AUGUSTINE'S CITY OF GOD

by Gerard O'Daly

The most influential of Augustine's works, City of God played a decisive role in the formation of the Christian West.

Augustine wrote City of God in the aftermath of the Gothic sack of Rome in AD 410, at a time of rapid Christianization across the Roman Empire. Gerard O'Daly's book remains the most comprehensive modern guide in any language to this seminal work of European literature.

In this new and extensively revised edition, O'Daly takes into account the abundant scholarship on Augustine in the twenty years since its first publication, while retaining the book's focus on Augustine as a writer in the Latin tradition. He explores the many themes of City of God , which include cosmology, political thought, anti-pagan polemic, Christian apologetic, theory of history, and biblical interpretation. This guide, therefore, is about a single literary masterpiece, yet at the same time it surveys Augustine's developing views through the whole range of his thought. As well as a running commentary on each part of the work, O'Daly provides chapters on the themes of the work, a bibliographical guide to research on its reception, translations of any Greek and Latin texts discussed, and detailed suggestions for further reading.

Genres: Philosophy, Theology, Nonfiction, Classics

384 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1999

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful source for reading through City of God. O'Daly helps readers to understand major themes and has a great presentation of the entirety of City of God. It's too brief to be amazing, but this is the place to start for doing research on any or all of City of God

[Samuel Parkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

City of God needs a reader's guide more badly than most books - its simply so massive, and its influences so varied, that a handy reference is much more needed.

O'Daly has the rare knack of summarising long arguments in a way that is not boring or simply repetitive, but which genuinely casts light on Augustine's work.

The sections on Augustine's influences are superb -the fruit of deep learning - and that on the earlier apologetic tradition especially enlightening.

Most of all, this book would be a great start for research - the footnotes and bibliography are absolutely top-notch, or seem so to this non-specialist at least.

In short, if you are going to put in the effort of reading through 'City', you might as well read this...

[Peter Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic introduction to City of God. He summarizes key themes. Then he gives a brief summary of each book. Then he spends a longer time discussing each book. City of God is hard. O'Daly makes it easier. If you are new to City of God or teaching it then I highly recommend this book.

[Clint Lum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful guide through Augustine’s magnum opus.

[Tim Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read now in 2025 the second edition of this book that first was published in 2009. Besides some typos, the typescript still needs some proofreading : for example, the editor/s cannot keep straight two canonical - books in Tanak and Apocrypha [ Ecclesiastes and Ecclesiaticus ] one is also know with its Hebrew title "QOHELETH" and follows Proverbs in the Writings section of Hebrew Bible while the second book is better and more distinctly referred to as SIRACH or BEN SIRA. That one is importantly used by Augustine in this important work De Civitate Dei [LATIN title of The City of God ]. As a later work by the Bishop of Hippo and Rhetorical master / exegete / Trinitarian theologian, De Civitate Dei is a widely discussed and studied set of 21 books / major sections. I heartily recommend that Readers for whom O'Daly has designed his analysis take time to follow what this scholar has to say and to attempt to make sense of it for yourself / yourselves in a reading discussion setting. In its paperback 2nd edition, Oxford Univ. Press makes it available to a broad and diverse reading public. Kudos to author and publisher!

[Von Bismarck · Rating 4 out of 5]

The contextual underpinnings, literary and dialectical dimensions of meaning in Augustine's 'civitas Dei' are explored. O'daly succeeds in showing why Augustine is, the foremost, revolutionary political theologian of the early Church - first to draw a distinction between Church and State.