The City of God

by Augustine of Hippo and San Agustín

Book Overview

No book except the Bible itself had a greater influence on the Middle Ages than City of God . Since medieval Europe was the cradle of today's Western civilization, this work by consequence is vital for understanding our world and how it came into being. Saint Augustine is often regardarded as the most influential Christian thinker after Saint Paul, and City of God is his materpiece, a cast synthesis of religious and secular knowledge. It began as...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385029101
• ISBN13: 9780385029100
• Release Date: February 1958
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 551 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

More Detailed Table of Contents

The Table of Contents isn't very detailed, so here's a more detailed one that you can print out and insert, based on the section titles: Book I (3) 1 Of the Adversaries of the Name of Christ, Whom the Barbarians for Christ's Sake Spared When They Stormed the City 2 That It is Quite Contrary to the Usage of War, that the Victors Should Spare the Vanquished for the Sake of Their Gods 3 That the Romans Did Not Show Their Usual Sagacity When They Trusted that They Would Be Benefited by the Gods Who Had Been Unable to Defend Troy 4 Of the Asylum of Juno in Troy, Which Saved No One from the Greeks; And of the Churches of the Apostles, Which Protected from the Barbarians All Who Fled to Them 5 Caesar's Statement Regarding the Universal Custom of an Enemy When Sacking a City 6 That Not Even the Romans, When They Took Cities, Spared the Conquered in Their Temples 7 That the Cruelties Which Occurred in the Sack of Rome Were in Accordance with the Custom of War, Whereas the Acts of Clemency Resulted from the Influence of Christ's Name 8 Of the Advantages and Disadvantages Which Often Indiscriminately Accrue to Good and Wicked Men 9 Of the Reasons for Administering Correction to Bad and Good Together 10 That the Saints Lose Nothing in Losing Temporal Goods 11 Of the End of This Life, Whether It is Material that It Be Long Delayed 12 Of the Burial of the Dead: that the Denial of It to Christians Does Them No Injury 13 Reasons for Burying the Bodies of the Saints 14 Of the Captivity of the Saints, and that Divine Consolation Never Failed Them Therein 15 Of Regulus, in Whom We Have an Example of the Voluntary Endurance of Captivity for the Sake of Religion; Which Yet Did Not Profit Him, Though He Was a Worshipper of the Gods 16 Of the Violation of the Consecrated and Other Christian Virgins, to Which They Were Subjected in Captivity and to Which Their Own Will Gave No Consent; And Whether This Contaminated Their Souls 17 Of Suicide Committed Through Fear of Punishment or Dishonor 18 Of the Violence Which May Be Done to the Body by Another's Lust, While the Mind Remains Inviolate 19 Of Lucretia, Who Put an End to Her Life Because of the Outrage Done Her 20 That Christians Have No Authority for Committing Suicide in Any Circumstances Whatever 21 Of the Cases in Which We May Put Men to Death Without Incurring the Guilt of Murder 22 That Suicide Can Never Be Prompted by Magnanimity 23 What We are to Think of the Example of Cato, Who Slew Himself Because Unable to Endure Caesar's Victory 24 That in that Virtue in Which Regulus Excels Cato, Christians are Pre-Eminently Distinguished 25 That We Should Not Endeavor By Sin to Obviate Sin 26 That in Certain Peculiar Cases the Examples of the Saints are Not to Be Followed 27 Whether Voluntary Death Should Be Sought in Order to Avoid Sin 28 By What Judgment of God the Enemy Was Permitted to Indulge His Lust on the Bodies of Continent Christians 29 What the Servants of Christ Should Say in Reply to the Unbelievers Who Cas

Augustine's tale of two cities.

"The City of God" is Augustine's most famous work. I agree with Thomas Merton's introduction to the latest Modern Library version, which says that an uninitiated reader of Augustine may wish to read his "Confessions" first to get a good background on the author. "The City of God" is long and deep, covering many philosophical and Biblical debates (many that are still alive today), so one who has been introduced to Augustine through his auto-biographical "Confessions" may find it easier to follow his logic as he discusses the numerous topics of "The City of God."The first few hundred pages of "The City of God" may be very slow and difficult for the average modern, Western, reader. Augustine is speaking directly to the average Roman citizens of the time (413 AD), so the first several chapters of "The City of God" are spent debunking the Romans' beliefs in polytheism, a mindset long since abandoned by most in the civilized Western world (thanks mostly to... Augustine). But the difficulty of these first few chapters should only make one appreciate Augustine all the more for having helped dismiss such a convoluted belief system. Once Augustine has broken down the problems with Zeus and friends, he moves on to discussing Plato, Aristotle, and other Greek philosophers. Augustine discusses why these founders of Western culture came close to understanding the idea of the Judeo-Christian God, but he shows where they too eventually fell short of total comprehension of Him. After Augustine has dealt with these religions and philosophies of the Romans, he begins to address the Bible and how it concerns the City of God and the earthly city (Rome, which had been sacked by Alaric in 410, was the best example of the latter). Augustine outlines the differences in the beliefs and actions of believers and non-believers, or in other words, the citizenries of the two cities in question. In doing this, Augustine discusses numerous debates and questions, including figurative vs. literal interpretations of Old Testament stories, how the Old Testament prophets pointed towards Jesus Christ and how Christ fulfilled their prophesies, as well as many other questions that are still discussed every day, nearly 16 centuries later. Ultimately, Augustine gives us the beautiful picture of life graced by Christ through the faith he gives to the citizens he elects to join his city. Augustine shows us how Christ's grace removes his predestinated citizens from the worries of the earthly city, while (paradoxically) energizing them to care that much more for the inhabitants of this city (as the Christians in Rome did for non-believers they sheltered from Alaric's invaders). One note of recent relevance: The City of God is often referenced today for Augustine's discussion of "just war" theory. While Augustine definitely believed that war can at times be just, and therefore morally obligatory, he does not really go into great detail about "just war" theory in "The City of God." In nearly 90

What a slog...

Although this has been published as part of the "Cambridge Texts on Political Thought" series, it is only incidentally a political work. Its proper genre is Christian Apologetics - the reasoned defense of Christian belief.Augustine's motive for writing it came from the sack of Rome in 410, which many Roman pagans blamed on the Empire's abandonment of its pagan gods for Christianity. Augustine began writing it in 413, continued with it on and off for the next 13 years, before finally completing it in 426. It is by far the longest of Augustine's works.Although "The City of God" is formally divided into twenty-two "books" (the books of works of this period were quite short - broadly equal to the modern chapter), the book is more a unit of length than of structure. The highest level of structure of the work is more or less as follows:(1) Against the belief that the pagan gods can give rewards in this life (5 books)(2) Against the belief that the pagan gods can give rewards in the next life (5 books)(3) Origins of the City of God and the City of Man (4 books)(4) Histories of the City of God and the City of Man (4 books)(5) Comparative futures of the City of God and the City of Man (4 books)The first section, against the belief that the pagan gods should be worshipped for what they can give in this life, was primarily concerned with Roman history. The pagan argument was that Rome had been prosperous while it had worshipped the pagan gods, but had suffered disaster after abandoning them. Augustine's response is a recital of disasters - civil wars and despotic rule - suffered by Rome prior to turning Christian. Augustine admitted that Christianity had not brought prosperity to Rome, but pointed out that it never promised to - that Christianity's promises of reward were not in this life, but in the infinitely more important life to come.The second section was aimed not at what might be termed 'popular paganism', but at the philosophical efforts to give paganism intellectual credibility, particularly Neo-Platonism. Following the Roman writer Varro, Augustine considered the paganism of the poets, the paganism of the state, and the paganism of the philosophers. His argument was that the philosophers admit the paganism of the poets to be nonsense, but that the paganism of the state could not be separated from that of the poets and must equally be condemned. Augustine was respectful of the paganism of the philosophers, but argued that the philosophical arguments were better fulfilled in Christianity than in paganism.The third section was written around an exposition of Genesis. Its purpose was to define the relationship between God and creation, God and man, man and sin, sin and death, and the nature of the life to come. In the prior two sections, Augustine was primarily on the attack, but in this section he was on the defense, explaining Christian belief and defending it against philosophical objections that he thinks either arise from misunderstandings of Ch

Should be the new standard

It is hard to find recent work on De Civitate Dei in English that does not use this newest edition and translation of probably Augustine's most influential work (if not his most readable). I am convinced that this will be the translation that will be used for the foreseeable future. An excellent rendering of the Latin original, wonderful introduction and copious notes. So clear and precise is the translation, and so helpful is the supporting scholarship, that one could conceivably come to this particular text of Augustine's work having no prior knowledge, and leave it with complete fluency. It is that good. For the full effect, get the 3 vols of the Loeb Classical Latin-English edition (the MacCracken-Greene translation is still very useful, though not in comparison to newer scholarship such as Dyson's) and work though the text yourself. I think that Augustine's Latin and Dyson's English match up well next to each other--this is a volume to own if you are contemplating any serious work with Augustine, or if you are just curious about what all the fuss over Augustine is about. A polemical, brilliant, controversial, and stimulating work, City of God is as good a place as any to introduce yourself to Augustine, and this is an excellent translation to use.