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Joshua Nomen-Mutatio's Reviews > City of God
City of God
by Augustine of Hippo, Henry Bettenson
by Augustine of Hippo, Henry Bettenson
Joshua Nomen-Mutatio's review
bookshelves: history, cultural-and-or-political, theology, philosophy, religion
Sep 09, 2008
bookshelves: history, cultural-and-or-political, theology, philosophy, religion
Read in December, 2006
— I own a copy
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 Earth is indeed spherical rather than a dinner plate shaped planet in the apple of God's eye, well, then I can appreciate it a little more on other levels that don't so dramatically offend my need for more plausible understandings of reality. It was really only enjoyable as a historical record of the tail end of the protracted decline of the Roman Empire and the impending rise of Christianity.
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Comments (showing 1-9 of 9) (9 new)
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Brad
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Jun 15, 2009 02:22PM
Your review actually makes me want to read it, perhaps skimming as you did, just so I can experience more of Augustine's thought.
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Elizabeth wrote: "I read it (the whole thing). He becomes more annoying over time and the appreciation lessens as he goes on and on about the "just" war. I also read it while W's father was invading Iraq. It probabl..." actually, he did probably know the earth was spherical. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_of_...
For what it's worth, popular thought might have considered the earth flat, but it was unlikely. And educated individuals in the area of Greece (at least, under the Roman Empire at the time, certainly understood that the earth was round at Augustin's time, which category Augustin definitely falls into.The book talks about tons of modern objections to Christianity, and refutes them with alarming precision, considering it was written so long ago. Our atheistic arguments have not changed in almost 2000 years, and the proof against them has not needed to either (although much more science is typically used today than necessary).
Jumping in here to add to the previous commenter, since the 3rd century BC, it was generally accepted among the Greeks and later throughout the Roman empire that the earth was spherical. Eratosthenes, a 3rd century BC librarian at Alexandria, calculated the circumference of the earth with amazing accuracy. Augustine, being a well-educated Roman would have known this and not been surprised at all by it.
Excellent book. No doubt I'll read it again. Tristan, my thoughts exactly.
"Pearls among swine"... comes to mind
Read it as a pre-modern,not as a post-enlightenment thinker. That will do ya well.
Puts down City of God because it's too big. Claims to be smarter than Augustine. Doesn't realize that philosophers like Augustine are why modern society understands the things it does.
