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Written after the capture of Rome in 410 by Alaric, King of the Visigoths, St Augustine's City of God was intended as a response to pagan critics who blamed Christianity for this brutal defeat. Augustine attacks ancient pagan beliefs and relates the corruption and immorality that led to Rome's downfall, which began before Christ, before reaching his main argument: that the City of Man is perishing and only the Heavenly City of God will endure. Members of the City of Man, misled by vanities and futile laws, will suffer the same fate as the Romans, while those of the City of God, who act in harmony with God's will, will reach salvation and paradise. Monumental in its scope, City of God is a theological and philosophical treasure trove that offers fascinating insights into the perennial problems of Christian philosophy, such as free will and the problem of evil, as well as the longstanding conflict between church and state.… (more)
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Just three years after the sack of Rome
Written in lucid, beautiful prose, and touching on matters ranging from Plato’s philosophy to the Last Judgment, this extraordinary work bears witness to a seminal period of Christianity. Our edition has been designed to enhance the reading experience in every way. It uses the late 19th-century translation by the Reverend Marcus Dods, widely considered to be definitive. We have commissioned two new introductions from leading prelates of Britain’s Catholic and Anglican Churches. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, explains the work’s abiding theological influence while Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, shows how Augustine pioneered a new concept of history, which has shaped our view of time ever since. A structural synopsis provides a detailed breakdown of the matter of each book, and there is a comprehensive 36-page index. The illustrations have been selected from illuminated manuscripts of the work, notably from the late 15th-century copy in the Bibliothèque de Mâcon.
My recommendation to any layperson who is planning on reading this is - don't.
If I could do it again, I would read it as part of a class or read something more accessible that summarized the essential and relevant
Augustine divides his work into 22 books divided into two parts. The first part was to refute the accusation by pagans that the sack of Rome in 410 AD was punishment for abandoning the gods of Rome for Christianity. Throughout the first ten books of his work, Augustine critiques the Roman religion and philosophy from the multitude of deities and the contradictory beliefs related to them as well as the conflicting philosophies that supported and opposed them. The second part, consisting of the last twelve books of the work, discussed the titular City of God and how it relates with the city of man—the present world.
Augustine’s critique of pagan religion and philosophy in the first part of the book is honestly the highlight of the book. Not only did he defend Christianity but also exposed the contradictions within pagan religious beliefs a well as numerous schools of philosophies which defended or opposed those beliefs. If there was one downside within the first part, it would have been the troubling theological ideas that Augustine espoused that seemed more based on Plato than the Bible. However, it was in the second part of book that Augustine’s faulty theology truly became apparent so much so that I had to begin skimming through the text to prevent myself from contradicting Augustine in my head instead of reading. While not all of Augustine’s theology is wrong, God’s omniscience and human free will is an example, some of the defining examples I want to cover is the following: the immortality of the soul and eternal burning in hell connected to it, the claims that passages from the Old Testament are analogies for Christ and the church, that all of Psalms are prophecies written by David, the angels were created on the third day, and many more. It became too frustrating to stay focused and I admittedly might have skimmed over some of Augustine’s better theological arguments, but it was that or tossing the book.
City of God is both the refutation of pagan Roman practices and the theological understanding of Augustine for Christian believers. It’s importance for medieval Christianity and thought cannot be underscored enough, however that does not mean that every reader should not look at it critically.
That said, I'd much rather read about this book than read it again. Never before have I felt the ancient's wisdom so strongly: this is not a book, this is 22 books, and trying to read it as one is the definition of hubris.