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City of God

by Augustine of Hippo, Henry Bettenson (Translator)

3.8 of 5 stars 3.80 · rating details · 3,742 ratings · 168 reviews

No book except the Bible itself had a greater influence on the Middle Ages than Augustine's The City of God. And since medieval Europe was the cradle of modern Western society, this work is vital for understanding our world and how it came into being.

Paperback, 1097 pages

Published January 6th 2004 by Penguin Classics (first published 426)

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Sep 09, 2008 Joshua Nomen-Mutatio rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, cultural-and-or-political, theology, philosophy, religion

Could not finish it. Don't care to. It's a rather lengthy and often times boring read. I got enough of the gist by making it about halfway through and then skipping around through the rest. His unsurprising righteous indignation about the truth and beauty of 4th century Christian doctrine and the falsity and demoralizing nature of "paganism" makes me want to run for the bathroom. But when I look upon it as a book written by a man whose mind would've been blown by the mere revelation that the Ear...more

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Nov 18, 2008 Bud Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars

ok, this is my one brag book. anybody who gets through this (unabridged only), gets to go to heaven, no questions asked.

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Jun 15, 2013 Jill rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, religious-misc, history

I had no idea what I was getting into when I began this book. It sometimes felt like it would never end, but it was a great experience. First, I discovered how early on very basic doctrines were lost. I loved what he says about the trinity. I was fascinated by how he defined demons (man-made gods). I would define a demon as a devil's angel. Also interesting to me was Augustine's take on the God of Israel's name being the conjugated Hebrew verb "to be" rendered "I am that I am." To me, this seems...more I had no idea what I was getting into when I began this book. It sometimes felt like it would never end, but it was a great experience. First, I discovered how early on very basic doctrines were lost. I loved what he says about the trinity. I was fascinated by how he defined demons (man-made gods). I would define a demon as a devil's angel. Also interesting to me was Augustine's take on the God of Israel's name being the conjugated Hebrew verb "to be" rendered "I am that I am." To me, this seems a very obvious way of showing that He is the only God who actually, in fact, exists - the only God who is not "the workmanship of man's hands" as it were. There is an awful lot of time wasted on incredibly menial an irrelevant questions - like whether God can count infinite numbers - whether He knows they exist (Really? Why?). Then there were bits I found very entertaining, like Augustine's insistence that woman is weaker than man, and it was she who succumbed to temptation because Adam was too strong, and Solomon was too strong - he had to be led into temptation by his wives - or that Aaron wouldn't have made the golden calf without Miriam's making the decision first. Most convenient and amusing, I thought. However, there were also really beautiful and profound parts. "Pride is the beginning of sin. And what is pride but the craving for undue exaltation? And this is undue exaltation - when the soul abandons Him to whom it ought to cleave as its end, and becomes a kind of end to itself." Also "...Though good and bad men suffer alike, we must not suppose that there is no difference between the men themselves, because there is no difference in what they both suffer. For even in the likeness of the sufferings, there remains an unlikeness in the sufferers; and though exposed to the same anguish, virtue and vice are not the same thing. For as the same fire causes gold to glow brightly, and chaff to smoke; and under the same flail the straw is beaten small, while the grain is cleansed; and as the lees are not mixed with the oil, though squeezed out of the vat by the same pressure, so the same violence of affliction proves, purges, clarifies the good, but damns, ruins, exterminates the wicked." (Very similar metaphor in Isaiah 28 - the parable of the Lord, the Farmer) He continues to say that "...So material a difference does it make, not what ills are suffered, but what kind of man suffers them." Beautiful! Also, "No sin is committed save by that desire or will by which we desire that it be well with us and shrink from it being ill with us. That therefore is a lie which we do in order that it may be well with us, but which makes us more miserable than we were. And why is this, but because the source of man's happiness lies only in God, whom he abandons when he sins." I really liked these nuggets. Augustine seems to spend a lot of time trying to prove points that I feel are completely irrelevant – e.g. is it possible for a human body to burn eternally in fire and not be consumed? He goes on to explain that because there is a specimen of worm that not only lives in a hot spring, but nowhere else, a body could last eternity in fire and not be consumed. Who cares about this stuff? And why does it matter? And why is it for us to figure out? The mechanics of how God does things – those are the things I feel are much better left to faith. (less)

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Feb 09, 2009 Chris Comis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: his-story, theology, philosophy

One of the best books ever written. Augustine wrote this just as Rome was coming to an end. Part of the impetus was to show that the City of God was not confined to the Roman Empire, but would outlast any earthly empire. The amount of detail he poured into describing the pagan culture of his time was also amazing. Also, he offers some fascinating theological insights towards the end of the book.

If you want to understand Western Christendom, you really have to read this book from cover to cover.

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Jan 26, 2009 Patrick added it

Shelves: books-i-own, highly-recommended

Augustine's epic masterpiece of theology. It covers a lot of topics, but its main theme is on the spiritual concepts of City of God and the City of Man, and how they have related through out the history of the world. It personally had a huge impact on my life. It's huge, but definitely worth reading, if only just parts of it.

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May 31, 2008 Andre marked it as to-read

Considered by Augustine his magnum opus, this is an interesting book. Written as the Roman Empire was crumbling and doubts about why God would allow the christianized Rome to dissolve, Augustine went about showing where the real City of God exists. I wanted to read this book for several reasons: obviously it is classic and also I enjoy reading Augustine, but at the same time I am sometimes puzzled why we so earnestly labor to prove that America was the new Israel? I think that this book would be...more

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Aug 06, 2011 David Boyce added it

Evolution was a religious Idea. Back in 410 Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in North Africa was the first to describe evolution by natural selection. "We see a constant succession, as some things pass away and others arise, as the weaker succumb to the stronger, and those that are overwhelmed change into the qualities of their conquerors; and thus we have a pattern of a world of continual transience."

This book is a tremendous work. At 1090 pages long it is a vast collection of religious musings and t...more Evolution was a religious Idea. Back in 410 Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in North Africa was the first to describe evolution by natural selection. "We see a constant succession, as some things pass away and others arise, as the weaker succumb to the stronger, and those that are overwhelmed change into the qualities of their conquerors; and thus we have a pattern of a world of continual transience."

This book is a tremendous work. At 1090 pages long it is a vast collection of religious musings and thoughts. Though it starts with a rather tedious microscopic analysis of the sins of the day it slowly transforms into a detailed bible study and finally a theological, philosophical and even scientific treasure troth.

Saying that though, there are a few bits in it that seem a bit fifth century and are a bit dated when viewed with today's eyes. At one point he comically rejects the idea that people live on the other side of the world. However considering its age those parts that we now know to be incorrect are few and far between.

In some ways he is my hero. He brought theology and observations about the world together. Being in one sense the first clergymen to realise that science and religion were complementary. Augustine says in the book that god is the author of all natures. There are no argument that Dawkins is presently using that Augustine didn't unpick by logic 1600 years ago.

Augustine does though lay the foundation for the catholic church's Galileo's heresy trials. Augustine suggests in this book that authority or at least agreement between learned men provides a strong fortress from which a particular point of view can be defended. Augustine failed to realise that the fortresses themselves could and would be built above fallacious points of view.

Augustine criticised the idolisation of the pontiff. He recounts stories of ancient meteorite falls in Italy. The unbelievable range and scope of this book will make it one of the most interesting books you will ever read.(less)

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Mar 28, 2013 David Sarkies rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Those interested in Theology & Ancient History

Recommended to David by: I Dunno, I guess I just wanted to read it.

Shelves: christian

Now this book is an absolute brick and even though I had decided that I would read it I questioned how long it would take for me to actually wade through it. As it turns out it was quite quickly, namely because there is a lot of history that has been put into this book by the author. What this book does is that it traces the concurrent history of Israel and Rome and outlines the contrast between the city of men (as represented by Rome) and the city of God (as represented by Jerusalem). Augustin...more Now this book is an absolute brick and even though I had decided that I would read it I questioned how long it would take for me to actually wade through it. As it turns out it was quite quickly, namely because there is a lot of history that has been put into this book by the author. What this book does is that it traces the concurrent history of Israel and Rome and outlines the contrast between the city of men (as represented by Rome) and the city of God (as represented by Jerusalem). Augustine is being quite metaphorical in this regard, and the history is Israel is meant to demonstrate not so much Judaism (Augustine was not a Jew) but rather the origins of Christianity, as is represented by Jerusalem.
This is an audacious work, and is designed to show the two camps that humanity falls into. Rome represents everything that man seeks after, and this is reflected also in Revelation where the two cities that are represented are Babylon and Jerusalem. Jerusalem always represents the city of God's Children in ancient biblical literature, even though much has been said against the inhabitants of Jerusalem. However it is clear that God held a special place in his heart for Jerusalem as can be seen where Jesus weeps over the city when he arrives.
The view of Augustine no doubt will differ from the view of many of us moderns. In the days in which he was writing the esoteric literature (of which Augustine was very familiar with, particularly since he was trained in Rhetoric, which was considered one of the highest skills in his day and would have put him on par with a professor of Humanities and Social sciences mixed with training in law) there was a different reaction to them than we would these days. In Augustine's day these works were very popular and also held in high regard by the intellectual elite of the Roman Empire. As such there is going to be a lot more rejection of them by the Christian writers of the day who did not want Christianity tainted by the religion of the people (not that it was a strict doctrinal religion like we have these days).
To us as moderns though the writings that have survived down to our days form the basis of our understanding of the culture from which Augustine came from. Mind you Augustine has been seen by some as to be the last of the true ancient writers, and that ancient literature practically came to an end with him. His compilation of the history of Rome can be seen to have been written from numerous sources which we no longer have (and some that we do). No doubt Augustine believed many of the ancient legends (such as Romulus and Remus) and writes his treatise as if it were fact. Basically anything written after Augustine most likely falls into the category of Medieval literature. This is not surprising since Rome was coming to its last days at this time (and there was also a greater shift towards Christianity, and a huge shift away from Paganism when certain emperors attained the throne).
This is a good book, I quite enjoyed it, but these days it really only works as historical value. I have known pastors who have read it, but there has been much more literature written that is more applicable to our times that while it is not obsolete, it would not necessarily be essential reading (though I come from the school in which the only 'essential literature' for Christianity is the bible, and while other books serve a purpose, one should not necessarily accept them at face value). However, we must also remember that Augustine set the tone for Christianity for centuries to come, and it wasn't until Aquinus that Christian thought once again began to change.(less)

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Sep 22, 2011 Briana rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: torrey-johnson-soph-fall

Uh...

I only had to read half of this for school. But it was still really long.

Imagine you're in a math class. And the teacher says, "Now we're going to learn about numbers: one plus one is two, two plus two is four, etc." And you think, "Yeah. Okay. I get that." Then all of a sudden, while your mind wanders around, the teacher says, "So now that you've got that, let's talk about calculus." And then your brain explodes from the jump that it just made.

This is sort of how City of God treated me. A...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Shawn rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this better than his "Confessions" work. The translation was better and it was a bit easier to read. But most of this book was hit or miss to me.
I liked much of his theological philosophy. Yet some of it was long-winded and far-fetched as well due to his obviously fundamentalist beliefs.
Quite often I found he did an excellent job in preaching the importance of moral and ethical values, yet at times he was too preachy when dealing with people who had opposing viewpoints.
There are two or...more

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Sep 13, 2009 John rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One of the great classics in all of Christian--no, check that--human history, The City of God presents two contrasting groups of people, or to use the imagery of the book, two contrasting cities: the earthly and the heavenly. Everyone in the world falls into either one city or the other, and Augustine painstakingly lays out their origins, their history, and their destiny.

This fifth century book was the classic Christian book throughout the church's history until the individualism of the Enlighte...more

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Sep 04, 2009 Jeremy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: philosophy

Okay, from what I read, which certainly wasn't the whole book, there are a few useful ideas here. Augustine does an excellent job (though unintentionally) of showing how religious doctrines do not come about by an organic, bottom up process, but are the products of artificial acts of committees and compilers. And he also shows how large institutions are necessary in order to keep a doctrine going once it gains a modicum of acceptance. But honestly, I found this work overall to be hopelessly reac...more

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May 09, 2009 Chantel rated it 4 of 5 stars

"City of God" may turn a few people off just from the sheer size of the book although I would say it is well worth the investment of your time! It is a slow read as one must delve into the historical context of the era in which it was written but it is with no doubt a classic. Anyone reading it will find that they will focus on one or two bits of his argument which allows one to reread it in the future so that another bit of his reasoning will be illuminated. I found myself fascinated with the c...more

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Feb 17, 2013 Matthew Ritter rated it 3 of 5 stars

Odds are, if you pick this book up, you're doing so for a class. So, you'd better read it as assigned.

If you want to read it for your own independent edification, I give you this word of warning. This book is primarily of historical and theological significance. You will not find spiritual nourishment on every page. You aren't likely to find any once every 50. Instead, you are educated on the prevalent beliefs of Augustine's time. You learn how early Medieval Christianity debated with pagan cult...more

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Aug 10, 2009 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is the greatest work of the greatest non-canonical theologian of all time. Augustine is brilliant and beyond erudite. The City of God is a book that everyone should read. It speaks out against the paganism of his time and contrasts that city of man with the glorious city of God that will endure forever. His knowledge of the ancient world is astounding. This book is packed full of incredible and brilliant explainations of theology and redemptive history. Augustine also is a great storyt...more

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Feb 01, 2011 Susan marked it as to-read

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what l...ove is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being in love which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left ove...more

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Jan 23, 2013 John Cairns rated it 4 of 5 stars

It became a religious fantasy at the end. People didn't believe this at the time. I hadn't actually realised Xians believe Christ ascended to heaven in a recomposed body. How do people believe this codswallop? My explanation has to be it's pure wishful thinking. People know they're mortal creepy-crawlies and all they have to do is believe in Christ and they're important and immortal for ever. It's like taking out a lottery ticket (as Pascal more or less observed. God wouldn't need them - why wou...more

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Mar 01, 2013 Jay rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: theology

Often brilliant. Occasionally tedious.

Here are some quotes that stood out to me:

"I am sick of recalling the many acts of revolting injustice which have disturbed the city's history; the powerful classes did their best to subjugate the lower orders, and the lower orders resisted - the leaders of each side motivated more by ambition for victory than by any ideas of equity and morality." Book II, 17

"At the beginning of history the supreme power over races and nations rested with kings, who rose to...more Often brilliant. Occasionally tedious.

Here are some quotes that stood out to me:

"I am sick of recalling the many acts of revolting injustice which have disturbed the city's history; the powerful classes did their best to subjugate the lower orders, and the lower orders resisted - the leaders of each side motivated more by ambition for victory than by any ideas of equity and morality." Book II, 17

"At the beginning of history the supreme power over races and nations rested with kings, who rose to that summit of authority not by canvassing popular support, but because their moderation was recognized by good men. The peoples were not under the restraint of laws: it was their custom to protect, not to extend, the frontiers of their dominion, and their realms were confined within the limits of their own country." Book IV, p. 141 (quoting Justinus' abbridgement of Trogus Pompeius).

"Do not imagine that is was by force of arms that our ancestors made a great nation out of a small community. If that were true, we should today have a far more glorious nation. In allies, in our own citizens, in armaments, in horses, we have greater resources than they enjoyed. But is was other causes that made them great, causes that with us have ceased to exist: energy in our own land, a rule of justice outside our borders; in forming policy, a mind that is free because not at the mercy of criminal passions. Instead of these we have self-indulgence and greed, public poverty and private opulence. We praise riches: we pursue a course of sloth. No distinction is made between good men and bad: the intrigues of ambition win the prizes due to merit. No wonder, when each of you thinks only of his own private interest; when at home you are slaves to your appetites, and to money and influence in your public life. The consequence is that an attack is being launched on a republic left without defences." Book V, p. 200 (quoting Cato).

"Besides the benefits which God lavishes on good and bad alike in accordance with his government of the natural order, about which I have already said something, he has given us a striking proof of his great love, a proof which is the special privilege of the good. We can, to be sure, never give him adequate thanks for our existence, our life, our sight of sky and earth, or our possession of intelligence and reason, which enable us to search for him who created all these things. But there is more than this. When we were overwhelmed by the load of ours sins, when we had turned away from the contemplation of his light and had been blinded by our love of darkness, that is, of wickedness, even then he did not abandon us. He sent to us his Word, who is his only Son, who was born and who suffered in the flesh which he assumed for our sake - so that we might know the value God placed on mankind, and might be purified from all our sins by that unique sacrifice, and so that, when love has been diffused in our hearts by his Spirit, and when all difficulties have been surmounted, we may come to eternal rest and to the ineffable sweetness of the contemplation of God. In view of all that, what heart or what tongue would claim to be competent to give him thanks?" Book VII, pp. 292-293.

"For the specific gravity of a body is, in a manner, its love, whether a body tends downwards by reason of its heaviness or strives upwards because of its lightness. A material body is borne along by its weight in a particular direction, as a soul is by its love." Book XI, chapter 28, p. 463

"Consequently, in those areas of the universe where such creatures have their proper being, we see a constant succession, as some things pass away and others arise, as the weaker succumb to the stronger, and those that are overwhelmed change into the qualities of their conquerors; and thus we have a pattern of a world of continual transience. We, for our part, can see no beauty in this pattern to give us delight; and the reason is that we are involved in a section of it, under our condition of mortality, and so we cannot observe the whole design, in which these small parts, which are to us so disagreeable, fit together to make a scheme of ordered beauty. Hence the right course for us, when faced with things in which we are ill-equipped to contemplate God's providential design, is to obey the command to believe in the Creator's providence. We must not, in the rashness of human folly, allow ourselves to find fault, in any particular, with the work of that great Artificer who created all things." Book XII, p. 475.

"Arrogant as they are, they think that by their own righteousness, not God's, they can please God, who is 'the God of all knowledge' and therefore also the judge of men's inner thoughts; for in them he sees men's imaginations, knowing them to be futile, if they are only men's, and do not come from him." Book XVII, p. 719.

"Hence a 'bishop' who has set his heart on a position of eminence rather than an opportunity for service should realize that he is no bishop. So then, no one is debarred from devoting himself to the pursuit of truth, for that involves a praiseworthy kind of leisure. But high position, although without it a people cannot be ruled, is not in itself a respectable object of ambition, even if that position be held and exercised in a manner worthy of respect. We see then that it is love of truth that looks for sanctified leisure, while it is the compulsion of love that undertakes righteous engagement in affairs. If this latter burden is not imposed on us, we should employ our freedom from business in the quest for truth and in its contemplation, while if it is laid upon us, it is to be undertaken because of the compulsion of love." Book XIX, p. 881.

"... when the child arrives at years of discretion, when he can now understand the commandments and can be subject to the rule of the Law, then he must take up the struggle against evil impulses, and fight vigorously, to avoid being led into sins which will bring damnation. And if those impulses have not yet grown strong and their victory has not become habitual, then they are more easily overcome, and they yield to the victor; but if they have grown accustomed to conquest and command, victory over them is difficult, and costs great hardship. And this warfare is not waged with genuinely whole-hearted purpose, unless the motive is the love of true righteousness, which comes through faith in Christ. For if the Law is there with its commands, but the Spirit with its help is absent, the very prohibition of the sin increases the craving for sin, and when that craving wins the day, the guilt of transgression is added to the evil impulses. Not infrequently, to be sure, the obvious vices are overcome by vices so masked that they are reputed virtues; and the king of those is pride, an exalted self-satisfaction which brings a disastrous fall." Book XXI, pp. 993-4.

"Evil men do many things contrary to the will of God; but so great is his wisdom, and so great his power, that all things which seem to oppose his will tend towards those results or ends which he himself has foreknown as good and just." Book XXII, p. 1023.(less)

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May 13, 2010 K rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics

Was assigned ~1/3 of this for a class. Will likely never go back to finishing it, since reading the excerpts that I did felt like eating somebody else's depression. According to Augustine, all the joys of this earthly existence -- children, friends, sex, physical prowess, the pursuit of wisdom and learning -- are fleeting and illusory and shallow, due to the inevitability of decay and death. Life on earth is like a prison sentence one must endure with eyes steadfastly fixed on Heaven. Hope and e...more

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Apr 18, 2009 Thomas Johnson rated it 3 of 5 stars

A lot of fascinating ideas presented in a rather daunting tome. I didn't read this from beginning to end, but I was intrigued by the sharp distinctions Augustine makes between the body and the will, and his insistence on culpability for actions lying in the will. Concurrently, he also seems to provide some disturbing theological foundations for Calvinism. I have to applaud him on tackling the issue of how human free will can coexist with an omniscient God, but I nevertheless find his implication...more

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Feb 26, 2011 Eric Sundquist rated it 3 of 5 stars

City of God is a wonderful classic which gives a strong picture of the church around AD 400. Augustine takes great pains to address any and all philosophical objections to Christianity's beliefs, and fleshes out two cities - the Worldly City and the City of God. It is a good reminder that the times change and the issues that are important in one age may no longer seem relevant, but the core beliefs remain the same through the centuries.

City of God is not for every reader. Its chief value today i...more

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Jan 20, 2011 Jan Madden rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An amazing book in a lot of ways. The vocabulary and philosophy is beautiful. At times I had to read with a dictionary in hand to really get the meaning behind the words. It was refreshing to see that the thinking of Saint Augustine encompassed similar thoughts and concerns we find ourselves involved with today. He was obviously a well read/educated/thoughtful man. I did feel that I got more from the condensed foreword. The translation of the original writing was burdensome to read. I found myse...more

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Apr 19, 2012 The Men's Ministry of Denton Bible Church rated it 5 of 5 stars

St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo, is one of the central figures in the history of Christianity, and "City of God" is one of his greatest theological works. Written as an eloquent defence of the faith at a time when the Roman Empire was on the brink of collapse, it examines the ancient pagan religions of Rome, the arguments of the Greek philosophers and the revelations of the Bible. Pointing the way forward to a citizenship that transcends worldly politics and will last for eternity, "City of God"...more

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May 01, 2009 Guy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, religion, translated-literature, non-fiction, greece-rome-and-byzantium

I read this every two years together with a dozen or so undergraduate students who join me for a seminar on it. So each time I revisit it, I have all those pairs of fresh eyes to see it with--and see them, as they alternately roll, glaze over, droop, then slowly get absorbed as they get deeper and deeper into this massive, sloppy, confusing book. For some of them this is the longest book they will ever read cover to cover--and that in itself is a kind of accomplishment. And when they think that...more

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Apr 04, 2013 Rob Roy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1000-bucket-list, ancient-lit, religion

This is a monumental work of theology. Written just after the sacking of Rome, it starts by answering how God could allow a Christian city to fall. This proceeds with a detailed attack on paganism, and a defense of Christianity. He belabors these points, but then goes on to a treatise on Christian theology which sets a decided uncompromising tone. He endorses the predestination arguments later made by Calvin, and shows a narrow moral view. What you get is an excellent view of the early Christian...more

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Feb 17, 2012 Sl Jenan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

A monster of a book. So far-reaching and influential that it's difficult not to be somewhat jaded to its content, as its ideas have so infused western culture that the implications of its observations are knitted into the defacto worldview of the modern mind.

I found the first half to be the most fascinating, as Augustine dismantles with methodical precision the tenets of the old Roman faith, which here is not the stiff 'mythology' I learned in school, but an active, living religion that his radi...more

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Dec 30, 2012 Peter Crouse rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Having enjoyed the personal nature of the Confessions, I naively decided to plunge into St Augustine’s magnum opus: The City of God. I had a vague perception that this work was influential to Christianity and Western history. Something about the nature of a debate between Paganism-on-the-wane and Christianity-on-the-rise also piqued my interest and seemed to be worth investigating. With these motivations behind me, not even its considerable length and tough theological hide seemed daunting and I...more Having enjoyed the personal nature of the Confessions, I naively decided to plunge into St Augustine’s magnum opus: The City of God. I had a vague perception that this work was influential to Christianity and Western history. Something about the nature of a debate between Paganism-on-the-wane and Christianity-on-the-rise also piqued my interest and seemed to be worth investigating. With these motivations behind me, not even its considerable length and tough theological hide seemed daunting and I picked up De Civitate Dei with excitement.

The first half of The City of God is a refutation against paganism and is Augustine at his combative and vitriolic best. Drawing on examples from early Roman history and Pagan theology, he mocks the old gods for their inability to aid the faithful or prevent disaster. Augustine goes on to assert that, in contrast to the Christian God, Jupiter and Co. are incapable of producing moral uprightness in their adherents. How could “these debauchees and gourmands, their mouths watering for fat sacrifices and their lips uttering lying divinations” bestow blessedness on their believers when they promote nothing but exhibitionism and sexual licence in the temples and theaters? Their undignified nature and inclination to bring about bad fortune rather than prevent it, reveal them to be, in reality, daemons in league with Satan: out to deceive the innocent and enslave the ungodly to passion and vice. Their wickedness and desire for self-aggrandizement destroys their credibility to aid us, both in this life and in the one hereafter. If any of them can be trusted, it is only those (angels) who refer our happiness not to themselves, but to the source of all happiness: the One, True and unchanging Good, which is God. Religion and moralism aside, this half of the work, with its creative interpretation of Roman history and critique of paganism, should sustain anyone with an interest in the Classics.

Having effectively dealt with his pagan accusers, Augustine now turns to the task of providing the Christian explanation for the fall of Rome. The City of God’s second half fully expands this main theme: a history of mankind, metaphorically presented as the tale of two opposing cities, the City of Man and the City of God. The City of Man consists of those who seek satisfaction in this life, reveling in the vanity of their own desires and vices. The City of God, on the other hand, consists of those “strangers and sojourners on this earth” who worship God and hope on his promise of eternal happiness in heaven after his second-coming. Starting with their origin at the creation of the world, Augustine traces the history of these two cities, through the lens of Judeo-Christian scripture, down to the eschatological Day of Judgement. On that day, both cities will meet their respective fates: the City of Man doomed to eternal torment in hell; the City of God to a reign of blessedness as the New Jerusalem. Rome’s fall, declares Augustine, is only the next step in creation's inevitable progress towards perfection. Empires come and go, as do the pleasures of mortal existence, but the final victory of the City of God is inevitable.

At the end of The City of God, Augustine asks the reader to consider its length and judge whether it was appropriate for the subject matter. He certainly thinks it was; but in his ringing affirmation one can detect a hint of exhaustion: building the bones of Roman Catholicism had, doubtless, been a demanding job. The final product consists of Neo-Platonism combined with early Judeo-Christian beliefs and heavily flavored with the doctrine of salvation by grace. What stands out is Augustine’s pessimism. To him man is, while created good, hopelessly flawed due to original sin. All of our attempts to do good inevitably end in failure because of this inescapable taint. Only God’s grace: infinitely just, but seemingly randomly bestowed, can save your immortal soul. As a Christian, all you can do is live a good life and hope that you’re one of the lucky ones. To me, this is a deeply unsatisfying assessment and it’s not without some regret that I consider that these values formed the blueprint of Western thought during the Middle Ages.

With hindsight, in reading this, I got in for more than I bargained for. There were times when I felt my mind being numbed to the content by the prodigious amount of scripture. It was then that tedium set in and the thought of continuing made the remainder seem insurmountable. Also: Augustine's antisemitism, though understandable historically, is a deeply unattractive quality which he harps on too frequently for my liking. Occasionally, though, his edifying eloquence breaks through: “And thus, in the Trinity, we recognize the image of God in man: For I am, and I know that I am; and these two I love.” Ironically, this despiser of human nature has issued a defining statement of our divine potential. Nevertheless, De Civitate Dei is a polemic and the dogmatic Augustine is endorsing a position which I fundamentally disagree with. 2 stars.(less)

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May 31, 2013 John Carncross marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: i-want-to-read-in-2012

Most of this is over my head, but I think A.'s treatment of suicide is quite good. He notes that some women have chosen to through themselves into rivers that they knew would kill them, and the church recognizes them as martyrs. He argues that suicide is wrong, but it is permissible if god commands it. You just have to be sure god really commands it, and your are not simply trying to escape your own suffering of rape or something worse. A. argues that it is wrong to kill yourself to prevent anot...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Jim Andersen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: christianity, philosophy, history, theology, societal

After 2 Years in the Making, I have finally completed St. Augustine's City of God. This book, is amazing, but its also very intense and involved. I can see myself referring back to this many times in the Future. The first half of the book tries to undo many of the errors found in a dying Pagan society, that seems very similar in thought to our own culture today. Whereas the second half of the book, has more of a focused on God and His Eternal City and the implications it has for all of mankind....more

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Mar 11, 2012 John Caneday rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, homeschool-books

This massive volume is hard to summarize, not to mention hard to read. The first third of the book Augustine refutes the pagan theology of the Greeks and Romans. This is a very challenging part of the book and makes for very slow reading. Unfortunately this is an integral part of the book, and it resurfaces throughout.

Once Augustine finishes with refuting the pagans, he moves on to following the City of God and the City of Man through the Bible, focusing on Genesis. His purpose is to distinguish...more

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About Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo, also known as St. Augustine, St. Austin, was bishop of Hippo Regius (present-day Annaba, Algeria). He was a Latin philosopher and theologian from the Africa Province of the Roman Empire and is generally considered as one of the greatest Christian thinkers of all times. His writings were very influential in the development of Western Christianity. According to his contemporary J...more

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The Enchiridion on Faith Hope and Love (Augustine Series 1)

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