Some events are the hinges on which history turns: Moses at Sinai, the trial of Socrates, Caesar crossing the Rubicon, the Resurrection of Jesus the Messiah, the conversion of Augustine, Luther’s 95 Theses, the American Revolution, Darwin’s Origins of the Species, etc., etc. A word about one of those in particular: Augustine is the guy whose books charted the course of the next 1,000 years of western culture–and influenced all subsequent years of Christian church history (in the Catholic and Reformation traditions at least).

Another word about Augustine’s conversion: Endless books have been written about that conversion, and about his Confessions. But there are four primary sources on young Augustine’s Christianity written almost immediately after that conversion, and by Augustine himself: the Cassiciacum dialogues. Only three books that I can think of have been written in English and are devoted exclusively to the Cassiciacum dialogues. Catherine Conybeare’s The Irrational Augustine is one. It’s a good book. But it’s expensive, and it’s probably about 35% wrong. Augustine J. Curley’s Augustine’s Critique of Skepticism is another. It’s a good book. It’s affordable. It’s probably only 5% wrong, maybe even less. But it’s on only one of the four Cassiciacum dialogues. And it’s not on Kindle.