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De civitate Dei #2
De Civitate Dei Libri XIV-XXII, vol 2
Written primarily in Latin, 1981/1993 edition.
- GenresReligion
656 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 426
About the author
Augustine of Hippo
3,251 books2,134 followersEarly church father and philosopher Saint Augustine served from 396 as the bishop of Hippo in present-day Algeria and through such writings as the autobiographical
Confessions
in 397 and the voluminous
City of God
from 413 to 426 profoundly influenced Christianity, argued against Manichaeism and Donatism, and helped to establish the doctrine of original sin.
An Augustinian follows the principles and doctrines of Saint Augustine.
People also know Aurelius Augustinus in English of Regius (Annaba). From the Africa province of the Roman Empire, people generally consider this Latin theologian of the greatest thinkers of all times. He very developed the west. According to Jerome, a contemporary, Augustine renewed "the ancient Faith."
The Neo-Platonism of Plotinus afterward heavily weighed his years. After conversion and his baptism in 387, Augustine developed his own approach to theology and accommodated a variety of methods and different perspectives. He believed in the indispensable grace to human freedom and framed the concept of just war. When the Western Roman Empire started to disintegrate from the material earth, Augustine developed the concept of the distinct Catholic spirituality in a book of the same name. He thought the medieval worldview. Augustine closely identified with the community that worshiped the Trinity. The Catholics and the Anglican communion revere this preeminent doctor. Many Protestants, especially Calvinists, consider his due teaching on salvation and divine grace of the theology of the Reformation. The Eastern Orthodox also consider him. He carries the additional title of blessed. The Orthodox call him "Blessed Augustine" or "Saint Augustine the Blessed."
Santo Agostinho
An Augustinian follows the principles and doctrines of Saint Augustine.
People also know Aurelius Augustinus in English of Regius (Annaba). From the Africa province of the Roman Empire, people generally consider this Latin theologian of the greatest thinkers of all times. He very developed the west. According to Jerome, a contemporary, Augustine renewed "the ancient Faith."
The Neo-Platonism of Plotinus afterward heavily weighed his years. After conversion and his baptism in 387, Augustine developed his own approach to theology and accommodated a variety of methods and different perspectives. He believed in the indispensable grace to human freedom and framed the concept of just war. When the Western Roman Empire started to disintegrate from the material earth, Augustine developed the concept of the distinct Catholic spirituality in a book of the same name. He thought the medieval worldview. Augustine closely identified with the community that worshiped the Trinity. The Catholics and the Anglican communion revere this preeminent doctor. Many Protestants, especially Calvinists, consider his due teaching on salvation and divine grace of the theology of the Reformation. The Eastern Orthodox also consider him. He carries the additional title of blessed. The Orthodox call him "Blessed Augustine" or "Saint Augustine the Blessed."
Santo Agostinho
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 12, 2015
As with Vol 1, Augustine spends too much time with speculative metaphysics when he could be laying out a coherent Christian theology.
December 16, 2024
Somehow, some way, even better than the first volume.
The depth, richness, and beauty of St Augustine's writing, not only with regard to prose but with regard to content, never ceases to amaze me.
This volume offered me yet another set of books chock-full of the most diverse range of topics, and none of them disappointed.
I particularly loved the specific focus in this volume on the exegesis of scripture. The expositions and interpretations of Augustine on Old and New Testaments alike are second to none.
Once again, I enjoyed every second with an Augustine work. I will certainly be back for more soon.
The depth, richness, and beauty of St Augustine's writing, not only with regard to prose but with regard to content, never ceases to amaze me.
This volume offered me yet another set of books chock-full of the most diverse range of topics, and none of them disappointed.
I particularly loved the specific focus in this volume on the exegesis of scripture. The expositions and interpretations of Augustine on Old and New Testaments alike are second to none.
Once again, I enjoyed every second with an Augustine work. I will certainly be back for more soon.
Read
April 27, 2023Ah, yes. I remember now: This is the part where I got bogged down last time. If Augustine's Confessions is a good primer on Manichaeanism for the modern reader, City of God is a good primer on Roman polytheism. St. Augustine is working from the most reliable source he had (its a main source today as well), the works of Marcus Varro. Augustine spends the greater part of his argument here mercilessly skewering the inconsistencies of polytheism...which is not hard to do.
On another note: I am reminded of Voltaire's remark that the ancient Roman world was in fact very tolerant, for the most part. (This is in his Treatise on Toleration, inspired by Locke, a very influential text for the trajectory of Enlightenment religious-institutional thought in France.) One would be crass to oversimplify, but the Enlightenment likely has at least some roots in polytheism. The Romans, like Americans, were very pragmatic. They added local gods to their pantheon as they expanded into new territories. They did this not out of a desire for truth, of course, or even a real belief, necessarily, but out of expediency. Out of a desire to increase power, increase compliance, and mitigate dissent. This increasingly resembles our own social picture, I must admit...
In any case, however, it comes off as strange to me that Augustine is making all these claims about the falsity of polytheism, claims which, I'd imagine, many practicing polytheists ultimately agreed with deep down. He reminds me of those goody William Lane Craig apologetics dudes in fedoras who reduce postmodernism to a total retreat of epistemology into the realm of subjectivity with a witty "There can only be one Truth. You can't have your own Truth, ergo GOD."
It sort of feels like Auggie is missing the point here. What if the problem isn't one of truth but one of practicality? In our increasingly polytheistic-perhaps secular republic, the question is largely the same. Monotheism makes sense. But when it's wielded poorly, it leads to grave mistakes made in the name of God.
On another note: I am reminded of Voltaire's remark that the ancient Roman world was in fact very tolerant, for the most part. (This is in his Treatise on Toleration, inspired by Locke, a very influential text for the trajectory of Enlightenment religious-institutional thought in France.) One would be crass to oversimplify, but the Enlightenment likely has at least some roots in polytheism. The Romans, like Americans, were very pragmatic. They added local gods to their pantheon as they expanded into new territories. They did this not out of a desire for truth, of course, or even a real belief, necessarily, but out of expediency. Out of a desire to increase power, increase compliance, and mitigate dissent. This increasingly resembles our own social picture, I must admit...
In any case, however, it comes off as strange to me that Augustine is making all these claims about the falsity of polytheism, claims which, I'd imagine, many practicing polytheists ultimately agreed with deep down. He reminds me of those goody William Lane Craig apologetics dudes in fedoras who reduce postmodernism to a total retreat of epistemology into the realm of subjectivity with a witty "There can only be one Truth. You can't have your own Truth, ergo GOD."
It sort of feels like Auggie is missing the point here. What if the problem isn't one of truth but one of practicality? In our increasingly polytheistic-perhaps secular republic, the question is largely the same. Monotheism makes sense. But when it's wielded poorly, it leads to grave mistakes made in the name of God.
October 12, 2019
I took me nearly two years to slog through the audiobook version of The City of God, in my case usually for no more than 10 or 20 minutes a day listening during my daily commute. After all, the book length is 668 pages and the audiobook is 48 hours long!
On more than one day, I found myself wondering why I was bothering to continue, considering how little City of God seemed to be speaking to me compared with the Confessions. Thankfully, the last few books came alive for me, particularly parts of book 22, especially when Augustine recounts testimony after testimony of physical healing in the city port of Hippo, where he lived and ministered in the early fifth century.
While I belong to a church tradition that believes in praying regularly for divine healing, Augustine’s perspective still manages to challenge my post-Reformation Protestant theology. That's because one point of commonality in these testimonies was their proximity to a church housing the relics of the church’s first martyr (“protomartyr”) Stephen.
While I might brush aside what others might say about praying before “saints” or “martyrs” (our English word comes from the Greek word for “witness”, which is also how Paul refers to Stephen in Acts 22:20), it is a little more difficult for me to brush off a thinker like Augustine (especially after sticking with him through 21 books!). Deceased “saints” are not omnipotent, so I don’t see how they might be able to hear anyone pray to them, nor does God say anywhere He wants us to pray to them. But Augustine’s perspective nevertheless is food for thought.
To quote a few of his lines on this topic: “For the martyrs themselves were martyrs, that is to say, witnesses of this faith, drawing upon themselves by their testimony the hatred of the world, and conquering the world not by resisting it, but by dying. For this faith they died, and can now ask these benefits from the Lord in whose name they were slain.”
And “To our martyrs we build, not temples as if they were gods, but monuments as to dead men whose spirits live with God. Neither do we erect altars at these monuments that we may sacrifice to the martyrs, but to the one God of the martyrs and of ourselves; and in this sacrifice they are named in their own place and rank as men of God who conquered the world by confessing Him, but they are not invoked by the sacrificing priest. For it is to God, not to them, he sacrifices, though he sacrifices at their monument; for he is God's priest, not theirs. The sacrifice itself, too, is the body of Christ, which is not offered to them, because they themselves are this body."
And “For in the Lord their souls are praised. Let us therefore believe those who both speak the truth and work wonders. For by speaking the truth they suffered, and so won the power of working wonders. And the leading truth they professed is that Christ rose from the dead, and first showed in His own flesh the immortality of the resurrection which He promised should be ours, either in the beginning of the world to come, or in the end of this world.”
Is the image of “the cloud of witnesses” in Heb 12:1 just there for our edification, or might heroes of the faith really be there in a heavenly grandstand rooting us on like spectators in a sports competition? While I’m not ready to change my theology and begin expecting God to answer any of my prayers on the basis of any who have gone before me and may (or may not) be praying for me, or to pray to them, nevertheless, these words are another good reminder that there is more to what God is doing and to the Christian faith than I can easily wrap my mind around, see, or package neatly into a boxed theology.
On more than one day, I found myself wondering why I was bothering to continue, considering how little City of God seemed to be speaking to me compared with the Confessions. Thankfully, the last few books came alive for me, particularly parts of book 22, especially when Augustine recounts testimony after testimony of physical healing in the city port of Hippo, where he lived and ministered in the early fifth century.
While I belong to a church tradition that believes in praying regularly for divine healing, Augustine’s perspective still manages to challenge my post-Reformation Protestant theology. That's because one point of commonality in these testimonies was their proximity to a church housing the relics of the church’s first martyr (“protomartyr”) Stephen.
While I might brush aside what others might say about praying before “saints” or “martyrs” (our English word comes from the Greek word for “witness”, which is also how Paul refers to Stephen in Acts 22:20), it is a little more difficult for me to brush off a thinker like Augustine (especially after sticking with him through 21 books!). Deceased “saints” are not omnipotent, so I don’t see how they might be able to hear anyone pray to them, nor does God say anywhere He wants us to pray to them. But Augustine’s perspective nevertheless is food for thought.
To quote a few of his lines on this topic: “For the martyrs themselves were martyrs, that is to say, witnesses of this faith, drawing upon themselves by their testimony the hatred of the world, and conquering the world not by resisting it, but by dying. For this faith they died, and can now ask these benefits from the Lord in whose name they were slain.”
And “To our martyrs we build, not temples as if they were gods, but monuments as to dead men whose spirits live with God. Neither do we erect altars at these monuments that we may sacrifice to the martyrs, but to the one God of the martyrs and of ourselves; and in this sacrifice they are named in their own place and rank as men of God who conquered the world by confessing Him, but they are not invoked by the sacrificing priest. For it is to God, not to them, he sacrifices, though he sacrifices at their monument; for he is God's priest, not theirs. The sacrifice itself, too, is the body of Christ, which is not offered to them, because they themselves are this body."
And “For in the Lord their souls are praised. Let us therefore believe those who both speak the truth and work wonders. For by speaking the truth they suffered, and so won the power of working wonders. And the leading truth they professed is that Christ rose from the dead, and first showed in His own flesh the immortality of the resurrection which He promised should be ours, either in the beginning of the world to come, or in the end of this world.”
Is the image of “the cloud of witnesses” in Heb 12:1 just there for our edification, or might heroes of the faith really be there in a heavenly grandstand rooting us on like spectators in a sports competition? While I’m not ready to change my theology and begin expecting God to answer any of my prayers on the basis of any who have gone before me and may (or may not) be praying for me, or to pray to them, nevertheless, these words are another good reminder that there is more to what God is doing and to the Christian faith than I can easily wrap my mind around, see, or package neatly into a boxed theology.
February 12, 2019
Ovaj svezak je manje kvalitetan od prvog i jako razočaravajući. Ono što može čitatelja ostaviti razočaranim u prošlom svesku je to što sadrži pola ukupnog djela, ali ne bavi se temom koja je zadana i koju čitatelj očekuje, odnosno ne bavi se poviješću i analizom dviju država. Ovdje se time napokon i bavi, ali previše vremena je posvećeno obrani kreacionizma i prepričavanjem povijesti u skladu sa Starim zavjetom i teorijom da su poganski bogovi zlodusi, odnosno povijesnom narativu koji se oslanja na neistinu i neutemeljenim pretpostavkama, a sve zbog prevelikoga uvažavanja židovske propagande. Uz to još i posvećuje prevelik dio knjige opravdavanju i hvaljenju iskvarenja u Starom zavjetu zbog čega raniji prigovori nemoralu u poganskim mitovima i neutemeljenosti tih religija djeluju malo licemjerno. U knjizi i dalje ima mnogo dobrih filozofskih promišljanja o Bogu, o znanju, o bitku... ne želim biti prestrog u ocijeni, Augustin je dobar pisac, ali sve je to zakopano u rupi koju Augustin stvara potkopavajući ranije rečeno. Nadam se da su završne četiri knjige sadržane u slijedećem svesku bolje i da adekvatno zaokružuju cijelu temu.
October 19, 2017
How to interpret Bible so it makes sense even after 1500 years you see just how little it does, this book in short.
Just like in first part, Saint Augustine is genius, he had to use what knowledge he had to interpret Bible in the way it would make sense for Catholic faith, thing is if you reject his premise that God is real and Holy Bible is book written inspired by Holy Spirit you see how ridiculous faith is.
Not much else to say if you are interested in religion, for or against doenst matter, you should read this book.
Just like in first part, Saint Augustine is genius, he had to use what knowledge he had to interpret Bible in the way it would make sense for Catholic faith, thing is if you reject his premise that God is real and Holy Bible is book written inspired by Holy Spirit you see how ridiculous faith is.
Not much else to say if you are interested in religion, for or against doenst matter, you should read this book.
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