Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Three Giveaways for St. Augustine's Day

The feast of St. Augustine of Hippo is a special day for CTP's general editor, Christopher Zehnder. When he was received into the Catholic Church 30 years ago, he took St. Augustine as his confirmation patron. Reading St. Augustine's Confessions during his teenage years was instrumental in Mr. Zehnder's conversion.  Further, CTP's president, Michael Van Hecke, is also headmaster of a school named after St. Augustine. Therefore, in honor of the great bishop and theologian, CTP is offering three giveaways:

1) St. Augustine and His Search for Faith by Milton Lomask.  (This is an out-of-print children's book from the Vision Series.)
3) CTP history book of your choice with accompanying support materials.

To enter, please leave a comment telling us what your giveaway preference is -- #1, #2, #3 or Any. Entries will be taken until Saturday, August 31st and the three winners will be announced on Monday, September 2nd.

In closing, here is what Louis de Wohl wrote about St. Augustine in his history of the Catholic Church:
When Christ and St. Ambrose triumphed over the fierce pride, the pagan sensualism and the sharpness of intellect of Augustine, the conversion of this intellectual titan produced some of the greatest books of both theology and literature. The Confessions is, next to the Bible, itself, the most permanent of all best sellers. And in the Civitas Dei, the City of God, St. Augustine created a classic which gave Christianity a working philosophy, buttressing the Faith. So far, philosophy had been predominately pagan. Augustine "baptized philosophy" just as St. Thomas Aquinas, eight hundred and fifty years later, may be said to have given it the sacrament of confirmation.
File:Vergós Group - Saint Augustine Disputing with the Heretics - Google Art Project.jpg
St. Augustine Disputing with the Heretics
Few men have equaled the amount of work he did from the time of his conversion to his death. One of his treatises is called "Eighty-three questions." He was the first Christian philosopher to study the problem of Time which, according to him, God created together with the Universe, so that time was relative and not an absolute factor. And he gave much study to the phenomena of dreams and of the secret and hidden processes of the mind -- fifteen hundred years before Einstein and the psychoanalysts.
Yet he always lamented the waste of his young years ("Late have I loved Thee...") and the sins of his past. When he was on his deathbed and the physician forbade him to read the small characters of his beloved scrolls, he gave orders to write the penitential  psalms in large letters on the wall opposite his bed so that he could read them again and again. Among his last words, of Socratic humility, were "My greatest folly was that I wanted to understand everything." But what will be especially remembered by most people was his address to God: "Thou hast created us for Thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee." (Founded on a Rock)

Additional Resources:
On this day you may want to read these words from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as he comments on his special attachment to St. Augustine.
A coloring page of St. Augustine.
Another coloring page
The Restless Flame: A Novel about St. Augustine by Louis de Wohl



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37 comments:

  1. #1, #3

    We have been using your textbooks for many years. As a homeschooling mother of 11 blessings, it brought a smile to my face to think that we are using All Ye Lands for the 6th time this year! My children and I love your textbooks and cannot wait for the newest high school textbook to be released. May God bless you in this important ministry.

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  2. #3

    I would love a CTP history book for my homeschool. We have 5 children and our oldest just started 7th grade. I love St Augustine, and we named our first (and only so far) son Stephen Augustine.

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  3. I would like to be entered for the #3 CTP history textbook giveaway. Thanks! alihayes0000@yahoo.com

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  4. I was referred here from a friend. Thanks for the St Augustine links. I would love a Catholic history text. Ramfaminnova@gmail.com

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  5. Light to the Nations Part 1 pretty please! Blessings, Becky

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  6. I would love #1, the Vision book! We have just started using your texts in our homeschool, and I want to thank you so much for bringing peace to this mother that my children will be learning about His-story and not some secularized revisionist history. God bless your work, and thank you for the giveaway!

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  7. We would love a Catholic textbook!

    Your textbooks are a major selling point at our small classical Catholic independent school!!

    Thanks for the contest!

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  8. Tomorrow is my birthday and I would love to win a textbook! We have one of them so far and need more! God bless your work! Kathy

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    1. Happy Birthday! I won't ask your age. Enjoy the day.

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  9. I would love to have Light to the Nations part 2. We've been using part 1 and are very happy with the book. It's such a change to be able to have a good Catholic history book. Thanks!

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  10. We homeschool our 9 children and would very much like to have Light to the Nations part 2. The children enjoy history as much as their parents. It seems to guide our homeschool in rabbit trails every year.
    Stephanie

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  11. Love From Sea to Shining Sea and the two Light to the Nations. We'd love to pick up another one in the series!

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  12. My husband is a public school history teacher and likes using your textbooks with our homeschooled children. We would love Light to the Nations.

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  13. Would love to win Light to the Nations. We're using the From Sea to Shining Sea and All Ye Lands.

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  14. Would love one of the Light to the Nations books from the Catholic Textbook Project.

    We really enjoyed the first two books.

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  15. All ye lands would be WONDERFUL! We'd love to have this and all the CTP books to use in our homeschool.

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  16. I would love #3 because we homeschool and would like Light of the Nations to continue our collection!

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  17. A Catholic history book would be wonderful. I am learning right along with my children.

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  18. We have been using the CTP books for many years now. I'd like to be entered for a chance to win one of the textbooks (#3). Thank you!!

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  19. #3 preferred but any of them would be a deeply appreciated gift!

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  20. I tried to subscribe by e-mail using your button but it said that it is not enabled. Thanks.

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  21. Hello, CTP folks! Heard about your celebration give-away from Katherine Z. Would like to complete our set with #3, Light to the Nations 2. It's next to impossible to find a text on modern history that one can rely on. We are income-free at the moment, so a give-away is much appreciated!
    Wensk

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    1. Hi, Maria! "Income-free" is a nice euphemism. I'd take ballroom dancing lessons from you and Chris any day. Too dad we're 3,000 miles away. Hope things look better soon. KZ

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  22. Ginsuza-
    We are currently using From Sea to Shining Sea for our co-op and love it! We would love a CTP history book, as we plan to continue our co-op for the next several years. We chose your textbook, because it presents history from a Catholic perspective in an interesting format. It tells our story, not just lists of facts. Thank you!

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  23. #1 would be a lovely edition to our Vision collection. We are so grateful for CTP books!

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  24. #3 would be a real blessing to our family's homeschooling, though I'm sure either of the 3 would be wonderful! Thank you for having this giveaway :)

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  25. I Would like much to be given #3, specifically Light to the Nations #1. thank you, Donna

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  26. I would choose one or three. I was up all night with a hungry baby and cannot for the life of me remember the solitary title we don't have yet for number three, but if I win, I'll have time to look before I give you my address! As for one, I'd sent it to my WCC student (the oldest) who chose St Augustine for his own confirmation patron. We are byzantine practicing so I also would not say no to a lovely icon!

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    1. I said I was sleepy right? Ha! I mean two and three!

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  27. We love your texts and would be thrilled to win any of the prizes. Thank you for offering this opportunity.

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  28. #3

    You have a link here that says "sample our textbooks", but I can't see where to do that.

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    1. Sorry about that! Here's the proper link to sample chapters: http://www.catholictextbookproject.com/teachers/teachers-main.html

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  29. I would love #1...or #3...or #2 (in that order). Thanks and God bless!

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  30. #1 or #3. We are new to homeschooling and to this site. So glad we found you! Thank you!

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