The Confessions of St. Augustine: Modern English Version by Augustine of Hippo
What did it profit that I read the greatest human ideas of the so-called 'liberal arts' in the books I got hold of. My thinking was enslaved to corrupt desires, so what difference did it make that I could read and understand these books? I delighted in learning, but I had no divine context for what my mind picked up. I had no foundation to discern what is true or certain. I was standing with my back to the light, so that the things that should be illuminated were in shadow, even though they were in front of my face.
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