false 25673 43 Augustine's <I>City of God</I>, a monumental work of religious lore, philosophy & history, was written as a kind of literary tombstone for Roman culture. After the sack of Rome, he wrote the book to anatomize the corruption of Romans' pursuit of earthly pleasures: "grasping for praise, open-handed with their money; honest in the pursuit of wealth, they wanted to hoard glory." He contrasts his condemnation of Rome with an exaltation of Christian culture. The glory Rome failed to attain will only be realized by citizens of the City of God, the Heavenly Jerusalem foreseen in Revelation. Because <I>City of God</I> was written for men of classical learning--custodians of the culture he condemned--it's thick with Ciceronian circumlocutions & makes many stark contrasts between "Your Virgil" & "Our Scriptures." Even if his prose strikes modern ears as bombastic & if his polarized Christian/pagan world is more binary than the one we live in today, his arguments against utopianism & his defense of the richness of Christian culture remain useful & strong. <I>City of God</I> is, as its final words proclaim, "a giant of a book."--Michael Joseph Gross 5814 426 City of God total:633|5:171|4:177|3:190|2:75|1:20| 633 2303 1276 59 4 3 false false Tue Nov 18 10:50:57 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 18 10:52:23 -0800 2008 4 1 false false Mon Feb 09 16:24:49 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 09 16:28:56 -0800 2009 more...]]> 0 1 false false Fri Jan 23 11:22:58 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 26 09:02:27 -0800 2009 more...]]> 0 1 false false Wed May 21 01:31:26 -0700 2008 Sat May 31 07:12:03 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Oct 11 09:32:06 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 11 09:32:53 -0700 2009 (from inside flap)
In his workbook, a New York city novelist records the contents of his teeming brain--sketches for stories, accounts of his love affairs, riffs on the meanings of popular songs, ideas for movies, obsessions with cosmic processes. ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jul 31 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 21:27:30 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 21:27:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Sep 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 30 17:17:40 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 04 17:35:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Apr 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 09 16:15:06 -0700 2009 Sat May 09 16:15:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Aug 10 07:26:01 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 10 07:32:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Mar 11 07:04:41 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 17:55:38 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Apr 18 20:58:52 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 18 20:59:28 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Apr 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 16 00:35:13 -0700 2009 Fri May 01 20:36:54 -0700 2009 5 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Aug 26 07:16:30 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 28 17:12:01 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 2 false false Tue Sep 09 15:33:29 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 09 15:47:58 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Nov 21 09:36:22 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 21 09:40:05 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 15:50:02 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 15:51:42 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Fri Aug 21 09:00:40 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 21 09:03:27 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 25 09:55:51 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 25 09:57:16 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Sun Sep 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 07:35:46 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 09:57:17 -0700 2009 The City of God like this, but it's all because of the translation. I slogged through it as long as I could, but then I had to go purchase a better version. I'm sure this newer version will rate better.]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Apr 08 04:37:23 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 08 04:39:02 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=25673