - together so as to present a Protestant and Roman perspective.
1 The Fount of Knowledge: The Philosophical Chapters, On Heresies and On the Orthodox Faith - St. John Damascene. First Christian Summa written, is pre-Schism, and is one of the works that Aquinas cites in his Summa
2 The Ladder of Divine Ascent - St John Climacus. Pre-Schism, practical teaching on the Christian Life. Also happens to be the first book printed in the Americas in the early 16th century.
3 Sayings of the Desert Fathers - Desert Fathers.